The St Martin De Porris Catholic Church in Schoongezicht (Overline) launched a soup kitchen in the church.
“This is not for the Catholic church members only, it is for the community at large,” said one of the sponsors Mr Eugene Ram.
On April 1, the good Samaritans were doing the righteous work for the communities by offering soup and bread to anyone in need.
According to Ram the soup kitchen was an initiative from the parish, and it had been running for two years before Covid-19 and they stopped due to all challenges they faced.
The team took the initiative to start the soup kitchen while the schools are closed.
“Let’s support the children; we do know that not all of us have a plate of food after school. At least those who don’t have can come to the Catholic church, and take a plate of food home,” he added. “We saw a lot of unemployed people coming with bigger containers, and the containers are not only for them. They are taking it home to support their loved ones who are not here. There are a lot of old people who were here early, and this soup kitchen started at 14:00, but by that time people were already queuing, so this shows that it is something needed. We also encourage other churches within the community to follow suit,” he added.
The soup kitchen will be held every Wednesday at the church.
According to the event organiser, Mr Floyd Moodly, they will try to take about seven pots every Wednesday.
On Wednesday, April 6 they will provide the Emalahleni Youth Against Substance Abuse (Eyasa) programme with one pot of soup and the other week they will try to provide one pot downtown.
The goal is for all churches to work together to fight poverty in eMalahleni.
The pastor who was invited, Pastor Jackie Simelani from AFM Church, said, “I was impressed, it’s a good idea and I’m in. If something is good, why not adopt it? We’re taking it, going with it, and running it. We want to invite other churches to take this idea and run with it as well so that everyone can eat”.
Father Linda Zwane from St Martins De Porris Catholic Church said as a way of showing love to the community or living out values, they decided to have a soup kitchen that will look after those who need it, especially children, but anyone in the community, whether they are Christians or not.
“So the Caritas has done a good thing in witnessing that you cannot just be a Christian and pray, but you must also do something for others to bring God’s love around you,” he concluded.
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