Siyakhathala

by | Aug 15, 2022 | Blog

Siyakhathala is a community project in which KOSRA was instrumentally involved, particularly the late Mark Moses

Siyakhathala is a Marselle and Ekuphumleni Township project, supported and encouraged by the local Christian, business and charitable communities to provide food security to all residents.

The covid 19 pandemic, high levels of unemployment and the rising cost of living has added large numbers to those suffering food insecurity and hunger.

It is understandable that as hunger grows, so will social instability, crime and violence.

It is both the Christian and civic duty of every citizen and business to respond positively to the biblical question, “When I was hungry did you feed me?” But! Charity runs the risk of degrading and demotivating the recipients. So we looked for a way to both maintain the important principle of supporting oneself, while providing adequate food to the poorest.

This is what we have done!

A packet of dry food mixture that makes either soup or stew for five persons has been developed. This is sold from St Matthews Church, Marselle and the Zionist Church, Ekuphumleni, every Wednesday morning. The currency is clean, recyclable garbage. The price per two packets is one shopping bag full of plastic, paper, cans or glass.

The philosophy and hope behind the scheme is:

  1. Every person in the Township has the security of knowing that neither they nor their children need ever go to bed hungry.
  2. Getting their daily meal does not require the dehumanising necessity of begging.
  3. Collecting, cleaning and sorting recyclable material gives to people both the motivation and dignity of caring for themselves.
  4. The effort needed to collect recyclable material dissuades those who are not really hungry but looking for free handouts.
  5. It leads to cleaner and healthier townships.
  6. It highlights the value of recycling.
  7. The project is contributing to the on-going good relationship between Township and villages.

The finances, purchasing and packing of the parcels is overseen by members of St David’s Anglican Church and volunteers from the community. The cost of the ingredients is roughly R5 per packet. Currently, we distribute up to 1,000pkts (5,000 meals) per week.

The distribution of the soup packets is done with the help of the local township community.

Financial Appeal

Most want to help the needy; but it’s just so hard to find a way that doesn’t involve expensive administration, a scam or corruption.

Here is a simple local project run by people in the community, overseen by a reputable Christian structure that you may want to support. Every Rand given will be used to buy food and nothing else.

Contributions to:  Alexandria Parish; Standard Bank; Code: 050817; A/C: 280 275757.
Reference:   Siyakhathala
Ruthell Johnson 073 377 1309 (Project co-ordinator)

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