SOCIAL NOURISHMENT: Child hunger drives Free State community to step in when school meals stop

In Nyakallong, Free State, community caregivers at We Care Daycare centre are keeping their kitchen doors open to ensure local children get fed during school holidays. By stepping in when government school-feeding programmes pause, the centre combats severe holiday hunger driven by widespread regional unemployment.

For some children at a Nyakallong school in the Free State, the school term means at least one guaranteed meal a day.

When caregivers at the We Care Daycare centre, based at SA Mokgothu Primary School, realised that children’s need for food extended beyond the school term, they decided to keep the kitchen open during school holidays.

The centre, established in 2001 to support families affected by HIV, orphans and other vulnerable children, feeds up to 200 children a day during the first week of school break.

“We realised there is a need for us at We Care Daycare to provide a plate to these kids beyond the school term,” says Rebecca Ndaba, one of seven caregivers at the centre. “Because of high unemployment in Nyakallong, many families struggle to provide even one meal a day.”

During the school term, learners at SA Mokgothu Primary School receive meals through the National School Nutrition Programme .

The programme, a government-funded initiative available at primary and secondary public schools, provides learners with a nutritious meal at school to support concentration, attendance and overall wellbeing.

In communities like Nyakallong, the government’s feeding scheme has become a lifeline for households that are unable to provide food for their children every day.

Mantoa Mthombeni, a School-Based Support Team coordinator and a foundation phase teacher, says feeding learners is important for their ability to learn.

“As the School-Based Support Team, our main concern is that learners must be able to learn. But a hungry child cannot concentrate,” she said. “When a child has eaten, they are alert in class. That’s the whole point of the policy, to support learning and the wellbeing of learners.”

But when schools close for the holidays, children no longer have access to their daily school meal through the government’s feeding scheme.

We Care continues feeding children during the break. They also provide meals to children from other schools.

“We do not only give food to SA Mokgothu learners, but also other kids from other schools like Dihwai Primary School and Tshireletso Primary School,” said Ndaba.

“We can feed more than 200 learners over school recess, but others visit their relatives in other places.”