A South African charity, Chefs With Compassion (CWC), helped over 400,000 people by producing more than 104,000 litres of soup on Mandela Day, local media has reported.
James Khoza, CWC chairman and president of the South African Chefs Association, emphasized the relevance of the initiative to the local communities.
"If half the country is unemployed, it means that one person can feed 10 people in our black communities particularly, so it means a whole lot of people go hungry in this country every day," he noted, according to the media.
It is a traditional CWC challenge on Mandela Day to prepare 67,000 liters of soup. Despite the bar being set at this level, participants usually exceed this benchmark. In 2020, 77,455 liters of soup were delivered, in 2021 the organization reached 70,870 liters, and last year 90,679 liters of soup were served, the website of the organization revealed.
Amateurs, professional chefs, students of culinary schools and home cooks are welcome to join the project. Coo Pillay, CWC's national project manager, stressed that with this inititative they "do not only want to tackle hunger but teach people about food wastage," the media said.
Yajna Maharaj, one of the founders of CWC, highlighted that the meaning of this national holiday is to be of service to others which corresponds with the pupose of the intitative.
"That is what Mandela Day is about – coming together to bring joy and help those in need," she noted.
Jabulani Nkosi, a homeless man in Randburg, thanked all the organizations involved in the project.
"This really gives us hope for a better South Africa, where people can just come out and show up for you without asking for anything in return," he is quoted as saying
The theme was inspired by Mandela's words: "We must never forget that it is our duty to protect this environment."
Recognizing the former South African president's contribution to the fight against injustice, UN chief António Guterres called Nelson Mandela "a colossus of courage and conviction and a leader of immense achievement and extraordinary humanity."