At the beginning of 2003, we began feeding the most needy children at Mgedula school, 35km from Ingwavuma Town. In June, Eating Out, a South African  internet based restaurant guide, offered to fund a feeding programme at Okhayeni, 27km from Ingwavuma Town. They give 1% of their monthly turnover, which covers the cost of feeding all the children who need a meal at Okhayeni and their siblings. It, like the other programmes, has made an enormous difference to these children’s lives.

Bongiwe said:
“The food that we eat in this school helps us a lot because when we are hungry we fill up our tummies. If we have had enough we take some into containers and take it home. Therefore we thank you very much for the food that we get at school on Saturdays and Sundays.” She is one of a very large family and had been eating half the meal herself and taking the remainder home for her siblings. The older ones now also come to school at weekends and she takes additional food home for the little ones.

Nokukhanya Ndlovu is the school Principal. She says "Before we had the feeding programme at weekends, children came to school on Mondays with no energy. They were falling asleep in class. Now they are bright eyed and responsive, even before their 10am meal. They are all making significant progress, thanks to these meals. We as educators, are very grateful to Eating Out and Zisize.  The parents are also grateful. They have come to thank me and say that by feeding these children, the little they have at home can stretch further as there are less mouths to feed."

December 2003 and the long Christmas break presented a big problem for children in need, so we began feeding programmes at Lundini, which is near the centre of Ingwavuma, for the children below, all of whom are orphans. Interestingly some have subsequently dropped out as their need is not as great as those in outlying areas.

It was then brought to our attention that 100 of the 835 pupils at Ekuhlehleni, situated close to the borders of both Mozambique and Swaziland, had been identified as in dire need. We approached Starfish to ask if we could use some of the money they and Anglo American had raised for us to build a centre, to feed these children during the Christmas break. Thankfully they agreed. These are some of the children helped.

We employ a local woman at each location to cook, who previously had no income in the household, so additional people benefit from the scheme in a small way.

This is Ekuhlehleni’s cook. All meals are cooked in pots like these over open fires.

The meals we give are very basic - rice, mealie meal or samp, soya, gravy, potatoes and occasional vegetables being the staple diet. However, we are keen to increase their vitamin and protein intake and to ensure they have a clean supply of drinking water, so are providing each of the six schools with whatever is necessary to have a vegetable garden, chickens and safe water. This can mean fencing, rainwater tanks, connection to water mains, provision of seedlings and livestock etc.

Manyiseni’s feeding scheme began for both primary and High School pupils in December 2004.

We plan to replicate these schemes in their totality at the KwaQatha site in 2006.