Whatshot

2026
All
September
2025
All
November
All
2024
All
June
All
April
All
2023
All
March
All
2022
All
2021
All
2020
All
March
All
February
All
2019
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2018
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
2017
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2016
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2015
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
DHS
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2014
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
KZN
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2013
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All
June
All
May
All
April
All
March
All
February
All
January
All
2012
All
December
All
November
All
October
All
September
All
August
All
July
All

Through my eyes

Through my eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2019-03-08

It was a very sad teary Sunday lunch as my father recalled a visit he had earlier that day. According to my father, four young boys rang his bell on Sunday morning asking for food.

"They were genuinely hungry," He told me, "I could see it in their eyes, you can't fake hunger like that."

My father was moved to tears recalling this story, he remembers hunger so well, and he almost died of it as a child, so he can be trusted to identify the signs.

I could see he was deeply disturbed as he tried to conceal his tears. He said; "It's not a good sign when children go around begging for food. It means that its worse than we originally thought it would be."

My father, at 80 years old, seldom delivers doom and gloom. He is a rather sober character with a few serious traits, there is almost never any humour coming out of him and when there is its a belly squeezing, raucous laughter.

"Really Kasia, you have to listen to me, when people are hungry they will do anything to eat. And if our nation's children are starving, we are heading for disaster."

I did not listen to Tito's budget speech, those kind of things bore me to death, I tried to read the overview but it was just numbers, it really meant squat to me. But seeing my father's bloodshot eyes was very sobering.

Lets be honest, we are all experiencing the aftershock of the state capture. As a layman all I know is that hundreds of billions of Rands have been stolen out of the South African economy by rogue thieves, those billions will never be returned, they are being spent on luxury lifestyles somewhere in Dubai and India, Paris and Monaco.

Who knows where the money has gone but all we know is that everything that was certain is no longer that black and white.

So while our political fat cats are licking their chops and buffing their whiskers, the children of our country are hungry and they are forced to go begging door to door. What kind of future do you see for children who are forced to beg. How much humility do you give our future generation who out of desperation go out to solicit for food

It's a sad day for me. I feel the pressure of all those people who are struggling to make ends meet, and especially I feel the agony of mothers who cannot afford to feed their children, and they are within our communities. Our government must act to support and empower the mothers and their children to abolish hunger.

As a community we all need to dig a little deeper into our wallets. And as we dig, we might find that we have so much more to offer than we ever imagined. We must be bold and reach out to make a sincere connection. Our kindness is an irresistible force.