Feedback feeds Cape Town's poor

Did you ever throw away huge quantities of food after a big party? When you were standing there next to the bin, did you think about the people in Africa? The fact that the food would go bad if shipped to another continent probably eased your feelings of guilt.

But it's a whole different story if the food ends up in a dustbin only a few kilometres away from the poor people. That is exactly the idea behind the Feedback-project which has been running successfully in Cape Town for the past three years.

Bianca du Plessis, the founder of Feedback, worked in the film-industry for several years. In 1999 she initiated the food-project together with the German production-bureau 'Neue Sentimental Film' when they were busy working on a commercial. "At the end of the shooting days there is often a lot of food from catering-businesses left. We then agreed that it was 'crazy' to throw away all those leftovers," Du Plessis explained.

"Feedback is the link between the leftovers and the ones who need it the most", said Du Plessis. After working together with a few catering businesses in the first year it was time to expand. "With two trucks and two cars we also collect food at supermarkets, manufacturers, hotels and fruit markets."
The food that Feedback collects is of high quality. For example the five star Mount Nelson Hotel , is one of the suppliers. "But the bulk of our supply comes from supermarkets, the products which have almost reached their sell-by date like bread and milk", Du Plessis said.

Feedback has about fifty partner-organizations who supply food on a regular basis. The food goes to crèches and primary schools for children between three months and six years. HIV/AIDS-clinics, old age homes and shelters are also provided with food. "We focus on the people in the poorest area's", says Du Plessis. "That's why we supply most of our food to Khayelitsha, the biggest township which is situated far from the city centre."

In the first year Feedback supplied poor communities with 61.000 kilograms of food. The second year this rose to 352.000 kilograms and last year Feedback collected 595.000 kilograms of leftover-food. In the three years Feedback collected and supplied more that one million kilograms to 78 organisations. "Everyday we provide about 25 institutions with a total of 3000 meals", explains Du Plessis proudly.

Since 2002 Feedback has started operations also in Johannesburg. "But Jo'burg is a hard city in a way. Businesses are sceptical about our plans, they don't trust us easily and it's difficult to convince them." In the long term Feedback has plans to start in Durban and Porth Elisabeth.

Du Plessis explained that her project is having the same problem as many other NGO's. "We have no money. We are getting funds from the government, but until now our biggest sponsors is the German film production company and petrol-giant Engen, who pays the petrol for our vehicles. Many visitors to Cape Town want to give back to the poor people here and when they support us we can continue with our activities."

One of Feedback´s initiative is the "Sandwich Exchange Program'. Every day pupils from twenty prosperous, wealthy schools bring an extra sandwich to class. These sandwiches are then distributed to schools in the poorest areas. Du Plessis: "Many mothers are doing little work by making an extra sandwich every morning. By doing that this makes a big difference on the other side and you create awareness by the kids who are better off than many of their peers."