#morethansoup

by Barbara Clarke

First published Mar 2024.

Updated June 2026

In Resilient Kids’ training, we say that everyone has a story, and that there's always a story behind the story. Our stories are important. The story we believe and tell about ourselves - as individuals, families, groups, communities, and even as organisations is important. And the stories others believe and tell about us are important, though for different reasons.

When, in her TED talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, talks of the danger of a single story, she alerts us to the ways we may miss important aspects of another's story. Recently I was struck again by the partial story some people hold and tell of Mercy Aids, in general, and specifically when it comes to the support for community kitchens.

Food has always been one part of who we are. So, when the pandemic hit and the Nation was in lockdown we quickly mobilised to distribute food. Like everyone else we were suddenly more aware of South Africa's hunger crisis. We stopped business as usual and responded to the hunger. We did so by partnering with community members in Fisantekraal, Du Noon, Ravensmead, and Uitsig who were doing what they could do feed their hungry neighbours. We began with those we knew and followed their lead to find others. We became known as 'the soupkitchen people.' The label worked, sort of, for a time, but like many labels it left a lot unsaid, and that created a misunderstanding of our story. Then, but more so now. 

We always knew we were more than what this label conveys, even at its broadest, and most generous understanding. In times of crisis, and 2020 into 2021 were such times, you choose where to put your energy. For us that meant helping to keep pots full and supporting as best we could the community members who were working hard, in difficult circumstances, to feed their neighbours nutritious meals with dignity. Our focus then was not correcting every less than accurate grasp of our story being told.

Eventually, it became time to challenge the single stories people had of us. This is a reminder of that.

A scroll through Mercy Aids’ social media pages shows that: the organisation predates Covid-19 by about 15 years, our activities have been much broader than distributing food(though food security and food sovereignty remain key aspects for us), and that we have worked in different communities with a wide variety of collaborators. 

We have always had a developmental vision. We have grown in our understanding of what that could and should mean. Partly thanks to our Covid-19 experience, and the opportunities for collaboration that brought, not least with the women and men who embody #morethansoup as they created and continue to create networks of care and belonging through feeding their hungry neighbours. Their stories are most definitely not single stories. 

Partly because of our interaction with UWC's Occupational Therapy Department's Community Development staff and students which began in February 2021 and continues to today. And partly due to developing partnerships and collaboration with organisation working within Fisantekraal and our involvement in organisations across Cape Town, through Connect Network our story continues to grow well beyond any single narrative.

We invite you to get to know our story more fully. Like the kitchens we serve, we are #morethansoup.