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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Damian Willemse runs out at the Stade de France for the Rugby World Cup final on Saturday evening, the whole of South Africa will be shouting in support – but none will be louder than the people of Strand, a small town on the False Bay coast 50km outside Cape Town.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“People really love him here; they have a huge amount of respect for him,” Damian’s mother, Charlotte, told </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Strand is known to most as a holiday town, the inequality that persists in the country means there is also a large, impoverished community.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charlotte runs a feeding scheme from her Strand home to help the community in which her sons were raised. Damian’s brother is former Western Province and Stormers hooker, Ramone Samuels.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I make the food at home on Tuesdays … there are lots of people coming here from all areas in the Strand, so the numbers just multiply every week,” Charlotte said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I also send them home with a package … maybe porridge and jam or whatever I get, then I give them something to take home so that they have food for two days after Tuesday.”</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-26-damian-willemse-and-his-mom-are-heroes-of-their-small-western-cape-town/whatsapp-image-2023-10-26-at-16-42-57/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1913343\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1913343 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/WhatsApp-Image-2023-10-26-at-16.42.57.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1001\" /></a> <em>Charlotte Willemse runs a feeding scheme from her Strand home to help the community. (Photo: Supplied)</em></p>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/whatsapp-image-2023-10-26-at-16-43-07/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1913344 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/WhatsApp-Image-2023-10-26-at-16.43.07.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1600\" /></a> <em>Damian Willemse is the main financial contributor to the feeding scheme, while his mother, along with a few members of the community, helps to prepare the food. (Photo: Supplied)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>Lending a helping hand</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea to provide meals was sparked by the pandemic and the effects it had on members of their Strand community.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Damian got involved with the Be The Difference Foundation,” Charlotte said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“He and Cheslin Kolbe and a few Stormers guys, they wanted to do something in Strand because the foundation is usually in Kraaifontein and those areas, but Damian wanted to do something in Strand too. We distribute food and stuff.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When everybody went back to work [after the pandemic], we saw that the need was still great here. So Damian asked me if I could go on with the feeding scheme. I agreed, and it hasn’t stopped yet, but the need is becoming greater every day.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Damian is the main financial contributor to the feeding scheme, while his mother, along with a few members of the community, helps to prepare the food.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite his on-field achievements – Damian was part of the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup winning squad and played a leading role in the Stormers’ victorious United Rugby Championship campaign last year – the hot-stepper keeps his feet firmly on the ground.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They talk about him all the time ... I can’t even go to the shops without people saying ‘there is Damian’s mommy’ or they will say ‘</span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Auntie waar’s Damian</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wanneer kom Damian</span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">’ [Where’s Damian, when is Damian coming?].</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They have a huge amount of respect for him … when Damian is here in Strand and they see his car, they will politely ask if they can take pictures of him or with him and he will always – he has very beautiful manners, I must say that about Damian – go greet everybody here in the street and go say ‘hello, sorry that I’m so scarce’.”</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/whatsapp-image-2023-10-26-at-16-43-38/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1913346 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/WhatsApp-Image-2023-10-26-at-16.43.38.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1319\" height=\"1060\" /></a> <em>Charlotte, her family and the 50,000-strong Strand community will be cheering their lungs out for their very own superstar. (Photo: Supplied)</em></p>\r\n<h4><b>A hero to many</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having spent his formative years in Strand, learning to side-step there before moving to Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and eventually being offered a contract with the Stormers, Willemse has become a hero to many in the town.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It is, for me, very important that Damian gives back to the community because they stand behind him,” said Charlotte.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“And although he’s not staying here any more, the people still say they’re going to Damian Willemse’s house … that they’re going to get food there.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Damian will start at fullback in Saturday’s mouthwatering clash against New Zealand’s All Blacks.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charlotte, her family and the 50,000-strong Strand community will be cheering their lungs out for their very own superstar.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’m ecstatic [for the final]. I’m very proud because Damian works very hard.” </span><b>DM</b>\r\n<div><strong>Read more in Daily Maverick:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/springbok-rugby-world-cup-2023-news-results/\">Rugby World Cup 2023 News Hub</a></div>",
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Charlotte Willemse runs a feeding scheme from her Strand home to help the community. (Photo: Supplied)
Damian Willemse is the main financial contributor to the feeding scheme, while his mother, along with a few members of the community, helps to prepare the food. (Photo: Supplied)
Charlotte, her family and the 50,000-strong Strand community will be cheering their lungs out for their very own superstar. (Photo: Supplied)