Soup kitchen, kindergarten provide a safe haven

“I grew up here. I know what it feels like to walk to school with a hungry stomach and walk back home in the afternoon sun. I also did schoolwork on an empty stomach and tried to concentrate. I experienced it myself, so now I cannot just sit back and watch. I have to help. That is why part of my salary as an office administrator goes to the Heart in Hand soup kitchen.”These are the words of Alicia Glaser, whose father pastor Abraham Kamure and his wife Wilhelmina started Wilma's Kindergarten in the informal settlement Okahandja Park in 1994.“We currently have between 25 and 35 children, but the number varies. We do not send any child home if the parents cannot pay. Every child deserves a safe place. Many parents work and then the children are home alone. Here with us they are looked after, they are taught and prepared for school,” Kamure says.Already with the founding of the kindergarten 28 years ago, the couple saw the great need in the informal settlement, and out of their own pocket and as far as they could, they provided children with food.“If we have 30 children in the class, at least 20 will arrive without food for the day. We try to provide food every day; sadly we can only afford it two to three days a week,” he said.They hope to be able to set up a centre in the future where not only the neighbourhood’s children, but also young people, can be kept away from the streets, alcohol and drugs.TeamworkAccording to Piccolo Kandinda, chairman of the Heart in Hand soup kitchen, he saw the need and decided to help.“The pastor and his wife can no longer combat the rising need and hunger alone and out of their own pocket. We as a community must help. Here are so many small children who have to walk up to 10 km every day to and from school while their stomachs are empty.“The need is so great that we can easily feed 400 to 600 children on a weekend if we get the necessary funds and help. We need to get them off the street. You can see groups of young children drinking or drugging, walking around here every weekend, because that's what they're exposed to. To see a child stumbling around with a bottle of beer is just not right. Children need to be kept busy and get food in their stomachs.”To assist, contact Alicia at 081 465 4653.

Soup kitchen, kindergarten provide a safe haven

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Republikein 2025-05-01

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Soup kitchen, kindergarten provide a safe haven

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