How South Africa’s women are leading the fight against hunger in their communities

Historically women have always played a prominent role in our country’s struggles, and they continue to do so. Thousands of underprivileged South Africans, unable to feed themselves and their families, rely on the dedication, compassion and hard work of those selfless women who have taken a stand against hunger in their communities.

One of the most inspiring examples of these local heroines is Mickey Linda, fondly known as Mamma Mickey, who lives in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. Having recognised the need for a soup kitchen in her neighbourhood, Mamma Mickey started Yiza Ekhaya. She fed 40 people on the first day. Now she feeds up to 250 on a daily basis.

As Africa’s biggest food retailer, Shoprite shares Mamma Mickey’s determination to fight hunger and has been supporting the Yiza Ekhaya soup kitchen since 2015. More recently, Shoprite assisted Mamma Mickey to establish a sustainable food garden. Today Mamma Mickey and her team of volunteers feed local children before and after school every day. They also serve hot, nutritious meals to clinic patients in their community.

Better still, Yiza Ekhaya is empowering local people with gardening skills they can use to feed their families. “I believe everybody should have a food garden,” says Mamma Mickey. “Even if you have no money, you and your families can still eat.”

Patricia Piyani is another South African woman who is leading the fight against hunger in her community. After setting up the Wathint’ Abafazi crèche to care for children in the Joe Slovo settlement in the Eastern Cape, she noticed that many youngsters came to the crèche with empty stomachs. So, in 2013 she acquired a piece of land with the help of a local councillor and established a food garden on it.

Shoprite has subsequently assisted Wathint’ Abafazi to upgrade its kitchen facility, originally housed in a tiny shack, into a fully functional kitchen stocked with equipment and utensils. The supermarket chain also provided permaculture training, infrastructure and tools to make the garden more sustainable.

Not only has this support equipped Piyani and her team to serve nutritious meals to their community, but it also helped them to start generating an income by selling the garden’s surplus produce and flowers. And, like Mamma Mickey, Piyani is taking steps to inspire local community members to develop an interest in gardening and produce their own food, starting with the youth.

Shoprite’s relationship with green champion and teacher Nomonde Ntsundwana dates back to 2012, when she was a finalist in the Shoprite Women of the Year competition.

With Shoprite’s support, Ntsundwana has developed the food garden at the Seyisi Primary School in Kwazakele, in / outside Port Elizabeth, into an outdoor laboratory to teach the learners about seeds, germination, soil, weather, science as well as life skills. Crucially, she is also using it to teach learners how to feed themselves and their families.

Ntsundwana, Piyani and Mamma Mickey are just three inspiring examples of the hundreds of women across South Africa who are leading the fight against hunger in their communities.