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Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent
WITH a rugged home-made soccer ball in hand, a five-year-old boy leads his group of friends of almost the same age through a dusty football pitch to a makeshift kitchen in Emakhandeni suburb.

His attention has been diverted from a soccer match that they were engaged in on the dusty pitch a few metres from their homes to the kitchen.

Being the curious young minds that they are, it doesn’t take much convincing by one of the ladies at the street kitchen for the boys to temporarily abandon their soccer game and walk in a single file for food.

It’s a windy Tuesday afternoon and the absence of a tent to barricade the wind doesn’t help the situation at the makeshift kitchen, but the business of the day — feeding dozens of kids in a section of Emakhandeni suburb has to go on.

Seated one metre apart and spread over half the size a football ground, kids of all ages — both boys and girls — eat silently while others join the single queue from all directions of the suburb.

It is by chance that the Saturday Leisure crew comes across the scene of a group of selfless women taking time off their personal business to feed kids that are absolute strangers to them. In fact, the women, led by Tina Sithole do not even ask the kids their names.

Once at the front end of the queue, the little ones are handed a plate with isitshwala, beans and beef.

Sithole takes a quick break from serving food on plastic plates and handing it over to outreached little palms to talk to us.

“We are known as Arise Deborah’s Kitchen and we are a group of women from different churches who came together to start an organisation that feeds children in all the wards in Bulawayo.

“The feeding programme is just starting and for now, we’re doing it twice, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in different wards but our aim is to spread it across Bulawayo, five times a week,” said Sithole, the administrator of the programme.

Bulawayo has 29 wards.

Being a mother herself, Sithole says seeing the smiles on the faces of kids when they receive food is a gratifying feeling that she and her team would not trade for anything.

“The meals consist mainly of isitshwala and beans and we try to add meat — be it beef or chicken — as well as vegetables and chunks on some days to cater for as many kids as possible. The food is cooked at another location and we just serve it at the respective wards.

“When a child smiles, a mother naturally smiles too and this is what makes our work gratifying. This initiative should not be restricted to Arise Deborah’s Kitchen only, but we’re calling on other organisations to join hands with us so that we can feed as many kids as possible from all corners of Bulawayo,” Sithole said.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had major ripple effects on the livelihoods of most residents in Bulawayo, particularly parents whose sources of income have been affected thus impacting on their ability to feed their families.

Experts say that since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, food insecurity has increased worldwide and this is particularly true for households with young children.

Bulawayo households are no exception. They have also been hit hard by the pandemic.

The World Food Programme describes food insecurity as when a household has difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of resources.

Sithole says many a time, she has heard mothers lament that “children in my home are not eating enough because we just can’t afford enough food” and that spurred Arise Deborah’s Kitchen to play its part in feeding the kids.

The women of Arise Deborah’s Kitchen defied all odds and broke church denominational barriers to come together and work for a common cause.

“It doesn’t matter which church one belongs to as long as the common goal is to come together and do good. That’s what inspires us as the women of Arise Deborah’s Kitchen.

“A preacher once said giving is the greatest investment that anyone can attain and we want to be hands that always strive to give,” she added.

The organisation gets funding from a fellow member based in the United Kingdom and according to Sithole, they are looking for more funding in order to spread their wings to all parts of the city.

For the nine women, wearing yellow T-shirts inscribed with the words “Arise Deborah’s Kitchen” at the back, feeding dozens of children in an open field in Emakhandeni suburb is part of a day’s work before switching back to their own lives later in the day. — @RaymondJaravaza