Gcina & Thato
Cracking down on hunger in Alexandra

Thato Mokwebo & Gcina Twala outside their soup kitchen in Alexandra © Thom Pierce 2023
Thato and Gcina met when he was making a documentary about her father; the legend of Alexandra Township, Linda Twala (also featured in The Actionists). As well as meeting his future wife, the encounter shifted his life perspective from the importance of making money to the importance of helping others.
“Sometimes it’s not just about trying to be at the top and having expensive cars, It became more important to me to help other people”
Together they started an organisation called Ntsika Ye Sizwesethu which runs a reading club and a soup kitchen in Alexandra. Their passion is for people and upliftment, a responsibility that was instilled in Gcina as a young child.
From the age of seven, she would accompany her father in his outreach engagements, growing in confidence as she learned, to the point where he would make speak for him at public engagements. As the last-born child of a man who has dedicated himself to helping others, it’s not surprising that Gcina is passionate about creating positive change in her community and why her priority is to carry on her father’s legacy.
The soup kitchen operates out of the GNF church (God Never Fails) every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They serve food at 9 am and 2 pm, mostly to children from the surrounding schools, shack squatters and recyclers. They estimate that they feed around 700 people each day with the help of 5 volunteers from the church who generously help with the cooking.
The food currently comes as a donation from Ladles of Love but resources are limited. They are always looking for further partnerships to provide them with more food donations as ideally, they want to expand the food kitchen to several other locations and provide a mobile feeding service to the elderly.
To help expand their operations they are looking for partnerships and donations to help them with petrol, gas and cooking stoves.
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