3 Micro-bakeries for rural women in South Africa

NAMKO, a Community Based Organisation in Okiep, Northern Cape has been serving their local community for the last 28 years. With the funds, they provided pizzas for the local community, together with an inspirational talk about the history of pizzas in Italy. “Pizza was first invented in Naples, Italy as a fast, affordable, tasty meal for working-class Neapolitans on the go.” Now they know that pizza was not always about luxury but that it started with poor hungry people who created this luxury enjoyed today.

NAMKO serves 10 communities within central Namaqualand. The Namaqua District is the largest district in the province at a whopping 126 836km², with towns, villages and smaller rural communities spread widely over the district, causing communities to travel vast distances between 60km to the nearest village and 200km between towns to access basic services and help when needed.  Central Namaqualand, historically being the heart of mining activities, has 10 villages/ communities that still have distances between 14km and 35 km apart, and servicing these communities can be a daunting task with traveling costs constantly on the increase. They have been assisting these communities in fighting a number of social and economic challenges such as poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, domestic and gender-based violence, and financial exploitation, amongst others. The COVID-19 pandemic and all its resulting regulations have impacted severely the social and economic stability of specifically women and children in the Namaqua district. While issues such as gender-based violence, poverty, unemployment, and alcohol and drug abuse existed in our communities pre-COVID, these challenges have been rapidly escalating to the point of destroying families.

The funds generated through this pizza evening went back into the organisation enabling them to serve the most vulnerable in their community.

The community of Okiep would like to say thank you for donating!

Sprankie Hoop, a Community Based Organisation in Nababeep, Northern Cape decided to use the funds to provide desperately needy families with food relief. They served families with cooked meals.

They decided to target one specific area called ‘Plaatjie’ because there is still great poverty as this is one of the forgotten communities. More or less 80% of families live in extreme poverty as well as substance abuse. Gender-based violence is also very prevalent and this is a very fragile community. Work opportunities in the area are scarce. There used to be a copper mine in Nababeep that provided jobs to the local community, and families could maintain better living standards then. There are still families who sometimes have no candle for lighting and some who have to make an open fire outside because they do not have money to buy electricity. Some do not have food and children go to bed hungry and still wake up for school the next day, learning on an empty tummy. This causes teenagers to be frustrated and they oftentimes make the wrong decisions and get into trouble.

After receiving the meals, a thankful mother shouted:

“God thought of us today!”

A huge thank you for your kind contributions.