Soup kitchen started with disability grant

THE Moonlight Hope Charity has been feeding more than 30 children and 20 adults for the past six years at Kamanjab.

Willemina Kandume (50) started the soup kitchen, aiming to uplift the less privileged in her community by providing them with three meals a week.

She says this is near impossible due to a lack of support.

“I feed them twice a week although my aim is at least three warm meals a week. I started the soup kitchen with my N$1 300 I disability grant from the government,” Kandume says.

The children she feeds are either vulnerable, orphaned or live with disabilities, she says. Kandume says the unemployment rate is high at Kamanjab and some parents struggle to provide their children with proper meals.

She says she has approached several businesses, which have assisted her with chips and clothes. The mother of two adult children says she has approached some local schools for mealie meal.

“We have to look after our children and feed them as they are the future generation. Future leaders deserve a proper meal,” she says.

Kandume also hosts a girls’ club, which advises teenage girls how to take care of themselves.

“I am not excluding boys, but girls are vulnerable, so I advise them on life, the dangers that lurk around them, and why it’s important to take their education seriously,” she says.

She says she plans to also start a boys’ club in the future.

Kamanjab constituency councillor Nico Somaeb says his office acknowledges the existence of the Moonlight Hope Charity soup kitchen.

“We know of its existence. Kunene Regional Council officials visited the project for assessments and to see it can to be assisted if funding is available,” he says.

Somaeb says he plans to provide Moonlight Hope Charity with a monthly contribution in his personal capacity, and the Kamanjab constituency councillor’s office plans to donate pots.

“Moonlight Hope Charity stands in where there is a shortage of parental involvement. Kandume steps in, and she advises girls. She impacts others positively and gives that parental love to children,” Somaeb says.

He says the Kamanjab constituency councillor’s office will not hesitate to support such an initiative.

Businesses, farmers’ associations and individuals are called upon to assist were they can.

Kandume operates the soup kitchen from her house and says she wants to build a hostel and kitchen for the children so that they can be accommodated and looked after on a daily basis.

The Moonlight Hope Charity soup kitchen needs food, cutlery, crockery and a gas stove.