Security guard aids hungry children by providing daily meal
Moosa Ismail is living proof that we all have a role to play in ending poverty and extending a helping hand to those in need.
Poverty is a major concern in South Africa.
Many families live below the poverty line.
A 2018 Global Citizen report states that 'more than six-million children in South Africa are currently living below the food poverty line and don't have access to healthy meals'.
Another report published in May 2023 by Mail & Guardian states that there are more than half a million homes where children under the age of five experience hunger.
A report on child poverty, recently released by the Department of Social Development, found that over seven-million remained below the food poverty line of R663 per person per month in 2022.
Children having to go to school on an empty stomach is what caused Moosa Ismail to devise a plan to come up with a solution to end the suffering.
The security guard told Beautiful News that one morning, two school children were passing by his workplace in Lansdowne, Cape Town, when he noticed that they were not fine and asked them what was wrong. It is through the conversation that he learned that the two were going to school on an empty stomach.
This led to him devising a plan to prepare food for them so that they never have to go to school on an empty stomach.
"Every morning before I start working, I prepare sandwiches for children to eat on their way to school," he told Beautiful News.
The security guard says although he doesn't have much to offer, he is always willing to take whatever he has and share it with the children.
"I don't have much myself, but even if it is my last, I would give it to them. I know what it feels like to have nothing," he told the publication.
Ismail says he knows that "it's hard to concentrate in class when you are concerned about your next meal".
To date, he feeds about 40 children using his own salary and some of the donations he receives.
"I'm humbled when parents thank me for looking out for their kids, but that feeling of doing it makes me feel like a millionaire," he told Beautiful News.
The Cape Town resident has encouraged all citizens to play a part in ending poverty.
“It does not matter how big or small your efforts are, as long as you help where you can. The power of a community is realised when we come together to support our children," he said.
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Image supplied by Beautiful News.