FOOD FOR PEOPLE IN CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

Geri Andrews reflects on the opening of a new The Prem Rawat Foundation Food for People (FFP) facility in South Africa, and how the initiative was the first inspiration for the founding of UK charity Peace Partners.  


In 2016, Julie Hammersley, visited the Tasarpu Food for People facility in Nepal. She was so deeply touched by this visit she felt inspired to approach a few people to come together to form Peace Partners. Describing her experience, she wrote:
“There is a road—the first road built between Nepal and India—that winds like a ribbon through the foothills of the Himalayas. Turning off this road takes you to Nepal’s Tasarpu Food for People facility. In the cool early morning, the site buzzes like a hive. Children arrive from all around, walking the last few yards up to the facility. Girls, boys—all ages—coming for a well-balanced, hot nutritious breakfast. Do you want to know how your contributions help? One picture says it all. 

I saw this little girl walk into the dining room. Most of the others had come with friends or relatives, but this girl entered alone. After the routine of washing and queuing, she settled in her space to eat. I was captivated by her. She didn’t notice me, but I watched as she worked her way through a small mountain of food she had built on her tray. She ate and ate and then lifted the tray to her mouth to get every last grain. This is the scene I captured: zoom in on her jeans. The holes have been embroidered with pink cotton thread. Each embroidered hole is an “I love you” from her mother. The girl’s clothes are slightly dirty, probably because, after this meal, she has to work. All through breakfast, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It seemed to me that she had responsibilities and was a little serious. Having been with her for only a few minutes, I watched as she disappeared through the door, knowing that on this morning she left with more than a full belly. On this morning she left with my heart. That is the difference you’ve made in one girl’s life. Multiplied, the effects are stunning. 

a​After breakfast, the headmaster took me to see the local school. Each class was crowded with eager students. Girls are going on to high school now, which was unheard of before the Food for People facility was operational. Until FFP opened, there was no food for the children at home, so they had to work in the fields, breaking stones. Or in hotels, washing floors. The dropout rate was high. Today, 99% of the children attend school and have hope for the future. Your generous funding is now enabling the school to construct four more classrooms to accommodate the increase. What you do makes a profound difference in people’s lives.”

Since then, in addition to the first a Food for People facility in Ranchi, India, and this one in Nepal, a further one has been opened in Ghana and now, most recently, in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa. The inauguration ceremony took place on 26th Nov 2024 attended by Mr. Prem Rawat, and members of the Prem Rawat Foundation, and the Prem Ubuntu Foundation. To quote Nitasha Barath, treasurer of the Prem Ubuntu Foundation, “Lots of people here live minute by minute, how am I going to feed my kids?” Here in the UK, when situations are extremely difficult we are familiar with the saying ‘living day to day’. Living minute to minute is on the edge of survival.

It is impossible to function normally on an empty stomach and people who experience such food shortage cannot work or trade to support themselves. It is a vicious cycle. In such circumstances, food is not just food, it is the solution to problems. It has been seen from the experience of the FFP kitchens in India, Nepal and Ghana that when the facility becomes an integral part of the community, peoples’ health improves and crime rates plummet, because there is no longer a need to steal to eat. Children can go to school, and trade can start up again. All this on just one good, nutritious meal a day.

Colin Barends, the Facility Manager, is a gang intervention specialist who works with gang members and community stakeholders to reduce violence in Cape Town. As an ex-gang member himself and a participant of the Peace Education Programme, he is—in his own words—the face of the Cape Flats. “I represent the Cape Flats, I’m furniture in the Cape Flats”, he says. When he was introduced to the Peace Education Programme, he recalls “We had never heard of it, then, when it hit us, we fell in love with the programme.” He is up every morning at 4am to go to the market to buy fresh food for the meals that day, and to establish the route for them to be delivered to the children.

The facility makes 6000 meals per week, local food cooked with love and care by local people in a hyper-clean environment. It is the generosity of donors worldwide that makes it possible to produce meals of this standard sustainably and reliably, and in time it is hopefully anticipated that this facility too will become an integral part of the community, and a hub for all sorts of benefits.

Initially, any extra support can help this facility in Cape Flats get going and become self-sustaining. During the inauguration ceremony, Prem Rawat said, "The whole world is one village", it is not hand-outs but practical help that provides a way out of the poverty trap, bringing dignity and prosperity to the people in the community. Such is the power of simple, nutritious food. 

The eating and sharing of food goes beyond divisions of ethnicity, class or religion. In the words of Shri Hans Maharaj, Prem Rawat’s father and teacher: ”The difference between people and other creatures is that people can cook.” This is a profound yet simple truth.

In the spirit of Julie’s first inspiration, Peace Partners donors continue to support the Epping kitchen in the Cape Flats, to help the ‘beaming lights’ who are working so hard to give the children there a better life.

​You can contribute to support for the Food for People Programme through our donation page, which can be found here: https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/tprffundraising. 
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“We want to offer the community clarity for the mind, peace for the being, gratitude for the heart and food for the stomach. This is what TPRF is all about” TPRF Founder, Prem Rawat 

Learn more about The Prem Rawat Foundation Food For People programme and its expansion in South Africa here:  https://tprf.org/prem-rawat-expands-food-for-people-program-to-south-africa/