Township- Kinder

In South Africa there is a strong gap between the rich and the poor. This can be easily seen in the cities.

People with good financial status live in fenced houses that are constantly monitored by security personnel. This is by far the most common job here.

Poor people have to live in a strictly separated area in small wooden huts or sometimes houses of about 15-40 square meters. These neighborhoods are called townships.

With my volunteer group from the reserve, we support a woman who runs a soup kitchen in one of these neighborhoods once a week.

It is a kitchen of 6 square meters with a small covered area in front of it with benches and tables. From the outside it looks inconspicuous, but it is an incredibly popular meeting place for the children. They can meet here, play together on the street, and all receive a warm, healthy soup with bread.

They are especially happy when they have more "playmates", so when we arrived by bus, the children were already running alongside us. When we opened the door, we couldn't get out because they rushed towards us.

Some children still have families, but they are often too poor to afford warm or sufficient food every day. Some children are orphans. Their clothing is torn, not all of them have shoes, and they appear thin.

But just the attention we gave them made them shine nonetheless.

It was so beautiful and scary at the same time.

We then distributed the soup and every child should receive two slices of bread. When they stand in front of you and grab the bread out of your hand or hide it to get two more slices, and the expression in their eyes simply signifies that they are doing this out of hunger...

These are images that leave a lasting impact.

THOSE are real problems!

We should be aware of the good life we are allowed to lead and pass it on to our children in my opinion.

Many simply do not appreciate how lucky they are. That's all it is. Luck!

You are either born rich or poor. The children are simply not at fault! It is not an adult who may have lost a lot of money through mistakes in their life.

It is simply unimaginable and it made me feel bad that afterwards I can go and get food for myself and afford more than just a soup.

But we can all be reminded of how valuable food actually is, and I hope that in Germany soon more supermarkets and restaurants will donate leftover goods or sell them at a discount in the evenings.

If we save something each week, we can possibly pass it on to such organizations in Africa where help is truly needed.

It opened my eyes and I now view our oversupply in supermarkets somewhat critically. How often do you go shopping on Saturday night at 9 p.m. and the shelves are still so full, and you can only guess that the remaining vegetables will not stay in the store until Monday...

But it would be a step backwards to reduce the assortment, so my thoughts are completely irrelevant.

Be grateful.

Imagine how happy many people would be if they had what you have.