From making vetkoeks from her student accommodation to borrowing pots from friends to prepare warm meals, Francisca Darkoh went to great lengths to ensure her peers who struggled to afford food didn’t go into exams or lectures hungry when she could do her bit to help.
Stellenbosch, South Africa (18 June 2025) – A bag of vetkoek to feed 20 students. That’s how postgraduate student Francisca Darkoh started what has today become a growing youth-led movement tackling food insecurity at Stellenbosch University (SU).
It was all sparked by her desire to help others, especially her peers who couldn’t always afford a meal or had run out of money long before they could receive their monthly allowance to stock up on the essentials.
Started in 2024, her soup kitchen now serves hundreds of meals during critical periods in the academic year when many students run out of money or can’t get home.
Her efforts soon gained recognition, and Francisca soon received support from the Greenpeace Foundation SA, which supplied her with donated foods like whole chickens and fresh produce to cakes and milk tarts.
“I didn’t even have pots that were big enough,” she tells SU.
“So, I borrowed some, rallied a few friends, and we made it happen.”
This saw Francisca and her friends feed over 100 students and marked the beginning of an initiative that directly addresses food insecurity at the university.
According to SU, Francisca’s soup kitchen, which operates under her food business FOODBYFRANNIDEE and in collaboration with the Listen, Live and Learn (LLL) programme, serves hundreds of meals during periods like exam time and registration. Through the initiative, students also get to connect, enjoy music and build a community.
For Darkoh, the soup kitchen is a labour of love, fostering dignity and building community.
“I don’t believe in giving people leftover food or things I wouldn’t eat myself,” she explains.
The MSc student also attributes her perseverance and purpose to the generosity of others, insisting that she hasn’t come this far in life on her own. Supported by her mother, assisted by teachers, and carried by friends, Francisca has developed a deep sense of gratitude and a philosophy of paying it forward through an amazing team of volunteers at the soup kitchen.
Her advice to students who want to make a difference is to start small, even if the conditions aren’t necessarily “perfect”.
“You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room. Small actions matter. And if you don’t fit into someone else’s box, make your own.”
Sources: Stellenbosch University
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