• Nophelele Mqikela closed her soup kitchen after losing its only donor, leaving many families, children and pensioners without regular meals.

• Residents say some people are now taking medication on empty stomachs because they can no longer get food from the soup kitchen.

For 12 years, Nophelele Mqikela,54, made sure hungry people in Lower Crossroads never had to face an empty stomach.

Now she can only watch as the people she once fed ask when the cooking pots will be full again.

The 54 year old from Philippi East works as a domestic worker to support her own family.

She works three days a week for one employer and four days a week for another.

Despite earning a modest income, she started the Ncokazi Community Soup Kitchen in 2012 after seeing children going to school hungry and families going to bed without food.

She also cares for her two children and four grandchildren.

Twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday, she prepared warm meals for people who had nowhere else to turn.

The soup kitchen became a lifeline for families across Lower Crossroads, where many people survive on social grants and temporary jobs.

But in 2024, the project came to an end after its only donor withdrew funding.

The donor decided to continue supporting local pre schools but could no longer afford to fund the soup kitchen.

Mqikela said telling the community was one of the most painful moments of her life.

“The donor chose to continue with the pre-schools and told me in time. Telling the beneficiaries was the hardest thing I have ever done. Seeing some of them crying because I was their only hope broke me. That is why I am trying to find new donors so I can start cooking again,” she told Scrolla.Africa.

Mqikela said she never started the project to make money.

“I started the soup kitchen after seeing children going to school hungry and families going to bed hungry. Most people here depend on social grants and piece jobs. The soup kitchen helped them while they waited for their grant money,” she said.

She said almost every day former beneficiaries stop her to ask when the soup kitchen will reopen.

“I pray that I find a new donor because people still ask me every day when I will start cooking again.”

Forty year old resident Zikhona Siyolo said life has become much harder since the soup kitchen closed.

“Ever since it closed, we have been struggling. She played a very important role in this community. Many families never went to bed hungry. Sometimes she even gave us food parcels to cook at home. Now our children come back from school and find nothing to eat,” she said.

Siyolo said the closure has also affected sick people.

“People taking medication used to get food from the soup kitchen first. Now they have to travel to other soup kitchens that are far away, and when they get there, the food is often finished. Some people are now taking medication on empty stomachs.”

Community leader Sanda Mashiya said the loss of the soup kitchen has left a huge gap in Lower Crossroads.

“People knew they would not sleep hungry. Now they have to look for food elsewhere, and many return home empty handed because other soup kitchens are also overwhelmed,” he said.

Mqikela hopes a business, organisation or caring individual will step in and help her reopen the project.

“I just want to feed my community again. No one should have to go to bed hungry,” she said.

Pictured above: Nophelele Mqikela hopes to find a new donor so she can reopen the soup kitchen that fed hungry families in Lower Crossroads for 12 years.

Image source: Supplied.