Monday, 18 October 2010

Call for Support:  Claudine & the Beverley Hills Soup Kitchen

One of REACH's "agents of change", Claudine, needs support in continuing to run a very much needed soup kitchen in her community of Beverley Hills in Gansbaai. Here we will share how we first met Claudine and the trying journey she has followed to not only empower herself but others from her community.

REACH first met Claudine and her two children at one of our awareness raising workshops on domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape and HIV and AIDS in 2008.  Our hearts went out to this family as she told us about the horrifying atrocities that she and her children suffered as a result of domestic violence.  When we met Claudine she was on the brink of utter despair having considered killing herself and her children but from that point on slowly but surely she begun to rebuild her self-esteem. Today, after much support and encouragement, this woman who was at the point of complete despair when we first met her, is a force to be reckoned with.

She is now an adoptive mother of two abused children who were rescued from their abusive father by her and REACH; she is the Chairperson of her neighbourhood’s Health and Welfare committee; she runs a soup kitchen currently catering for over 125 people a day (over 70 of these are children) (with very few resources); oversees a safe house in her community and was elected Gansbaai’s Woman of the Year out of 11 semi-finalists.  She also currently serves on REACH’s governing board as a community representative.  She is who she is today because she had the strength, determination, courage and hope to speak out and to stand up for her and her children’s rights.  She was chosen as the Face of REACH not only in honour of who she is and what she has accomplished but also to share her stories with others as a means to encourage other women so that they too can be triumphant in the face of adversity.

Claudine’s Wishlist - Supporting the Beverley Hills Soup Kitchen

Claudine needs support in continuing to run a very much needed soup kitchen in her community of Beverley Hills in Gansbaai which was opened in January 2010 with the support of the Department of Social Development, Gansbaai municipality and local churches.

Although this kitchen was set up to only feed the community from this area, Claudine says she cannot turn away more than the 76 children who are already fed by the soup kitchen on a daily basis.  49 adults who are sickly or particularly needy are also fed by the soup kitchen.  During the week Claudine co-ordinates and dishes out soup during lunchtime which is given to her by the Pentacostal Protestant Church but on weekends that is where the challenge lies – Claudine is often forced to solely fund the soup kitchen which is an impossibility at times as her and her family live off child benefits and the small stipend (R300) she and her daughter get on a monthly basis to run the soup kitchen.  An added challenge is that she does not always have the money to buy electricity to keep the soup kitchen operational.  Claudine’s ambition is to be able to provide breakfast for the children throughout the week and provide both breakfast and lunch during weekends.

Claudine and the community of Beverley Hills need your support.  Any donations of canned goods, vegetables, cereals and milk would be very much appreciated.  Any electricity vouchers would also be of great assistance.  For more information please contact Claudia Lopes, Projects Director on 021 638 7024 or directly on 079 889 0289 or via email on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

It is only with the help of those who are inspired to create change that we can truly affect positive change in our rural communities!