January - May 2012
Redhill Township- Cape point Cape Town
Rasikarai das has done the unthinkable-
He has moved into a very remote township in the deep south Cape peninsula. He is the only white person living in amongst the coloured and African communities Redhill is a
mixed community and the township is divided into 4 separate camps.The upper camps comprise of coloured persons. The middle and lower camps are made up of African persons. It is an extremely trying place to be, often water is either in short supply or it just is not supplied. In summer it gets extremely hot up in the mountains and with the lack of water it is very austere and practically impossible to keep clean or cook food.
Rasikarai das has been living in the township in amongst the persons for 6 months. He is presently operating from a very small sh
ack- 3m x 3m. This is his home and kitchen. The bathroom is outside and it means using a bucket of cold water to bathe. Too often people try to assist communities without understanding their needs. Here Rasikarai das lives amongst the people and knows them by name and can see exactly what is needed to uplift them. It is by no means a walk in the park- often substance abuse is the cause of their continued suffering.
Drunken brawls are a common occurrence often leading to fatalities. Our real concern has always been with the children,and here in Redhill the children suffer more than in the average townships because of the seriousness of the prevailing Alcoholism. Because the adults drink so heavily there is seldom money budgeted for the feeding of their own kids,this is why we help the kids out. When we've fed on the week-ends,we find that our meal is their first for the entire week-end. Rasikarai das has been feeding the kids twice a week, and been giving fruits out another 5 days a week. It is a gruelling task - volunteers are not forth coming (due to severe hang-overs) but gradually he has won some women and kids over and now receives help from within the community.
Rasikarai das has no vehicle to distribute the foods and you will often see him pushing a rusty old wheel-barrow around distributing hi
s meals. The children love to chant HARE KRSNA with him, even when he not giving out the food and fruits - some even come up to him and give him a little hug and say "We love you Krsna". Winter is now approaching and it is going to change the dynamics of how he is operating, if anyone out there would like to give him some assistance - especially at helping him to acquire a more suitable premisses - he could do more, be more effective and help is always appreciated.
December - 2011
Th
e City of Cape Town, like most other Cities in the world, face socio-economic problems. The City has been proposing a " STREET PEOPLE PILOT PROJECT ". This project aims at addressing the growing concerns of the ever increasing arrival of persons living on the streets. It aims at not only feeding the peoples, but also at reintergrating them into society by means of assesing the individual and putting them into the care of a social worker, who either returns them to their families or gets them housed, clothed and back to work. It is by no means a quick fix and can in many cases be a futile attempt at correcting the wrongs. We do our bit at getting involved and feeding at the 'Grand Parade' and giving the 'Street People' the "Holy Names'
October - November 2011
Takkegaan is a small community of 21 indigent families, clustered together behind a landfill site, just outside of Tableview - Cape Town. While the men walk to the nearest town in hope of finding work the woman and children remain hidden from the world,behind a cluster of blue-gum trees. Gangsters are well aware of the women left behind,and often they are attacked ,robbed and raped. We have been visiting this community regularly on weekends and bringing the kids of this community our very special meals and ample fruits. Occasionally we bring them freshly baked bread rolls for the lunch packs of the school children in this community. the children also love tosing and dance to the chanting of HARE KRSNA. Here we prepare approxiamately 120 meals, 60 bread rolls and plenty of fruit boxes that are shared out amongst the cildren and families. We have also had a small regular band of volunteers helping out on a regular bases.
September 03 -2011
Albow Gardens in Brooklyn, Cape Town is
a mixed low income community (council flats). The people range from elderly to young children.The buildings are in various degrees of disrepair . The tennants battle to pay their low rentals and seldom have money to spare to even provide food for their families. As a devotee of the Hare Krishna faith,i have come here on numerous ocassions to provide Krishna Prasadam to these people.Many still remember us and some have even been to visit our temple in Rondebosch.Of recent Gauranga Peace Meals has been back to Albow Gardens to serve hot nutritious meals to the elderly and youth.We provided about 40 plates of fresh fruit salad for the children living their,they were over joyed,as their families are often unable to give them such luxuries as fruits. As part of our program we chant the Maha Mantra (Hare Krishna) with them and their families,many remembered us upon our return.We also served out 100 plates of vegetable briyani.
th of august Gauranga Peace Meals went out to Tableview in Cape Town with a small band of volunteers to feed homeless person and those that sit on the side of the road awaiting possible work.Many of these men awaiting work ofen go to their pick-up points and begin the day without a meal.We give them a plate of hot vegetarian food to improve their chances of being able and effective workers.On this particular day we cooked 150 delicious meals and distributed them to a community of homeless person living on a garbage dump in the area and to those awaiting work for the day.
