Feeding in Action: Taking Steps to Alleviate Hunger and Joblessness in South Africa

This blog post was written and submitted by Valentin Worms, a Social Gastronomy reporter.

For years, Liesel Koen and her team at Feeding In Action have been dedicating their time to feed vulnerable communities in South Africa and create jobs. I recently got the chance to meet them and was amazed by how committed they are to their mission.

One of the many meals Feeding in Action provides to its community.

Feeding in Action operates in the broader Stellenbosch Municipal Area, an area foreigners tend to know better for the quality of its wine than for the challenges it faces regarding food security. The organization was founded in 1994 by Dr. Dora Steyn, who saw a need to provide sufficient, nutritious, and satisfying food to many people in her community. Since then, Feeding in Action has grown and now serves more than 12,000 meals to 5,000 people of all ages each week, operating anywhere from schools to homeless shelters.

One of its main goals is to provide enough food that is healthy to vulnerable children. “Eating enables them to study at school for their future and create a long-term change in these underprivileged communities, where unemployment and inequalities are high,” Liesel explained to me.

Some of the many children Feeding in Action works with each week.

Raising awareness about food security issues in their region, Feeding in Action strives to rescue as much food as possible that otherwise would have been wasted by industries or supermarkets. Fruits and vegetables are prioritized, as the organization wants to ensure good nutrition, not only in quantity but also through healthier products.

But Feeding in Action goes further than working to alleviate hunger in their communities. It also provides jobs to the five people on the team, who are assisted by around 300 volunteers who cook and distribute the food every day. These volunteers are developing cooking skills that could be used, potentially, in the future for a job. Looking to ensure and reinforce their sustainability, Feeding in Action is also now harvesting its own vegetables and fruits, which allows them to produce more meals at a reduced cost.

To learn more about Feeding in Action, visit https://www.feedinginaction.co.za/ or check out their Facebook Page.