16 October was World Food Day. It’s hard to believe that at this moment, ten million people in South Africa experience daily hunger, of which 2.8 million are children.
Our country grows more than enough food to sustain the entire population of South Africa, yet we fail to do so.
Sprouting minds is one of the organisations that is actively doing things to make sure that less people go to bed hungry.
The non-profit’s chairperson, Cornelia Owens, is a dietitian with a special interest in paediatrics. She lives her vision, “nourish the child, nourish the nation”, on a daily basis.
This mother of three started a feeding scheme at a school in Fisantekraal, and currently all grade R to 3 pupils receive a daily nutritional meal. Later, after realising that some children have little or no access to food on weekends, Sprouting Minds also started a soup kitchen on Saturdays.
The teachers bear witness as to how a nutritious meal can influence a child’s ability to concentrate and learn.
But Sprouting minds did not stop there – they also plant community vegetable gardens (amongst others, they recently partnered with the Mosselbank River Conservation Team to create their veggie garden) and teach especially children the value of growing your own food and the joy that a garden can bring.
They support soup kitchens in Fisantekraal, like the Greenville Soup Kitchen, and recently had a market day at Cornelia’s house in Vierlanden, Durbanville. This gave the women that run these kitchens a chance to showcase their talents – lovely fresh veggies, delicious freshly baked bread, cupcakes, plants and seeds, flowers and tasty jams.
Everybody at Essentially Natural feels so strongly about sharing food and helping this cause that the staff has a continual collection of food. The first collection was recently handed over to Sprouting Minds and we hope to do this on a regular basis.
We are proud to have Sprouting Minds as our Outreach Partner and look forward to working closely with them in future!
Learn more about Sprouting Minds on their website, or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
The Sprouting Minds team are joined here by other like-minded activists that give their time and hearts to feeding the community.
Juanita handing over the EN staff's first collection of food. This will aid two Fisantekraal soup kitchen's in their daily work.
From left to right: Cornelia (Sprouting Minds chairperson), Antoinette (Greenville Soup Kitchen), Maria (God Can Soup Kitchen) and our own Juanita.
Just look at that gorgeous mountain of fresh produce!
Nothing beats a freshly baked cupcake!
