Port Elizabeth - Food is being dished out across Nelson Mandela Bay as the ‘Helpers Feeding Scheme’ continues to distribute meals to needy families during the holy month of Ramadaan.
Muslims around the world are experiencing the last 10 days of Ramadaan of which they consider the most sacred practice of abstaining from food and drink from sunrise until sunset.
For over two decades a group of Port Elizabeth businessmen come together every Ramadaan to provide an evening meal to needy people in the city’s Northern Areas and townships.
The cooking process starts every morning at the Parkside Movement Hall roughly around 8am. Preparations, which include cutting onions, peeling potatoes, cutting cabbage and cleaning meat, is all done a day before a specific meal is to be cooked.
Some of the daily ingredients include 30 to 40 bags of potatoes, 2 kilograms (kgs) of spices, and 140 kgs of rice.
Meals vary from meat curry to cabbage curry to biryani – all given with either rice or bread. According to the organisers, about 3 500 people get fed per day from nine big pots of cooked food.
‘The Helpers Feeding Scheme’ started in 1989 in Sanctor and fed about 100 people per day. Since then the project has grown from strength to strength feeding more hungry people each year.
Main cook, 61-year old Cassim Dolley, said that cooking brought him joy as he had been doing it since he was 16-years-old.
“Every day is a different meal but on average I will use a half a pocket of onions for each pot and 4 bags of potatoes for each pot. When the food is done, we then dish it out in 20 litre drums then it is ready for delivery,” said Dolley.
Every afternoon drivers deliver the food at drop off points in poverty stricken areas. This year’s distribution spots include Booysens Park, Timothy Valley, New Brighton, Helenvale and Missionvale, among other areas.
Organiser Shaheen Laher said that on average it cost R12 500 per day to keep the operation going and in the last few years the operation has seen two extended kitchens situated in Motherwell and New Brighton townships.
Laher said that the aim of giving the food was to assist fasting Muslims who were struggling to put food on the table.
“It’s during the month of Ramadaan and many things are happening with the poor being assisted. We just wanted to make it easier for the people because many of them don’t have paraffin or electricity to cook a hot meal. We wanted to make it convenient for them so that a hot meal gets delivered to them,” said Laher.
He said that both Muslims and people from other religions would benefit from a meal as they never turned anyone away.
As the holy month of Ramadaan draws to a close and Muslims start to prepare for Eid ul-Fitr, the feeding scheme is expected to distribute braai and party packs for children who attend madressa (religious school) in the Motherwell township.
African News Agency