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SA Harvest and Lusikisiki celebrate R1.4m in donations from Daily Maverick readers

SA Harvest and Lusikisiki celebrate R1.4m in donations from Daily Maverick readers
SA Harvest calls on South Africans to donate so they can help alleviate hunger in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape this festive season. (Photo: supplied: SA Harvest)
Daily Maverick
By Daily Maverick
15 Dec 2023
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SA Harvest CEO and founder Alan Browde confirmed this morning that Daily Maverick readers have donated an astonishing R1.4-million towards food for Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.

‘We are celebrating,” Alan Browde, founder and CEO of SA Harvest, said this morning (Thursday) as donations from Daily Maverick readers closed in on R1.4-million for food in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. 

“This will feed hundreds of families over the next six weeks,” Browde said. “It is a significant amount of food aid.” 

More than 400 families had already been vetted and were waiting for the truck to arrive with food parcels.

“This is very significant,” Browde said. “From my side this has been an unbelievably successful collaboration. It demonstrates the power of Daily Maverick and the absolute generosity of their readers.

“Feeding people has so many results. Hunger causes physical and mental devastation and in Lusikisiki many people have reached their limit,” he said. 

The blessing of providing nutrition is huge, he added. Children without food were listless, had low energy and were unable to concentrate. 

“Hopefully this will be the start of an ongoing programme.”

https://youtu.be/lnitIGFy00s

More than 400 Lusikisiki beneficiaries gathered at distribution points on Thursday morning to receive their Daily Maverick-sponsored festive season food parcels. (Photo: Supplied)



Browde said their food parcels have been packed with a starch, such as maize, but also tins of non-perishable food and proteins like pilchards, as well as fruit and vegetables. 

“Boxer stores pack the non-perishable food for us and we distribute it.”

He said they have a Lusikisiki-based team that identified recipients in need and have vetted them. 

“We distribute from certain points. We also make sure of absolute compliance – our teams get a picture or a signature for every food parcel distributed. Those who receive the food parcels need it, I can assure you.”

Dire situation


It is not easy to look hunger in the eye. It is even harder to be hungry. It strips people of their dignity and children of their potential to grow and flourish. Left unchecked, it kills. 

In South Africa, a country rich in resources and potential, it remains criminal that so many of our citizens go hungry. There is much we can do to help.

This holiday, countless children and their families will go hungry. 

Children who have relied on school feeding schemes will go without regular meals for the next few weeks. 

The situation is particularly dire in provinces such as the Eastern Cape.

SA Harvest food parcels SA Harvest provides food parcels that can ensure balanced meals – this includes protein, vegetables and starch. (Photo: Supplied / SA Harvest)


Malnutrition


One in five South African households is food insecure – this means they do not know where their next meal will come from or when. The Eastern Cape, where almost one in three (32%) households is food insecure, is the worst affected. 

An investigation by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) found that one in four children in the province is stunted due to malnutrition. 

Between 2021 and 2022, at least 1,000 children were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (a medical diagnosis), with 120 of them dying as a result. In a country of plenty, it is unthinkable that children are dying of hunger.

According to the Eastern Cape health department, between September 2022 and August 2023, there were 456 new cases of severe acute malnutrition in children under five and 91 deaths due to severe acute malnutrition in the OR Tambo District alone.

A previous campaign in KwaZulu-Natal where SA Harvest partnered with Boxer Superstores to provide food parcels. (Photo: Supplied / SA Harvest)


More than statistics


The human tragedy behind these numbers is told by Daily Maverick journalists Estelle Ellis and Hoseya Jubase:

Read more in Daily Maverick: Desperately poor Eastern Cape mom kills herself and three of her four children

Read more in Daily Maverick: Grandparents spend their pensions to feed entire families as food crisis hits hard in Eastern Cape

The SAHRC says child hunger in the Eastern Cape should be declared a disaster under the Disaster Management Act.

But this won’t help hungry families over the next few weeks. 

That’s why Daily Maverick is partnering with SA Harvest to raise R1-million to help feed the hungry in the Eastern Cape.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Take action to alleviate hunger: Daily Maverick holiday appeal

Over the past five years, SA Harvest has distributed tons of food and helped feed millions across the country. 

The company’s parcels contain nutritious food that is “rescued” from across the food supply chain and distributed to more than 200 vetted beneficiaries across the county.

SA Harvest COO Ozzy Nel explains that the company provides food that can make balanced meals – this includes protein, vegetables and starch. Food parcels usually consist of baked beans, canned pilchards, soya and mince, and vegetable curry. They also include flour, rice, maize meal, cooking oil and samp, and fresh vegetables such as potatoes, butternut and onions.

CEO Alan Browde adds: “To ensure the food lasts, we provide non-perishables, but even the vegetables will be able to last for quite a long time.”

SA Harvest has also partnered with small-scale farmers who contribute fresh produce to the food parcels. 

Your donation can keep hunger at the door


Browde says the Daily Maverick-SA Harvest project has the potential to provide a thousand needy families with food parcels that should last for two months.

SA Harvest calls on South Africans to donate so they can help alleviate hunger in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape this festive season. (Photo: Supplied / SA Harvest)


Why SA Harvest?


The organisation has a dedicated team in Lusikisiki with a wide network of organisations ensuring that the food is received and distributed. Each food parcel is tracked. 

Nel explains: “We partner with local organisations that know who is in desperate need. These organisations are sometimes just one Gogo who cooks and dishes up food for the community, or sometimes a bigger organisation that can help distribute the food.”

SA Harvest plans to redistribute some of the food from their Durban branch, but they need funds to properly feed Lusikisiki. The funds raised will be used to buy extra goods, put fuel in the trucks that distribute the parcels and, if need be, hire extra truck drivers. 

Nel says SA Harvest has a digital tracking system that ensures the correct beneficiaries receive the food they need. This not only allows them to facilitate live tracking of all food parcels delivered, but also to collect essential information from recipients as they deliver the parcels.

Operations manager for SA Harvest in Lusikisiki, Vuyiswa Cele, says unemployment, high food prices and limited ways of making an income all contribute to the hunger crisis. He says a lot of families send children as young as eight to sell mielies, bananas or spinach in town. 

“The grandmothers get money from recycling … they can collect huge piles of plastic all week and only get R10. They wait from as early as 4am for a recycling truck that comes at 10am,” says Cele.

The limited income makes little difference since food is so expensive. Local retailers also charge extra for transporting produce to isolated rural areas. Cele says four onions could cost up to R40, while they were sold for R20 in Mthatha. 

SA Harvest has documented about 350 families from Bizana and Lusikisiki who don’t receive any grants or income to buy food. Cele says even the families that have a grant recipient are in dire need as one person’s pension could be supporting up to six people. 

“You should see the sad state when grandmothers sleep at the post office waiting for their pension. They wait in long lines … by the time they get it, they have been hungry for days,” says Cele.

Cele says she hopes the campaign succeeds because “people are always grateful for the relief when they receive the food. Sometimes I get emotional at handovers. People are overjoyed but also sad because they have been in a desperate situation for so long. This will change Christmas.”

The Lusikisiki team is asking for your help to provide a happier festive season for families in need.  

Donate here to help SA Harvest feed as many families as possible. 

Donation details:

SA Harvest NPC
Bank: FNB
Account Number: 62693490478
Branch Code: 255955. DM

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