Cape Town - After seeing the hungry children in their community, these five mothers of Tafelsig took matters into their own hands. The moms decided to dig deep in order to feed children daily.
They have now formed a non-profit organisation called The Healing Well, and others have joined.
Breatrice Leng, Wendy Williams, Thelma Adams, Deidre van Rooyen and Zelda Abrahams decided they could no longer sit quietly and watch children go hungry and walking outside without masks.
“We recognise that the women are the backbone of families and homes,” says Beatrice who has been working for three decades in her community.
HUNGRY: Kids practise social distancing
Beatrice, a retiree who worked in social development and provided victim support at courts, joined the mothers at the start of lockdown to cook hot meals for the children.
They began their feeding routines along Kilimanjaro and Helderberg crescents.
She says as the lines grew longer every day, the donations started pouring in.
“It warms our hearts as mothers to see the smiles on their faces,” she says.
“We saw there is a need in our community. We decided to feed at least 500 a day with a hot plate of food or a cup of soup. We recently received 100 loaves of bread from a resident and even our neighbours are so amazing and we have the teenagers who will assist us in keeping the social distance.”
Now they are busy sewing away, making hundreds of masks for the children.
“We know that it is not every household who can afford to buy a mask for their child. We received some material and I have started making masks for the children.”