1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,240
Speaker 1: The need for feeding people is still very great. What

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,320
Speaker 1: started out as a single part of soup serving seventy meals,

3
00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: has grown into one of South Africa's most impactful food

4
00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,760
Speaker 1: relief movements. Today, Ladles of Love is serving close to

5
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,079
Speaker 1: a million meals a month to vulnerable communities across the country.

6
00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,600
Speaker 1: It's a response to a growing crisis with food insecurity

7
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:27,840
Speaker 1: affecting millions of households. Danny Alberta, the founder of Ladles

8
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:29,760
Speaker 1: of Love, A very good morning to you, Danny, and

9
00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:31,000
Speaker 1: welcome to talk.

10
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:32,840
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

11
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,360
Speaker 1: Happy Easter to you too. What are we focusing on

12
00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,800
Speaker 1: over the Easter weekend? I know that we often chat,

13
00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,520
Speaker 1: and you know I always connect with you over Christmas

14
00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:45,839
Speaker 1: and I always connect with you over Easter. But it's

15
00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,120
Speaker 1: a sustainability of feeding people. What are we looking for

16
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,400
Speaker 1: forward to over the Easter period.

17
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,800
Speaker 2: Well, this weekend, we're just going to make sure that

18
00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 2: our Dignity Kitchen is in operation. That's our super kitchen

19
00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,400
Speaker 2: that we run ourselves in the city of Cape Town

20
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,440
Speaker 2: on Roland Street. So we're going to be serving lunch today,

21
00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,480
Speaker 2: we'll serve lunch tomorrow, and we'll also serve lunch on Monday,

22
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,959
Speaker 2: So that is the plan. There will be a hearty

23
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 2: meal for the guys, and yeah, we you know, it's

24
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:21,039
Speaker 2: also about creating volunteering opportunities. There's so many people out

25
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,039
Speaker 2: there that want to do something, they want to give back,

26
00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,880
Speaker 2: so we try and create those opportunities as well. So

27
00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,560
Speaker 2: that's the plan for the weekend.

28
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 1: How does the demand for food relief change during the

29
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: holiday periods? You know, when it's time like Easter, or

30
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,440
Speaker 1: when it's time like Christmas, and you know, the major

31
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,559
Speaker 1: parts of the holidays.

32
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,559
Speaker 2: It does grow. I think because like especially over Easter,

33
00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 2: I think we must be the only operational soup kitchen.

34
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,920
Speaker 2: So we do find that we serve more of the

35
00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 2: guys on the Easter weekend. But that's okay because we

36
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 2: always cook, you know, a lot of food. We prepare

37
00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,240
Speaker 2: for around three hundred and fifty to four hundred meals

38
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:11,640
Speaker 2: per kitchen, so we anticipating about that many people to come.

39
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,520
Speaker 1: Sustainability, Danny is one of the key things that we

40
00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,640
Speaker 1: always chat about. And it's not about and people feel

41
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 1: the urge. It's Easter, I need to do something better

42
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,000
Speaker 1: so I can get more blessing, or it's laboring. I

43
00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,400
Speaker 1: need to do something now, and it's Christmas, I need

44
00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 1: to do something now. However, you feed on a daily basis,

45
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,400
Speaker 1: how is that sustainability important for people? Because, as we've

46
00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 1: spoken before, a number of people are homeless, but some

47
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,160
Speaker 1: of them are not jobless because they've got a job.

48
00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 1: They just can't afford a seven thousand round or eight

49
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,519
Speaker 1: thousand round per month to rent a flat.

50
00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,880
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that's you know, that's a society we live in.

51
00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,000
Speaker 2: And what do we do about it? I don't know.

52
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,720
Speaker 2: As long as as long as there's unemployment, as long

53
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,160
Speaker 2: as we have drug problems, as long as we have

54
00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,640
Speaker 2: mental issues, as long as we have the poverty that's around.

55
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think of the millions of people

56
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:16,959
Speaker 2: that live below the poverty line in our country, I mean,

57
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,080
Speaker 2: what do we do. You've just got to keep going.

58
00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,920
Speaker 2: We've got to you know those I always say, those

59
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,720
Speaker 2: that can help must help, and you know those that

60
00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 2: can help themselves. And it's not about enabling, it's about

61
00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,520
Speaker 2: how do we I mean, how do we keep our

62
00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,080
Speaker 2: country standing and not having people kind of starvation around us?

63
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,840
Speaker 2: You know, food is the basic necessity. We've created an

64
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,400
Speaker 2: economy that if you privileged, you will eat. If you're not,

65
00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 2: you won't and that is I mean, what do we

66
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,520
Speaker 2: do about that? Unless we change that, there will always

67
00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,800
Speaker 2: be people who need food, and we've just and that's

68
00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,360
Speaker 2: just that's what I do. I serve people food because

69
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,080
Speaker 2: we all have a right to eat. And you know,

70
00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 2: I do get I do have a lot of people

71
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,520
Speaker 2: that comment with me and try and argue with me

72
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,200
Speaker 2: about you know, we're enabling and stuff like that. But

73
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,480
Speaker 2: I mean, especially the homeless guys, a lot of them,

74
00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,280
Speaker 2: they've broken people. They human beings at the end of

75
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,600
Speaker 2: the day, but they've broken. They don't know, they're left

76
00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,880
Speaker 2: from right, some of them, and we've just got to

77
00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,719
Speaker 2: be there for them. It's a meal and hopefully there's

78
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,240
Speaker 2: other organizations around there that try and upskill them and

79
00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,720
Speaker 2: uplift them. But at the end of the day, if

80
00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,400
Speaker 2: a person isn't ready to change, or if a person

81
00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 2: is so broken, they need more than just food. They

82
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,600
Speaker 2: need the help, they need, they need the love, the kindness,

83
00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,719
Speaker 2: and it's just something that we all have to be

84
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,080
Speaker 2: a part of. I don't know if that's making sense.

85
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,640
Speaker 2: So we have to keep doing what we do. It's

86
00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:57,520
Speaker 2: as simple as that.

87
00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,520
Speaker 1: It does make complete sense. I was just chatting to

88
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,040
Speaker 1: doctor Reeta Smith and she was sort of talking about schizophrenia,

89
00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,360
Speaker 1: which is her field of expertise, and she were saying,

90
00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,400
Speaker 1: you know, poverty is one of the drivers of schizophrenia.

91
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,760
Speaker 1: And also people walk for miles coming out of the

92
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 1: townships to a clinic and then there's no medication for them.

93
00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:19,240
Speaker 1: So that is the need. That is where it is.

94
00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: We okay, we fine, but we need to understand broken people.

95
00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,680
Speaker 1: We need to understand what breaks people, and we need

96
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 1: to understand that each of those people have a story

97
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,160
Speaker 1: to tell. That's one of the most important things. Yeah,

98
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,640
Speaker 1: what is the scale of the need that you're currently seeing.

99
00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,760
Speaker 1: You know, we've gone into COVID, we've come out of COVID.

100
00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,159
Speaker 1: Have things gotten better or you know, economic tough times.

101
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,640
Speaker 1: We keep on hearing about job creation, job creation every

102
00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,160
Speaker 1: time they want you to devote its job creation at

103
00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,359
Speaker 1: the top of the list. But are things getting better

104
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:58,200
Speaker 1: on the ground or is the need growing bigger and larger.

105
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:06,640
Speaker 2: I'm not seeing an improvement. You know, we don't primarily

106
00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,279
Speaker 2: focus on soup kitchens anymore because we've moved our focus

107
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:15,040
Speaker 2: to our little children in the early childhood development centers,

108
00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:19,920
Speaker 2: and the need just in there is massive. You know,

109
00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,760
Speaker 2: we've got tens of thousands of early childhood development centers

110
00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,960
Speaker 2: where the parents are paying if they pay anywhere between

111
00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,320
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty rand and six hundred or six

112
00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,599
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty a round a month to the principle

113
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,400
Speaker 2: of the school who's supposed to support look after these

114
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,240
Speaker 2: kids five days a week, twelve hours a day and

115
00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,359
Speaker 2: provide them two meals a day for six hundred and

116
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,120
Speaker 2: fifty round or three hundred and fifty round some of them.

117
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,159
Speaker 2: How do they do that? How are they supposed to

118
00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:58,120
Speaker 2: give a child two meals a day, two nutritious meals

119
00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,839
Speaker 2: a day, then then maurage the parents to give them snacks.

120
00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,880
Speaker 2: But the snacks they are giving are highly processed foods,

121
00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,840
Speaker 2: which only creates more food poverty in our society. So

122
00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 2: the need is massive. So when we on board these

123
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,720
Speaker 2: ECDs and we provide we don't provide them food anymore.

124
00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:25,240
Speaker 2: We provide them nutrition. We drive nutrition. The relief on

125
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:30,560
Speaker 2: these principles, like their souls, that they don't have to

126
00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:35,880
Speaker 2: worry about food is massive because then they can drive

127
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,400
Speaker 2: that money, maybe get another carer, maybe maintain something within

128
00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,239
Speaker 2: the ECD. So the need is massive, it's huge. There's

129
00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,600
Speaker 2: tens of thousands the schools. How many kids go to

130
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,160
Speaker 2: school hungry. And the challenge with this is if we

131
00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:58,440
Speaker 2: don't give the children the basic foundation of nutrition, they

132
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,000
Speaker 2: can't focus, they can not grow, they get sick, they

133
00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:07,800
Speaker 2: get stunted, there's obesity, all these issues that create people

134
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 2: that are not going to support society. They're going to

135
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 2: be people that need support from society. So as long

136
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,800
Speaker 2: as we continue creating generations of children that do this,

137
00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:25,840
Speaker 2: that's the problem. We are creating more and more generations

138
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,880
Speaker 2: of problem. I call it generation or the terrooration. Because

139
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,120
Speaker 2: you've got kids that are brought up by two drug

140
00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:37,840
Speaker 2: addic parents. What are the chances of that child, you know,

141
00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,400
Speaker 2: they brought up in a society in an environment of trauma, murder, rape.

142
00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,559
Speaker 2: I mean, we need to stop that. And until we

143
00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,520
Speaker 2: stop that, as a society, all of us, we can't

144
00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,120
Speaker 2: ask the government to do it on our own. We

145
00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,079
Speaker 2: need to do it together as a society. We need

146
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,040
Speaker 2: to do it together. And I'm sorry, I'm getting passionate

147
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,600
Speaker 2: because I am passionate about it because I see it.

148
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:05,760
Speaker 2: We need to do it together.

149
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,280
Speaker 1: We need to we need to learn that, we need

150
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,880
Speaker 1: to learn to care for the next person. I think

151
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,640
Speaker 1: that is one of the key factors. My daughter sometimes

152
00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,120
Speaker 1: feels that I'm hard and now the other day she

153
00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,960
Speaker 1: also said to me, but you hardened me sometimes, you know,

154
00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,000
Speaker 1: you know you're hard on me at times. And I said,

155
00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,360
Speaker 1: you know what, I am hard on you because you

156
00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,280
Speaker 1: don't know what it's like to go to sleep hungry.

157
00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,640
Speaker 1: I come from there. We were not rich. We had

158
00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,280
Speaker 1: to work ourselves up, and we had to give ourselves education.

159
00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,199
Speaker 1: But I come from there where you go to sleep hungry.

160
00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,120
Speaker 1: And I said to her, you will never understand what

161
00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:50,120
Speaker 1: it's like to go to sleep hungry. And that is

162
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,920
Speaker 1: one of the important things. How can people get involved, Danny?

163
00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,960
Speaker 1: And and you know what, sometimes it's not just coming

164
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,680
Speaker 1: there with boxes and boxes of stuff and hoping it off.

165
00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,640
Speaker 1: We need your time, We need you to sit, we

166
00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,120
Speaker 1: need you to serve, We need you to And one

167
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,240
Speaker 1: of the big one of the big things somebody mentioned

168
00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,360
Speaker 1: to me this morning when we were all talking about

169
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,440
Speaker 1: mental health and mental stability, is fine. Service. Service is

170
00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,480
Speaker 1: one of the big things. How can people get involved, Danny?

171
00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,040
Speaker 2: They can head to our website. Ladels of Love dot

172
00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,760
Speaker 2: org dot the day to volunteer, they click on the

173
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,760
Speaker 2: get involved tab. It will take them to our volunteer

174
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:32,000
Speaker 2: page and we've got all the information there. They can

175
00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,360
Speaker 2: book a slot for our soup kitchens. I do warn

176
00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:38,520
Speaker 2: you though, those slots are sold like hotcakes, so well

177
00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,160
Speaker 2: we don't sell them, but they booked like hotcakes. So

178
00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:43,960
Speaker 2: every Monday morning we put them out. We open the

179
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000
Speaker 2: slots for the week and you're welcome to come and book.

180
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,880
Speaker 2: We also got team bolds. We encourage corporates to do

181
00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:57,280
Speaker 2: team bulls with purpose that. You can email Selda at

182
00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,679
Speaker 2: Ladles of Love dot org dot the day. Otherwise, if

183
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:02,839
Speaker 2: you want to make a donation, you know what, become

184
00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,680
Speaker 2: a monthly donor. That is the biggest thing you could

185
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,520
Speaker 2: ever do for any charity is to become a monthly donor.

186
00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:13,760
Speaker 2: So head onto our website Ladels of Love dot org

187
00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,000
Speaker 2: dot theda click on donate, sign up a recurring donation,

188
00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,120
Speaker 2: or even just make a donation. All that helps.

189
00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,080
Speaker 1: Daniel all Thatt there, thank you so much for your time.

190
00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,199
Speaker 1: Here is the founder of Ladles of Love and just

191
00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: head over to their website or you can head over

192
00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,360
Speaker 1: to their Facebook page and yeah, donate. If you can't

193
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,280
Speaker 1: be spending your time, you don't spend your time. But

194
00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,480
Speaker 1: if you have some time to spend, go and do

195
00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:39,160
Speaker 1: some service.