Amid all daily brutality of gang violence in Manenberg recently, for some learners at Manenberg High School, Thursday brought a small relief, as they were given breakfast on World Hunger Day. It is estimated that in South Africa more than 11 million people go hungry everyday with one in five children going to school on an empty stomach.

Breakfast for Better Days is one initiative that aims to provide nutritional breakfast to schools in order for the learners to have a productive day. This initiative was started by the Kellogg’s Company as part of their Corporate responsibility initiative.

Manenberg High School is one of the Western Cape Schools that benefit from the Breakfast for Better Days feeding programme which started in 2014.

Breakfast for Better days hosted an event at the high school on Thursday morning to highlight World Hunger Day and to show the benefits that this programme has on the pupils whom attend the school.

Present at the Event was former Miss South Africa and Breakfast for Better Days ambassador Cindy Nell, who assisted in serving breakfast to the learners.

“Over the past two years we have had tremendous success feeding millions of children around the country. Children who benefit from the programme are now able to concentrate and perform better in school and thus aid the economy, so this goes beyond just feeding a child,” Nell explained.

“The children come from homes where they have nothing to eat and they come to school where they have their first meal it makes you happy to see the smiles on their faces.”

Nutritionist Megan Pentz-Kluyts was on hand to discuss the stages of hunger and why breakfast is important for learners.

“The moment you incorporate breakfast the students have better performance and concentration as well as the learners mood improving,” Pentz-Kluyts explained.

“These children are growing and thus require energy and vitamins and minerals and breakfast provides these nutrients”.

Learners at the high school were grateful for this programme.

“Breakfast is very important to me as well as to the learners at this school as there are a lot of kids here that don’t have food at home,” Kim Andrews, a pupil at the school said.

Principal Thurston Brown said before the programme, the school had their own breakfast club, but could not sustain it.

“We see a difference in the children, participation and pupils results have increases,” Brown added.

The Department of Education along with Kellogg’s and FoodBank South Africa brought this initiative to light with the result of being able to provide 25 000 school children with breakfast every day.

This project currently serves children in four provinces in South Africa in their attempt to lower the hunger statistics of South Africa. VOC (Umarah Hartley)