In March 2020

When the country locked down, informal waste pickers — who earn hand-to-mouth by selling recyclables — were left completely stranded. No savings. No food. No income. And no voice. Within days, I began fielding distress calls. I couldn’t sit back.
 

What began with a single call became a coordinated relief response. I mobilised farming friends whose fresh produce was going to waste, creating a supply chain to redirect food from fields to communities in need.

What We Delivered:

• 5,000 mielies in the first week — later scaling to 20,000 mielies, butternut, cabbage, and donated maize
• A model where I sold food affordably to affluent communities to fund free distributions into vulnerable ones
• A corporate kitchen (20 chefs!) producing up to 20 buckets of soup daily, with donated meaty bones from a local abattoir
• Distributions of clothing, shoes, toys, and bars of soap
• A local church hall became our hub; community leaders drove 2+ hours to collect for rural areas in Northern KZN
• We reached over 500 people a day, with thousands impacted indirectly across the region
• This wasn’t charity — it was community-driven logistics and compassion in action. I simply acted as the bridge.
• “Crisis reveals our shared vulnerability — but it also unlocks our shared capacity to care.”