About 30% of the South African population lives below the poverty line. But every day, restaurants, supermarkets and hotels in the “rainbow nation” have tonnes of food left over, which ends up being destroyed. Need and waste are two sides of the same coin when industrialisation and underdevelopment are put together. And faced with this paradox, the question is immediate: can’t food surplus be turned into meals for those who don’t have any? The answer comes from the Soul Provider Project, which allows thousands of South African children to eat every day through the use of foods that would otherwise be destroyed. “Ensuring stable nutrition to children means giving them the necessary energy to study, play and experience childhood.” A simple and innovative response Enel Green Power cooperates with Soul Provider to shape, in an innovative and simple way, a constant attention towards the needs of the local South African communities that live in the areas of our renewable energy plants. Soul Provider was founded in 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. It’s a Christian NGO that helps children and young people from poor and disadvantaged families, regardless of faith, ethnicity or cultural origin. “The model created by the NGO for Soul Project is simple and allows them to reach thousands of people directly who otherwise wouldn’t have food to eat.” Soul Provider gathers food surplus from large distributors and makes it available to organisations, associations, schools and charities that work in the territory. Less waste, more sharing Every week, Soul Provider distributes about 3,500 meals to children and young people in schools, hospitals, orphanages and shelters. Every year, the Soul Provider Project allows the distribution of over 1,750,000 meals, avoiding about 1,000 tonnes of food waste: surpluses otherwise destined to be destroyed. “Many children are malnourished and come to school just to receive food! It’s an extremely difficult situation, which they would not be able to cope with without the contribution of Soul Food and Enel Green Power.” Rev Brent Chalmers, Founder and Trustee, OSB Cam In the schools of Port Elizabeth We’ve collaborated with the NGO since July 2016, focusing our attention on the schools of the area of Port Elizabeth, one of the main cities of the province of Eastern Cape, where our Gibson Bay wind plant is located. “Some of our students come from disadvantaged families and now, thanks to the help and support you’ve provided, they are coming to school consistently.” Z. Kula, Headmistress of the Vucani Kombined School in EGP RSA Thanks to Soul Provider’s project, we help a part of the population of the South African urban areas that is most at risk, in a direct and immediate way. The collaboration with the South African NGO is another piece of the mosaic of sharing that allows us to reach the suburban areas to the north and south of Johannesburg, the settlements of the nearby municipality of East Rand and the villages and towns in the provinces of Free State and Eastern Cape.
