20 year celebration of our main beneficiary, the e’Pap Children’s Feeding Project – some reflections and stories

Here are just a few reflections and stories from those who have been involved with the e’Pap Children’s Feeding Project over the years:

Elizabeth, Hendrika and Annie

Elizabeth Swartz, the principal of Happy Faces pre-primary school, joined the e’Pap family 14 years ago. She chats to Annie Ogilvie, her volunteer. 

“In 1996 I started a pre-school in my house in Hornlee with 1 teacher and 10 children…We now care for 84 children! The children in my care have been eating e’Pap since 2009 – for 14 years now. The children are strong, they grow fast, they are healthy and very seldom sick. Most of all they LOVE IT, and they don’t mind what flavour it is. In the morning the older ones come in singing and shouting ‘Where’s my e’Pap’. The first children arrive at about 7.30 and Hendrika the cook has already prepared the first mix for the children dropped off early!”

Elizabeth and Hendrika pictured below.

Gladys and Rose 

Gladys and Rose’s enduring friendship is just one of the many friendships which have flourished while collaborating to get e’Pap into the tummies of hungry children. Gladys has been the principal of Little Teddies School in Smutsville for 30 years and Rose is the e’Pap volunteer assigned to deliver e’Pap and be the point of contact for Little Teddies.

Penny Fleming, the GRCT founder, always said that our aims were to feed children there, while building community here (in the UK as we work together to fundraise). It seems that community has in fact been built everywhere, as we work together to meet the nutritional needs of children in South Africa!

e’Pap Children’s Feeding Project this winter 

The sunny picture below is deceptive, it can get very cold and wet in this area!

A report from the e’Pap Children’s Feeding Project:

“Children who would normally receive a hot meal at lunchtime at school, really struggle in the holidays. Some pre-schools remain open but all the government schools close and thus feeding comes to a halt.

We are able to help these children by providing a warm bowl of e’Pap in some areas, thanks to the care of teachers and kindhearted ladies who have offered to mix e’Pap and feed these hungry children each cold and often wet morning.

This ensures that the children are able to start the day with a full tummy of nutritional warm e’Pap.

We have received emotional notes of gratitude from one of these ladies thanking us and telling us of the huge difference this bowl of e’Pap is making to some 90 children who form long queues at her home from early in the morning waiting for their breakfast.

Later in the day those same ladies mix and prepare large pots of soup and, once again, the children line up for the next and in many cases the last meal of the day.

It is thanks to the partnership of donors, volunteers, teachers and cooks who work together to make the lives of hundreds of children better during these cold, wet winter months.”