Keetmanshoop church fights hunger

HUNDREDS of children who might otherwise go hungry every day of the school year flock in drips and drabs to the United Reformed Church (URC) located at Keetmanshoop’s KrÖnlein residential area to be served with a meal after school.

They then line up in an orderly manner in front of the church’s soup kitchen to be served with two slices of bread and a cup of soup supplemented with vegetables, soya and mince.

The church’s leader, reverend Dawid Mouton, said the programme is now in its third year, and runs under the theme ‘dignified living’.

All church members are involved in donating food to the project to offer to the vulnerable schoolchildren.

“For some, it is the only meal they get for the day,” the clergyman stated, adding that the biggest worry is that many might have little or no food on weekends and school holidays.

The feeding programme started off offering a meal once a week to about 25 children, who live in food-insecure households.

But now, it draws around 300 pupils from seven local primary and secondary schools.

Mouton said a snap survey conducted by the church shows that there are many children who live in homes experiencing “extreme food insecurity”.

“Some of the needy children’s parents have jobs, but they are the working poor and earn paltry wages, and thus cannot buy enough food to feed their families,” he observed.

Mouton said the church is privileged, blessed and enjoys offering a meal to each hungry child, irrespective of his/her background.

“Some children take food along with them to share with their younger siblings at home,” he added.

School principals also assist the church in identifying those children who might not have something to eat after school.

“It is a pleasure for me to prepare food for the schoolchildren,” said church member Antoinette van Rooyen, who volunteers to prepare meals for the needy children.

“It is not bothering me to prepare food for them… through my contribution, I make a difference,” she beamed.

Van Rooyen said some elder children benefiting from the feeding programme had expressed their gratitude to her through Christmas cards they had sent to her last year, wishing her all the best and love.

“This was a great encouragement to me,” she added.

Shy to speak to this reporter, Grade 4 pupil Messi Dirkse whispered: “We feel very good to get a meal here”.

Besides providing schoolchildren with a meal each day of the school year, the church also runs a food assistance programme entirely focussing on elderly people, as well as the ‘dignify girls’ programme. Mouton explained that the parishioners contribute food items in buckets monthly, which are then donated each month to five elderly people, or those with terminal illnesses identified in collaboration with local social workers.

“The food parcels do not go to the same people each month..it depends on the need we identified,” he added.

The church, through its ‘dignify girls’ programme, donates sanitary pads to needy high school girls every second month, and organises events addressed by motivational speakers who talk about feminine hygiene awareness.

“We all are created dignified, but poverty and violence sometimes strip us of dignity,” Mouton remarked.

“We are the carriers of hope,” he added.

The spiritual leader said God has blessed the church with some local individuals, who are not URC members, contributing financially or in-kind to the feeding programme.

“For now, there are sufficient funds to sustain the initiative,” he enthused.

Mouton hopes the feeding programme will one day become a fully-fledged community initiative.

“I believe every hungry person should be a challenge for each community member,” he stated.

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