In March 2020, with the pandemic just starting to gain disastrous momentum, South Africa went into a ‘hard’ lockdown: no private movement, no trading, no alcohol and cigarettes… The country, one of the first at that time, came to a complete halt. In Cape Town, often (and rightfully so) seen as ‘laid back’, sometimes phlegmatic, some great people came up with the concept to pair a more wealthy suburb with a less fortunate one, for direct support. My suburb, Plumstead, was paired with Lavender Hill, an area, although a merely 15min drive, I (and most Plumsteadians) have never visited, in fact have avoided. A dangerous area…
A community leader, Mark Nicholson, had been feeding and caring for kids on the ‘battlefield’, the shoot-out area of the local gangs. At that time, the number of kids that required food rose to 300 per day! With government doing nothing about it, I started collecting food – at neighbours, friends, anyone I knew. I would park my old Peugeot during the week outside of my house, and people could drop food in the boot at any time. And once a week, on Mondays, I would drive to Mark and the kids to hand it over. 1 week became more than 40 weeks, our member numbers grew, and friends from all over the world joined. We had friends in Sweden collecting money for 1000 oranges (per week!), someone in New York ordered food via an App and had it delivered, and my garage became a trading store… And I was so fortunate to get to know the people and kids of Lavender Hill, and their gratitude towards what we as Lavender6 did. So we extended our support, to clothing, educational books, kiddies gifts, and stuff for the tireless Lavender Hill volunteers that kept cooking and handing out the food to the kids, on a daily basis. By May 2020, we became the main supplier of food to the kids of the ‘battlefield’ in Lavender Hill.
Today, our community consists of 3 admins, 45 long-term members in Cape Town, as well as about 15 international donors.
2020
- Supply of 6 essential groceries (that’s where our name came from!) each week: rice, beans, lentils, soup mix, canned fish, as well as 170 kg of fresh veggies
- Supply of cooking essentials and condiments such as oil, salt, sugar, spices, jams, peanut butter, weekly
- Supply of 500 reusable food containers to the kids
- Second hand winter clothing drive (1612 items in total)
- Supply of new winter jackets to all Lavender Hill volunteers
- Supply of food parcels and toiletries to all Lavender Hill volunteers
- Supply of educational books about COVID-19 to the kids
- Supply of oranges for 300 kids on a weekly basis (winter)
- Halloween Trick or Treat Drive
- Research Project “What’s Your Story?” of 57 kids
- Christmas Handout Gift Drive for 400 kids
- 2021 Kids’ fitness and bootcamp (now the Lavender6 Youth group)
Feeding is not enough, and the only real change can come through education. In May 2021 we made a shift towards the programme that we are running now. Every day I feel gratitude and joy towards the trust, dedication and humanity of this amazing Lavender6 community. (Lutz Manzelmann)