Retired pastor from Shakaville, KwaDukuza a father to a community

Reverend Simon Kwesaba (71) is the father of Shakaville, spending his days feeding and educating his community.

Ikusasaletha (Our Future) crèche is nestled in the heart of Shakaville on the outskirts of KwaDukuza town and provides an important lifeline to people in need.

The crèche was the brainchild of Reverend Kwesaba, and has now been running for over 25 years.

“I was starting to preach less as I became older, and I wanted to find a way to keep helping the community,” said Kwesaba.

The support of the Dutch Reformed Church in Ballito and Umhlanga proved a vital cog in the process, and the relationship still continues to this day.

“We help wherever we can, organising donations and equipment, but Simon and his wife Eunice are the driving force behind the outreach,” said Louis Meyer of the Umhlanga NG Kerk.

The crèche is a place where children can get a meal or food parcel daily.

For children who are younger than 4, it is also a learning centre which is vital in the development stage.

There are just shy of 20 children enrolled at the moment, with orphans attending for free and parents paying a nominal fee.

“It is not a way to make money, but rather to help the community to uplift itself and prosper,” said Meyer.

Although children are the focal point of outreach for Ikusasaletha, many families were helped with food packs in the time of increased desperation during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We look after orphans but will help any children in need, and there are many families that only have one parent or older sibling running the household,” said Kwesaba.

To aid the feeding scheme, Reverend Kwesaba set up a smallholding where he grows organic food for the community.

The support of Checkers allowed for irrigation to be set up and some equipment to be bought, which has increased the output significantly.

Checkers Mount Richmore Village has also been donating surplus food that has been used to create food parcels.

Seed of Hope is one of the 336 community organisations that have since the start of lockdown benefitted from the R57 million in surplus food, which Checkers’ parent company, the Shoprite Group has donated.

“I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to Checkers for their unwavering support through the years and especially now during this particularly difficult time.It’s because of loyal partners like them that I can keep on doing what I love, which is to help the people in my community in a meaningful way,” said Kwesaba.

The “Seed of Hope” community project has been running for 21 years, and produces a wide variety of vegetables.

The harvested produce either goes directly into the feeding project or gets sold to fund the organisation in its outreach initiatives.

Aside from the tangible output, Reverend Kwesaba also teaches the children how to plant, tend to and harvest the crops.

His influence in the community extends beyond the feeding scheme and he is particularly proud of the 50 orphaned children that he has helped to put through school.

“God has been so good to me, and when I saw these children like a sheep without a shepherd I knew I had to step in,” he said.

Although his pastoral years are behind him, Reverend Kwesaba continues to live a life informed by God and His principles.

With the help of his wife Eunice, he intends to continue to farm and feed the community for as long as he can.

If you would like to donate to the project, you can visit the Seed of Hope KwaDukuza Facebook page for details.