Stephan started the ‘Charity Begins With Me’ feeding scheme to feed children every Sunday in 2017.
It is a non-registered Non-profit and relies solely on food donations and volunteers.
Stephan Ferreira was diagnosed with a rare type of Leukemia in 2013 , he refused to
let the diagnosis destroy his life and decided to launch various charity projects to
make a meaningful difference. Some of the projects included monthly events at a
local old age home, collecting dog and cat food for local animal shelters, and putting
together bags of toiletries to donate to homeless shelters and rape and support
centres.
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In March 2017 he started a small feeding scheme in the informal settlements of
Roodepoort. At the time an average of 55 children from different areas showed up
for a weekly meal. The idea was simply to provide some relief in a poverty-stricken
community where food security was a luxury.
With every passing week more and more children showed up and at the end of
March 2017 there were roughly 375 children who benefitted from this project. The
numbers continued to increase and at the end of 2019 , anywhere between 450 and
950 children receive a small food parcel when they join each Saturday.
It is impossible to manage a feeding scheme to alleviate hunger while turning a blind
eye to other challenges these children are faced with daily. His first plan was to
create a safe environment where children could participate in various supervised
activities instead of just roaming the dangerous streets without direction or purpose.
On a weekly basis they have clubs which includes knitting, soccer, netball, arts and
crafts, chess and even a dance club to keep the children busy.
As the task of managing up to 950 children on his own was virtually impossible, he
implemented a volunteering system where women from the local areas can earn a
food parcel in exchange for their time. Every Saturday these women are responsible
for packing food parcels for the children, overseeing activities, enforcing discipline
etc. Once they have completed their duties, they are allowed the opportunity to
select available food items and then packing their own food parcel to take home.
Currently there are thirty five women who assist with this project as well as twelve
teenage boys and three teenage girls from the area who are also assist.
On Saturdays he also distribute clothes, shoes, household items, toys, stationery
and baby items to families in need. The donations are acquired through his huge
following on social media and this platform is used to collect any household items,
toys, stationery and other items people no longer need.
The feeding scheme is not without challenges and he often had noticed how children
carelessly discard sweet wrappers and other trash items without worrying where it
will end up. A further initiative was started with an awareness campaign to introduce
the concept of recycling and children were rewarded with small sweets should they
contribute to the recycling project. For every plastic bottle or can they help recycle
they earned a sweet. This project has since evolved and is now linked it to the
handing out of toys and stationery. Children can now exchange their recycling and
“buy” toys, stationery for school or even toiletries to take home. All the waste
material is then gathered, sorted and handed over to one of the local waste pickers.
He sells the items and by doing so can support his family.
To encourage and empower the community on Saturdays have evolved quite a bit
to also take into consideration other needs these people are faced with. A further
initiative has been to develop a community vegetable garden, hosted workshops on
making Eco bricks, provided first aid training, and even taught some of the women
how to make homemade jewellery by recycling paper. These workshops are merely
to spark some creativity and to possibly provide a platform where women can create
their own businesses to support their families financially.
Stephan has also been working closely with some of the women to teach them basic
entrepreneurship skills by letting them buy and resell items for a small profit.
Although this started off as a small insignificant project we can now start to see a
positive change in the community. Moving away from the expectation where he can
just sit back and someone else will support me. Many people now realize that hard
work is the only way they will escape the vicious cycle of poverty – an important
concept we also want to transfer to the children to teach them the value of hard work
form an early age.
Stephan is dedicated to this cause and continues to focus on the enrichment of
others less fortunate than others. Regardless of his illness, working full time, he
continues to go above and beyond and places services above self.
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