Cape Town - A lesser known truth about best selling cookbook author and TV show host Fatima Sydow is how she is all too familiar with the feelings of struggle and poverty.
A household name with over 500 000 followers on Facebook, and whose mere mention conjures up sweet smelling and familiar aromas, Sydow made a public appeal for food donations to assist those in need.
“I was born in Manenberg and we were very poor growing up. It was always a struggle and it was about survival. In communities like Manenberg, Hanover Park, Mitchells Plain, wherever on the Cape Flats, people help each other to survive,” Sydow said.
The author of three cookbooks said she had been doing this for many years, even following her cancer diagnosis in December 2020.
“I went through two surgeries on my foot, three months of radiotherapy and then six months of chemotherapy, throughout that time, I never stopped doing my food parcels,” she said.
Dishes and other treats prepared for her online platforms are also immediately donated, she said.
“One day, my mommy’s neighbour came around and she said, ’aunty Siela, I have nothing at home’. My mommy said, ’here’s also nothing but I have two tomatoes.
“Here’s one for you, and one for me’ and as she said it, it still brings tears to my eyes, a car pulled up in front of her house and it was one of my uncles with a car full of food.
“The relief on my mother and neighbours' face that they can now feed their children – that sense of relief – it is the driving force for me.
“Be aware of neighbours, friends and family. They are suffering in silence. Reach out if you can afford to,” she said.
Sydow is currently in remission and will for the next two years undergo scans and MRIs to monitor the cancer.
Sydow commended community workers who had made this their life’s work, referring to them as “heroes of the community”.
Donations of food or cash can be made to Roudha Tur Rahgman Educare and Feeding Scheme.
Its founder and principal, Wacela Brown said: “Most of our parents only depend on Sassa. In the Manenberg community, most of the people are unemployed. People survive by collecting bottles and scrap then they sell it and that is how they survive. And that is why my heart goes out because children go to school hungry.”