Khanyi Ndabeni
Monday, September 08, 2008
 |
|
Nelson Mandela Bay |
Despite the recent xenophobic attacks which left many shops owned by Somalis in ashes, a Somali shopkeeper in Traduna Mall still finds it in his heart to feed poor South Africans.
Every morning before 9am many people from the impoverished areas of the metro come to the mall where they are offered bread, soup and cash by the owners.
Abdus Samad, owner of Misbaah Stores, said that this was his people‘s way of giving back to the community that supported them.
“We really do not mind spending R5000 a month on these people. Some depend on this food for the day,” he said.
Unemployed Mandisi Fatyi, 45, walks all the way from New Brighton to town every morning for his meal.
“This is the only meal I am sure I will receive each day. Sometimes I take some bread to my three children who are still at school,” he said.
Another beneficiary is Alex Matroos, 54, also from New Brighton.
Matroos lost his job as a labourer in 1984 when a firm called Anchor Engineering closed down.
“I‘ve looked for a job everywhere in the city, but have not had any luck. It is not nice to wake up every day and go and ask for food, but circumstances have led me to come here. If I‘m not lucky the other days, at least I know on Fridays I‘ll be lucky. I also feed my children with the bread and use the money to feed them, too.”
Not only men come begging for food, but women who have no husbands to provide for their families also come to queue for whatever they can get.
Source: The Herald Online, Sept 08, 2008