00:00The Bapu Melele orphanage in Cape Town's Kailicha Township has become a lifeline for children
00:11who have been abandoned, abused or living with HIV and other chronic illnesses. The
00:17cost of running the home and providing nutritious meals has, however, shot up substantially,
00:23making it difficult to provide for the most vulnerable. Before COVID, the prices of the
00:30food were affordable. It was easy to buy food and with the little income that we have. But
00:42after COVID, that 10-run bread, loaf of bread, it doubled. Food is not the only thing that's
00:51rising. Higher electricity bills and unreliable water supply are also challenges.
00:57In this township, we are left behind. We don't have water here. I lost like two children because
01:04of dehydration. I have to do wells. I have to ask people to support us to have wells.
01:16The high cost of living extends far beyond the walls of this home.
01:20Unemployment in the surrounding community is rife, where an average $300 food basket is out of reach
01:27for many. A scenario all too familiar across South Africa, where millions live below the poverty line
01:34and on social grounds. We are really struggling to make ends meet. Sometimes some people do not have jobs
01:42to buy that food. Even when you are able to buy it, but you just cannot get enough. You can't get all the
01:51necessary duties that you need. I have three kids. It is really hard.
01:57To fight against rising hunger, the orphanage bakes its own bread and provides meals for those who battle
02:03to make ends meet. Just across the street from Bapumelele Orphanage is the soup kitchen and the bakery.
02:10They estimate that 100 people come to this soup kitchen every day. It's open Monday to Saturday,
02:18and that means around a thousand mouths a week. The depression that has set in because people
02:24either cannot get a job, they cannot afford sufficient and nutritious food, which has its own impacts.
02:32We have also seen, therefore, the rise of other social factors and social impacts that are
02:39connected to economic ones, such as an increase in crime, such as a lowering output of our educational
02:50outcome. Despite tough times, there is still hope. The orphanage runs programs to teach youngsters vital
02:57skills to fend for themselves. We teach them how to do the gardening there so that we can produce food
03:04on our own because food is expensive. So we're trying to partner with Harvest of Hope, other NGOs,
03:11cooperatives, which work to make sure that we can curb this poverty. For many here, the right to food
03:19and to live with dignity remains out of reach. South Africa's struggle is a reminder that hunger is not
03:26inevitable. It is a measure of inequality.
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