Today is World Food Day!
Firstly, we the Lunch Gang owe our followers an apology! We have not been posting blogs as regularly as we had hoped this week, mainly due to being hard at work on preparations for World Food Day. The FoodBank SA network team are grateful for a number of companies, organisations and individuals who have pledged to support us in our goal to end hunger in South Africa. We will be placing news on the day as it happens!
One of the questions we are often asked when we state the fact that if 14 million South Africans face hunger, why we do not see the same pictures of widespread severe malnutrition as we do see in the rest of Africa. One of the answers lies in the fact that there is a lot of philanthropy happening in the townships that is done by neighbours, friends and family -- often by people with resources far fewer than the average reader of the blog.
Most of the agencies we support are small operations, run by passionate people who perhaps found that they had a little extra money to help someone in need. It is not uncommon to find in a township, a few grandmothers who put together their state pensions, and adopt a couple of babies orphaned by AIDS or other serious diseases. We have a special term for them - we call them Philanthropists eKasi (eKasi being the phrase for "from the township"). For a great story on Magda, one Philanthropist eKasi, have a read here. However, while Philanthropists eKasi often do great work with very little, more is needed to ensure that the work they do is more sustainable, more constant and more effective.
A typical Philanthropist eKasi often contributes as much as 20% - 30% of their income to helping others. If we are to build South Africa into one of the strongest developing nations, those of us whose resources are greater than a typical township resident need to take a serious look at our contribution to this goal. We need to all become part of Philanthropists Mzansi (a nation of philanthropists), and use our skills, time and money to ensure that in our lifetime, our country makes a meaningful leap forward in terms of reducing poverty and hunger.
BECOME A PHILANTHROPIST MZANSI - Join us, the Lunch Gang, as we donate our lunch money to FoodBank South Africa...
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