After losing their jobs due to COVID and having to sell everything they owned, what Anwar and Ayesha Alexander from Mitchells Plain did next, nobody could have predicted.
Mitchells Plain, South Africa (21 August 2021) – First, he lost his teaching job thanks to COVID-19. Then his wife lost hers, forcing Anwar and Ayesha Alexander to sell everything of value they owned – including their cars, their big-screen television, their children’s Xbox console – to keep the wolf from the door.
But what the Alexanders from Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain did next, nobody could have predicted.
With no jobs, no regular income and four children to feed and support, they started a feeding scheme in their community which today feeds up to 200 people twice a day, seven days a week.
Why?
Because they were so grateful for the help they received from friends and family in their darkest hour that they wanted to pay it forward.
“I was retrenched on March 24 last year as I had a School Governing Body post, and they could not afford to retain me. My wife, who worked as an ECD teaching assistant, got her letter [of retrenchment] a week later. It was extremely difficult for us. As a husband, as a father, you have so much pride that it is difficult to have people know that you cannot afford to take care of them.
“One night after we could barely feed our children, I realised that I could not go on like that. So, I reached out to family and friends to ask them for help. So many people helped us, and we were able to rise above that situation. And we decided that we had to pay it forward and try to make a difference in other’s lives,” says Anwar, 44.
Armed with little more than good intentions, vegetables from their vegetable garden, what donations they could scrounge from friends, associates and local businesses and fierce determination, the Alexanders started feeding children and pensioners in Freedom Park, Tafelsig.
Today, 19 months later, they are feeding up to 200 people twice a day. But things are still tough.
“We serve mainly stews and curries. We add lots of rice,” laughs Anwar. “Sometimes we break even; sometimes we don’t. Donations have dried up because of Covid-19. It’s very tough to get funding, but somehow we always find a way,” he says.
Anwar says the couple was considering throwing in the towel early this month because they did not have the resources to carry on when cement manufacturer PPC informed them that they had been chosen as their inaugural PPC Building Stronger Communities’ Hero and would be given a vegetable garden to the value of R10 000.
A&A Development Programme, their NPO, was the first community hero to be nominated for the honour.
“We were considering giving up when PPC drove up in three bakkies, and JP Duminy [the former Proteas batsman, PPC brand ambassador and founder of the JP21 Foundation] told us that we had been selected as one of PPC’s Building Stronger Community Heroes and would get be getting a vegetable garden to the value of R10 000. Their presence lifted us up. PPC rocked up here on a day when we were on the verge of giving up hope because it was so difficult. We are eternally grateful to local companies like PPC who are committed to investing in the development of communities and empowering people to better their lives. PPC reignited our spirit and our drive,” says Anwar.
The vegetable garden will be planted on a communal piece of land opposite the Alexander’s home. They will maintain the garden.
Clint Wicomb, PPC Sales and Marketing General Manager for the Coastal region, says A&A Development Programme was selected as PPC’s first Building Stronger Communities Hero because they, like PPC, were making a sustainable and real impact in the lives of South Africans.
“As a South African company, PPC is committed to empowering South Africans to experience a better quality of life. In these tough times, we want to help community heroes who are committed to that same end. Anwar and Ayesha have not let their own tough personal circumstances stop them from positively impacting their community of Freedom Park. PPC wanted to recognise and support those efforts,” he says.
Anwar, a former PSL referee, acknowledges that it is ironic they are making such a massive difference on very little, when they did very little when they had a lot.
“We were privileged to lead a very lavish life. We had such a lot of money and resources, and we did absolutely nothing. Yet when we reached our lowest, we can do so much,” he marvels. “When I look at the faces of the children and pensioners who line up for food, and they are so grateful, it makes it all worthwhile. The beautiful smiles on the faces of little children who walk with bare feet and empty stomachs make it all worthwhile. They continually help us remember our purpose. We are just preparing our heaven here on earth.”