FROM the boot of her car, Vernisa Matroos, from Algoa Park, dishes out food to underprivileged children opposite the Missionvale Care Centre in Tromp Road, Missionvale, every Saturday.
Matroos, who is the founder of the Amazing Grace Community Outreach and Development, which was registered as an NPO in October last year, said it had always been her dream to help the underprivileged.
In September 2017, she embarked on her first outreach programme in Missionvale, but stopped because it was too much for her to handle on her own.
In May 2019, however, she started the project again with two friends who help to cook the food and hand it out to the children every Saturday afternoon.
“I saw the need in Missionvale and I wanted to make a difference in the lives of the children in the area,” said Matroos.
“It is heartbreaking to see hungry children that need food. Getting food is a luxury for these kids and they appreciate what we do for them.”
Since the start of the outreach programme, the number of children has grown from 20 to 70 and Matroos often feared that there would not be enough food for everyone, but somehow there has always been more than enough.
The youngest of the children is three years old while the bulk of the children are between the ages of 13 and 15.
Matroos, who has a full-time job as a creditors administrator in Uitenhage, said she tries to provide the children with a variety of dishes which include vegetables and fruit.
Depending on the weather she makes different types of soups, spaghetti bolognese, hotdogs or stew with butternut and rice.
“I would like to hand out food everyday but, unfortunately, I am the only one contributing financially towards the initiative. I am therefore only able to afford to provide the children with food once a week,” said Matroos.
She hopes to obtain a more permanent structure to provide shelter for the food when the weather makes it difficult for her to dish out the food.
Matroos said a resident in Missionvale has been kind enough to offer her back yard for the structure to be placed.
“At the moment I dish the food from pots in my boot but sometimes it is very windy, or it rains which makes it difficult to work from my boot,” said Matroos.
She also hopes to use the structure to provide the children with a library which they can make use of on Saturday morning before they have their lunch.
“I noticed that the children in Missionvale are not able to read and I would like to open a small library for them to use. I want them to foster a love for reading from a young age,” said Matroos.
In future, she hopes for learners to make use of the library after school and to create a centre for matriculants to have a quiet place to study.
For more information contact Vernisa Matroos on 074 698 8708 or email vernisamatroos@gmail.com.
