On a mission to feed hungry kids

EVERY Saturday morning, Martha Festus makes it her mission to feed over a hundred vulnerable children at the Havana informal settlement in Windhoek.

Festus is the founder of Porridge Storage and Keep a Girl in School Namibia.

“As a team, we are determined to fight menstruation poverty and to assist vulnerable children by giving them a decent meal to ensure they do not go to bed hungry,” she says.

Growing up in Havana, on the outskirts of Katutura, Festus says she has witnessed many children going to bed on an empty stomach and some who could barely afford sanitary pads.

The 22-year-old do-gooder started the soup kitchen after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I started with seven children and currently we have more than 300 hundred children coming to the soup kitchen every Saturday. Most of them are orphans, while some are from less privileged backgrounds.”

Her passion for helping others was born from seeing people suffering many hardships. This why she aspires to have a registered orphanage centre in the next three years to cater for all children, despite the many challenges she faces daily, such as not having enough food for all the children who come to the soup kitchen.

“Sometimes, when there is not enough food to feed the children, I am forced to send some back home, which is heartbreaking because the aim is to feed all of those who hope to get a meal.”

Festus is also an entrepreneur who sells fruit and vegetables to supplement her project and make ends meet.

She is thankful for her supportive circle of friends and siblings who often assist her with projects in the community.

Another initiative she has embarked on since 2020, Keep a Girl in School Namibia, aims to keep vulnerable girls in school during their menstruation by assisting them with sanitary items.

The initiative is driven by the fact that a number of poor Namibian girls are forced to stay out of school while on their periods because they cannot afford sanitary pads.

“As a group of young people, we started the initiative with meagre resources to assist young women in the country's informal settlements with sanitary pads,” said the organisation's chairperson, Julia Heita.

“Our aim is to expand our initiative to reach other vulnerable groups countrywide and acquire more sanitary items for girls in both informal settlements and rural areas.''

So far, the organisation has collected and donated sanitary items to 13 schools in the Havana and Mix Settlement informal areas in Windhoek.

In March, Festus was recognised and appreciated by the Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs) Namibia foundation.

“Apart from being awarded with a certificate, my project was sponsored with some clothing and groceries. I am grateful that I won, and I was able to bring along something to maintain the children for some Saturdays,” says Festus.

“It is one of our programmes in which the public nominates people doing things in the community that are not usually recognised,” says founder of the RAKs foundation Charlotte Mojackie, who commends Festus for the great work she does for her community.

The foundation is a brand for individuals who desire to be part of the kindest community in Namibia. Its mission is to see transformed hearts, minds and lives.

“We met up with her and realised that she is doing an amazing job within her community. She is about touching hearts and her heart is for her community, because she uses her own resources. Havana is huge and she could do it every day, but due to limited resources she is doing it one day per week. She deserves all the support she needs,” says Mojackie.

Festus was also recently nominated in the humanitarian category of the Zikomo Africa Awards, which is determined by the public's votes.

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