Unsung hero feeding Egoli’s children

Local hero nominee Markum Lewis, 50, gives his all to the children of Egoli, including his birthday. 

On August 3, he will once more create a street bash for the hundreds of people he feeds alongside his family, as the Lewis Foundation, founded during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. 

“We started with two loaves and one pot, now we are 10 loaves and five big pots, that’s a lot of bread!” Lewis said. 

The foundation offers hot meals three times a week for about 200 children and adults from Egoli and Muvhango.

They also deliver hot meals to the homes of  the elderly who cannot walk.

Lewis juggles full-time employment as the butchery manager of the Amalinda SUPERSPAR, and uses about R4,000 from his salary every month to fund the soup kitchen.

They also receive bread donations through the Clean Slate NPO from Nahoon SPAR.

“It’s a very poor community. It’s like paying off instalments for a car. People say ‘Hey you’re a manager but you don’t have a car’. I’m investing in something I care for instead.

“The people say don’t take everything on but if I don’t do it, who’s going to do it?”

Assisted by his wife, Carmen, their two children, and a few volunteers from the community, they prepare rice or samp alongside a stew, cooked on two gas burners. 

“Most families are on the R350 grant, but what can you do with that when you walk into a shop?

“That money must last the whole month, many toddlers — two-, three-, four-year-olds going on one meal or without a meal per day ...”

“Children come to the house every day because they know there is bread.

“When it rains, those children stand in the rain ...

“I told them ‘kom binne’ [come inside] but my house in Egoli is not big, so they stand there in the rain because they want that piece of bread and that bucket of soup, the need is that bad.”

Each child or adult in line receives two servings, one as their lunch and the other as dinner for the evening. 

“Often they don’t want to take it home, because if they take food home it will get taken, a lot deal with family members on drugs or parents who are drunk.”

Lewis could not hold back tears when recounting the hardships the children face. 

In one case, “I never knew their mother was sick and can’t walk, her child sacrificed his food for his mother.

“ There are many child-headed households.”

Throughout the year, they organise drives to commemorate holidays such as Christmas, Easter or Father’s Day and back-to-school.

They have winter blanket drives and are now running a sanitation drive for young women and girls. 

To uplift spirits, the foundation has incorporated dance into their events and has in the past offered dance lessons to young children.

“My daughter started the sanitary drive.

“There are children using cardboard, using T-shirts ...

“My daughter told me, ‘Daddy, I’m taking my money to buy sanitary pads for the children because some of them are ashamed to go to school because they don’t have sanitary pads.’

“It’s heartbreaking to see how the children suffer.”

Lewis was emotional when recounting past celebrations, which included a special gift for the children, a hot meal and a dance party in the street.

“Some kids didn’t even know what a marshmallow was. To just give them party packs, a hot plate of food. The joy of handing it over to them ...

“We are not doing it to be seen, we do it as a passion.”

Lewis hoped to receive a container he could transform into a safe space for children to complete their homework after school. 

“My house has Wi-Fi so we have children come during the month to sit in my yard, I tell them to come finish their projects.

“Some say they can’t go to school because they need to finish their work but can’t. 

“My main initiative is to start an afterschool programme where children can come, sit and do their homework or print.” 

Nominator Adelah Davids, from Parkside, said: “Markum faced challenges all his life, but with a steady heart, he chose not to allow the streets to intimidate him.

“He had a vision, never to allow the past or poverty to steer him from or define his destiny.”

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