In Case You Missed It: Catch Up on the South Africa Celebration Series

on November 30, 2023

With a mission to alleviate hunger, real solutions do exist to pave the way toward brighter futures. In honor of Rise Against Hunger’s 25th anniversary, we continue to celebrate nourished lives and empowered communities around the globe by sharing our impact in South Africa. Rise Against Hunger Africa, one of our six international offices, works to address the critical issue of hunger in children through the Early Childhood Development Connect (ECD Connect) Program.The ECD Connect Program assists early childhood development centers in South Africa, also known as ECDs, to meet the Department of Basic Education standards and obtain proper registration. To accomplish these outcomes, Rise Against Hunger Africa works alongside local partners and school leaders to develop long-term solutions that generate cost savings through donated meals and food security through home-grown school gardens. Learn more from the program participants below and the impact results in South Africa.

Impact Results (And Counting)

With a primary focus on ensuring children between the ages of 0 and 6 have access to quality education and nutritious meals, local school gardens supported through the ECD Connect Program provide fresh vegetables and fruits to early childhood development centers and the community. In the past year alone, this program has supported over 1,180 ECDs, served 38,100+ people and provided more than 2.9 million meals. These remarkable results have also created new jobs and skills development opportunities, improving the participants’ quality of life and supporting long-term food security.

Program Participants

Orange Farm Lakeside, a local garden located at Langalibalele Dube Primary School in Johannesburg, South Africa, harvests vegetables and provides produce to local ECDs in the community. Students and parents also learn the fundamentals of starting their own gardens to improve access to nutrition, leading to food security and self-sufficiency. Learn more about Orange Farm Lakeside’s remarkable impact from three program participants, including Doris, Lakeside Garden Supervisor, Ayanda, Lakeside Principal, and Mpho, Lakeside Teacher and Gift Coordinator.Rhelokemelenge Preschool & Nursery is a level 1 early childhood development center in Meyerton, South Africa. By providing Rise Against Hunger meals at school and using the cost savings to improve educational resources, this ECD has grown significantly, supporting the nutrition and education of 30 children. Find out more about this center from two program participants, including Maria, Director of the Rhelokemelenge Preschool & Nursery, and Joyce, a parent of an enrolled student, and the impact it has made in the local community. MorningStar is a level 4 early childhood development center in Johannesburg, South Africa. Through the distribution of Rise Against Hunger meals, children receive the nutrition they need to thrive while gaining access to a quality education. MorningStar’s infrastructure has also expanded into a thriving space with a kitchen, outdoor area, and multiple classrooms for 35 children. Watch this video to hear from two program participants, including Sanna, MorningStar Founder and Principal, and Irene, a parent of a MorningStar child. Place of Hope, a community garden in Johannesburg, South Africa, harvests vegetables, such as carrots, onions, spinach, kale and tomatoes, and donates them to local early childhood development centers. By gardening a wide range of vegetables, Place of Hope is improving food security, nourishing lives and cultivating community life and opportunities. Hear from two program participants, including Thompson, program supervisor and owner of the Place of Hope garden, and Brian Nell, Rise Against Hunger Africa CEO. Are you interested in joining the celebration in South Africa? We invite you to make a $25 gift in honor of Rise Against Hunger’s 25th anniversary. Your gift will help even more children on the path to food security, just like the children and their local communities in South Africa.

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.