Student feeds kids
SPREADING FESTIVE CHEER: Chevano Frans (third from right) with some of his volunteers
A 21-year-old man from Kewtown has been serving up ladles of joy through his soup kitchen.
Chev’s Kitchen was started by Chevano Frans when he noticed kids going hungry as their families’ breadwinners lost their livelihoods due to Covid-19 job cuts.
The Tsiba Business School student decided to use his leftover varsity transport money to make sandwiches for the community.
“I had traveling funds available for university which had suddenly closed down (due to lockdown). It was about R170,” he says.
Chevano buttered bread and filled tummies for the month of April, but wanted his community contribution to spread further.
“I knew that I had university resources to tap into to help me achieve my aim of helping these children,” explains Chevano.
He adds that he wouldn’t have been able to run the kitchen without the support of his lecturer Jeannie Ibbotson, his 15 volunteers and generous donors.
“Oranjezicht Camp sponsored us from May till August. Ladles of Love sponsored the kitchen from July till now.
“The gas money still comes from Oranjezicht Camp, which I am grateful for.”
Chev’s Kitchen serves meals in Kewtown three times a week including a sandwhich and a boiled egg.
“The meal is just a simple homemade meal. It’s your lentils, your biriyani, your soup, your curry,” he says.
Chevano also hosted a Christmas party on 5 December where close to 300 laaities enjoyed hot dogs, cupcakes, ghoema hare (candy floss), juice, toffee apples, and ice lollies.
The soup kitchen will reopen next year and Chevano hopes to continue for as long as possible: “As a young person living in Kewtown I know what it is like to go to bed hungry.”
To donate to Chev’s kitchen please contact 076 894 1499.