‘Woza Sidle’ is a colloquial isiZulu term that means ‘Let’s Eat!’. It’s the way a mother would call her children to eat. And it’s the Bryanston Conference’s way of reaching out to impoverished children in Diepsloot during the Covid-19 crisis. We want the children to know that there are people thinking of and caring for them.

This care manifests itself in a nutritious and delicious meal of spaghetti bolgnese served every Saturday. We are currently distributing 450 portions, and have over 70 volunteers who donate advice, utensils, financial support, ingredients, clothes, shoes and diapers; and who actively participate in cooking and serving the children.

The community

Diepsloot is an informal settlement located in the northern outskirt of Johannesburg – home to both foreigners and South African families. There is an extreme level of poverty here, and people have been further severely impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic. Unemployment has dramatically increased. Schools were closed during lockdown, denying children access to school feeding schemes.

Around 500 children between the ages of 1-15 years collect food from the SSVP kitchen on a daily basis. Their diet consists of porridge, vegetables, mielie meal and rice only.

The Woza Sidle project provides the bolognese meal as a temporary solution to add nutritional ingredients to the children’s diet – beef mince, vegetables and pasta. The majority (60%) of the children benefiting from this project are under the age of 6 years.