A NEW documentary was recently released by local soup kitchen Ladles of Love that highlights food security.
The 90-minute film called “Africa in Action” aims to raise funds for vulnerable areas during the Covid-19 pandemic and to shift from a traditional hand out approach, to becoming self-sustainable.
Ladles of Love founder Danny Diliberto said: “The documentary will start a new conversation around Africa’s ability to self-sustain using a circular economy which is a system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources.”
Through their experience at a community level saw enterprise development with no investment.
“You are seeing people taking wastelands and turning them into farms. They use scraps of food to make seedlings and come up with innovative ways to use found-items to build nursery tunnels,” he said.
Diliberto said that people realised that poverty could affect anyone, especially this year.
“In the absence of earnings through unemployment and a negative economy, the levels of people’s empathy and compassion have increased,” he added.
Highlights of the documentary included investment in social entrepreneurs in the food sector.
The organisation contributed to feed those in need over the past six years and expanded its operations throughout Covd-19 contributing over seven million meals to vulnerable areas since April.
“Food security plays a major role in job creation and leads to a better quality of life for humankind,” he added.
Donations generated from the documentary will allow people living in poverty due to extreme levels of unemployment, the ability to provide meals for their families with dignity.
The numerous participants included in the documentary included guest appearances of famous foodies and chefs, farmers, musicians, TV personalities and restaurant owners globally.
The documentary will be available on the Ladles of Love YouTube channel. The organisation will announce the dates through their social media as to when it will be shown on the People's Weather channel on DStv.
They realised that the country was rallying around at a community level, to come together to solve hunger issues, said the organisation's marketing director Alison McCutcheon.
“Accessibility for our people to access nutritious food locally means it is vital to grow the urban farming initiatives and this is not easy when you look at the problems farmers face regularly,” she said.
As an example of a successful urban farming initiative can be found in Gugulethu entrepeneour Nomonde Kweza, said the organisation.
Kweza said that she started her vegetable business to change her life and discovered her market in selling greens.
“Back in 2006 when I started it was not fashionable to grow a garden. Now I host workshops on how other people can start their gardens,” she said.
She ran workshops in Philippi and Nyanga among other areas. Kweza said that food prices would increase and that was when people started realising how important growing your own garden is.
“It is convenient to grow your own food. The food you plant is yours and you know what you are eating,” she added.
Meanwhile, the director of the documentary Di Rosen, from her self-titled Di Rosen Productions company, said that the documentary itself took about two and a half months to produce.
“Despite the challenges due to a very limited budget and trying to maintain the quality of standard I am known to deliver, I was totally fulfilled,” she said.
Rosen described the documentary as being empowering, giving back, making a positive difference and exposing the true hunger crises.
Weekend Argus