Born of hardship, driven by faith, Magda Meyer has been feeding Paarl’s hungry for 30 years

For more than 30 years Magda Meyer has run Magda se Sopkombuis or Magda’s Soup Kitchen from her home. She and her volunteers cook and distribute food parcels to those in need at three different locations in Paarl every day. 

Every week her soup kitchen feeds more than 2,000 people – people she deeply identifies with since it was Meyer’s own struggle that brought her to dedicating her life to feeding others. 

The now 64-year-old’s life shifted when her own family was struggling financially while her children were in primary school, Meyer says. During this difficult period she had a conversation with two pastors who taught her about the suffering of others in Chicago, Paarl. This had driven Meyer to start cooking once a week for those in need in her surrounding communities, despite not having much to eat herself, she says.

Meyer recalls walking from door-to-door selling plants in a single crate to raise money for ingredients and asking for food scraps to concoct meals in her early soup kitchen days. 

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

The soup kitchen has no fixed menu, according to Meyer – the food cooked and distributed depends on what they receive. 

Magda se Sopkombuis regularly receives food donations thanks to Meyer having built decades of connections, she says. She adds that the soup kitchen also relies on gifts of digital grocery vouchers from other individuals and organisations. Meyer and her team redeem these vouchers for food in-store. 

Magda se Sopkombuis also cooks using surplus food or food that is still edible but has not been sold or has been overproduced, is slightly imperfect or does not meet strict retailer specifications. The soup kitchen receives surplus food daily through their membership with nonprofit organisation FoodForward SA, Meyer explains. FoodForward SA recovers this food from farmers, manufacturers or retailers and redistributes it to beneficiary organisations for a small monthly fee. 

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Meyer explains that all food is sorted and inspected to ensure the soup kitchen remains tidy and the cooked food adheres to proper health standards. 

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” she says. 

To Meyer this statement does not only apply to surplus food. Magda se Sopkombuis no longer operates from a shack on her property and has its own industrial kitchen, although she still collects many secondhand goods to keep it running. 

Many of the tables they use have been recovered from a woman who planned to throw them away, she says, while the kitchen’s counter comprises bricks and a marble countertop another woman planned to throw away. Meyer also collects secondhand dishware sets which she lends to those who cannot afford to hire for events such as weddings and birthday parties. But she adds that the soup kitchen is always ready to donate their extra dishware to disaster victims, such as those whose houses have flooded or burnt down. 

Trusting in God

Meyer admits that there are days where she has no petrol to travel and cannot keep the lights on. But as a devout Christian, trust in God keeps her going. 

“If I focus on what I need to do for the Lord, then this will never feel like too much. I can’t imagine myself sitting still, knowing others are struggling. My work won’t be done as long as God gives me the strength to continue,” she says. 

Meyer says she owes her life to God. She once thought that she would not survive Covid-19 during the pandemic. She recalls a day where children gathered in a circle and prayed for her, and credits her healing to their “answered prayers”.

A mother’s dreams

Meyer currently grows small plants in pots and sells them at a stall. This money is typically donated to people who reach out to her for help when they are short on cash for electricity or new school shoes, among other needs, she explains. But Meyer dreams of one day having a garden where Magda se Sopkombuis can grow their own crops.

Meyer also dreams of a better future for the children she feeds, children she sees as her own.

“They are my children, because I know what they’ve been through,” she says, recalling that she recently reunited with a woman who used to rely on the soup kitchen for meals as a child but is now a university student. Meyer says she pictures herself in future, sitting peacefully on a stoep, listening to success stories like this. 

Although she welcomes young people to volunteer at the soup kitchen, she prefers to have pensioners on her regular team, because she believes youngsters should be focused on education and employment. 

She hopes “her children” will be given the opportunity to study. She did not have this opportunity growing up and had to leave school in what was then Standard 7. 

Meyer dreams that these children will find good jobs and have the power to leave their difficult circumstances. 

“It is important that one’s future is better than one’s past,” she says. 

Ultimately, Meyer dreams of a future where her soup kitchen will no longer be needed. DM