In the midst of all the chaos that the coronavirus pandemic has brought upon the globe, there are a group of capeless heroes that have taken it upon themselves to ensure the hungry stomachs that roam the streets of one of Cape Town’s biggest gang-infested communities, Hanover Park are fed.

Avril Andrews, founded the Alcardo Andrews foundation in 2015, after her son was fatally wounded in an apparent gang-related shooting in the area. The foundation is named after her late son and for the past four years, religiously, it has fed up-to 500 people daily. The COVID-19 lockdown has made no difference in the charitable work that the foundation is recognized for.

Andrews lamented that it was sad that it needed to take the murder of her eldest son for her to identify the gaps in the system.

“As a mother living in the community and being able to source out the challenges that young men face in an area that is gang infested, I could understand why the senseless murder of my son happened and that begged my to ask the question, what is my purpose in all of this? And that’s when I started a support group for mothers who had also lost sons due to gang violence,” stated Andrews.

Andrews said the sentiment behind the support group was simple.

“If a mother doesn’t heal, the family won’t heal.”

After the support group, Moms Move for Justice was well on its way. The pillars within the foundation grew quickly such as the after-school programme, various daily engagement programmes but more importantly, the daily feeding scheme.

One of the several volunteers, Lesley Wyngaard, who quit her high-end corporate job after twenty years when her son was killed in an act of senseless violence, said the feeding scheme has proved even more vital during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“This feeding scheme has been happening for the past four years but during the month of Ramadan however, we feed on a Saturday and Sunday. In a normal household there are four to five people per family but in Hanover Park we see people living four to five in a room,” said Wyngaard.

Wyngaard continued and said the need in Hanover park is huge and has only been on the rise since the start of the national lockdown.

“There are citizens that are blatantly disobeying the lockdown regulations but then there are those that have now been forced to face their abusers 24 hours of the day and for those mothers that are seen wondering the street at 23:00 night. Our feeding scheme is one of their only escapes…you can find them sitting in the queue from eight in the morning, when we only start dishing up at noon,” explained Wyngaard.

“Covid-19 has opened my eyes tremendously. I was sitting at home during the first week of lockdown and it dawned on me that I am so comfortable and many other people on the Cape Flats are not experiencing this same level of comfort and I asked myself what can I do to make it better for them,” stated Wyngaard.

An anonymous helper said COVID-19 has brought the community together. She said it is rewarding to see the smiles of gratitude that radiates off the faces in the community.

“I don’t do this for name and fame. I don’t do this for recognition. I do this to give back to the community that has molded me into the successful school principal I am and as long as I see a smile on a child’s face who is going to have a warm meal for the day, that is truly enough,” said the helper.

A volunteer, Johnathan Gietzman said if the community don’t take it upon themselves to feed the youth, they will find security in gangsters.

“It is very important to feed the poor because if the stomachs are hungry, children will find those who pretend to be scrupulous and who offer a false sense of security, and we cannot have that in Hanover Park, not anymore,” said Gietzman

VOC