Jars bring hope
Feeding a family of four
During the first Covid-19 lockdown, people often rang Maryna Blignaut's doorbell asking for food.“At that stage people were not even allowed on the street, but they were hungry and what else could they do? There were so many who asked if they could just rake my yard, or clean my house. I explained that they may not actually even be out and about, and then I gave them food. I started buying extra maize porridge, soup and cans of fish to give them.”
Then she read about the Jar of Hope on social media and began filling bottles with the soup mix and handing it to people.
“A Jar of Hope consists of rice, a dry soup mix, soup powder, lentils and a stock cube. All you have to do is pour the contents into a pot of water, cook it and four people will have a meal.”
After Covid-19, she stopped filling the jars until about a month ago when she saw Jar of Hope’s page again.
“I told my Facebook friends about it and encouraged them to also give it a try and share the jars with hungry people that pass by their homes. And then three weeks ago I decided to take the lead and coordinate the project.”
Initially, she especially wanted to help the elderly who survive on their pension.
“We handed over many Jars of Hope to the Senior Park old age home and others in need, like those on street corners. People who know of someone or an organisation that needs help can send me a WhatsApp with the contact number on Facebook (Jar of Hope Namibia). Those who would like to donate empty bottles or dry ingredients can also reach me there.”
According to Maryna, numerous people have already made donations, even giving filled bottles.
Each bottle features a sticker (donated by Gateway Printing), sharing instructions on how to prepare the soup.