Thursday, March 10, 2011

Another 200 hungry kids go home happy

We fed another 200 very hungry children last night and the kids
were loving it! The single moms were well prepared and the
portions were large and yummy! Again, the next two plus weeks
are being funded by the artists who contributed to the December
art auction. FEESA, along with the people and children of
Kayamandi can not thank you enough!!!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Loaded up on the Lamb!!!

Today, we went to a local farm and loaded up on slaughtered
lamb. I had 10 lamb heads, 40 lamb legs, a bunch of guts, and
some fat. And I loaded it all in my small rental car (hope none
of the juice got in the car!) They were all slaughtered today
and loaded into a truck and trailer which were completely
packed. Probably over 100 lambs in a regular size truck
with a small trailer. There were about 15 other black people
there waiting for the meat as well. All of the good cuts go to
the white people of South Africa. But this is good for two
reasons. First of all, black people in South Africa are used to
getting this type of meat and they have come to prefer it.
Secondly, it is very cheap. We spent $75- on over 100 pounds
of lamb. Yesterday, we did the same thing with a cow. It is
not pretty, but the children really love meat and this is the
most cost effective way to do it.

Driving around the township is crazy as well. Two children
walked right in front of me today without even looking. I
drive really slow because so many people are oblivious of
cars. If I were driving 25, I would have hit at least one of
the children. There are very few cars so they have grown
accustomed to walking where they want, when they want.
Adults and children alike.

Another odd cultural custom is the men and boys who relieve
themselves whenever and wherever they please. The people
live for the here and now and do not think about the
consequences of their actions. I drove by a 6 year old boy
today who had it out and was going right in the middle of the
street. These children are simply mimicking their elders...
These impulsive actions are what I believe to be the main
reasons why the HIV/AIDS rate and birth rates are so high.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Thank you so much artists!!!!!!


Thanks so much to all of the artitsts who participated in the art
auction in December!!! Because of you, FEESA was able to
successfully feed 200 children today and will continue the
program for the next few weeks. Because of you and your
generous contributions, 200 children will go to bed tonight
with full bellies! More pics and video to come...

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Well, I made it to Kayamandi...

After driving 10 hours from Oregon to San Francisco, I flew back up to Seattle, retracing my steps only to begin my 20 hour/almost 2 day flight. Still adjusting to the time and the weather(it's really hot here at night). Attempting to work with a local grade school to create a program that benefits teachers while providing meals for children. Unfortunately the exchange rate has dropped about 15% since I was here last, plus they added a service charge during the world cup and kept it in place. In addition to that, gas prices have increased the cost of food. But, FEESA is still going to feed as many hungry kids as possible! We should be starting next week and continuing throughout March.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Art Fundraiser


From December 1st through
December 10th, FEESA and
CardboardSpaceship will be
having an art fundraiser on
E-Bay. Simply go to E-Bay and
type in FEESA and the complete auction will come up. There will
be over 100 pieces by over 50 artists. Just in time for Christmas!
Thanks for checking it out! (click on image to see artists)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

New Video

Hello all,

FEESA has a new video that talks about the conditions in
Kayamandi and the food program that FEESA provides.
Dianne Griffin(diannegriffin.com) graciously donated her
valuable time to help edit the video that was taken by
Anna Telford(butterflyfilms.co.za) who also donated her
valuable time to shoot. Thank you both so much! hope
you enjoy the short.
http://vimeo.com/15942245
you can also view it at feedsouthafrica.org

Monday, August 16, 2010

Art Show in December

Some exciting news lately for FEESA (feedsouthafrica.org).
Several artist expressed interest in joining up with
CardboardSpaceshipToys in December to help raise funds
to get back to Africa to help feed Kayamandi! It will be on
cardboardspacehip.net. Stay tuned for a list of artist to
come, auction will be in the beginning of December. Also
thanks to Sean U. for putting together this short clip that
talks about some of the difficulties of daily life in
Kayamandi. Check out this link on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmI_Jbhut0