The El Shaddai Community Project has successfully been running a soup kitchen at the Jabavu Homemakers near the Jabavu Community Lower Primary School, but now needs help to survive.
According to the chairperson of the project and chairperson of the Democratic Alliance under Ward 35, Jabu Sithole, this project was started in 2010 after seeing the number of people who needed help in this area.
The team then put together some money to start a soup kitchen for this community.
Sithole said: “We serve the community of Mofolo and Jabavu and this is with food and hand outs of food parcels.
“The programme caters for adults and children and some of these families are really struggling, so we end up creating these food parcels from the donations we get.
“We also try and assist those that are sick as they cannot drink their medication without eating proper food.”
He said daily they assist about 40 people but because they only get help from the Rosebank Pick n Pay for food, they are only able to provide soup to the needy on Mondays and Fridays as those are the days they fetch the food on.
Some of the challenges the team is facing is that the area they are helping in has no electricity so they need gas stoves to be able to cook more often for the project.
Sithole said: “We also need more food and clothing donations and transport because every time we have to go and pick up food donations, we end up taking out money from our own pockets.
“We have asked for help from the Department of Social Services but they said they can’t help us as their departments are split up into different categories so we must focus on one group such as the sick, children or those that are poor so we can get help.
“But this is hard for use as we help a variety of people who all need help, so we can’t chase any of them away.”
Anyone who can be able to assist the Ei Shaddai Community Project with any donations can call Sithole on 072 549 0423.
