Woman Feeds 2,000 Weekly in Paarl for 30 Years

When Magda Meyer's family was struggling to put food on the table while her kids were in primary school, two pastors told her about others in Paarl, South Africa who had even less. Despite her own empty cupboards, she started cooking for them once a week.

That was 30 years ago. Today, the 64-year-old runs Magda se Sopkombuis (Magda's Soup Kitchen) from an industrial kitchen on her property, feeding more than 2,000 people across three locations every single day.

Meyer started small, walking door to door selling plants from a single crate to buy ingredients. She collected food scraps from neighbors and turned them into meals for families who needed them most.

Three decades later, her operation has grown but the spirit remains the same. The soup kitchen has no fixed menu because Meyer cooks with whatever arrives that day: donated groceries, digital vouchers from supporters, and surplus food from retailers and farmers through FoodForward SA.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," Meyer says. That philosophy extends beyond food to every corner of her kitchen, which runs on rescued tables, countertops made from discarded bricks and marble, and secondhand dishware she lends out for weddings and birthday parties.

Meyer admits some days she has no petrol to travel and can't keep the lights on. But her Christian faith keeps her moving forward, and she can't imagine sitting still while others struggle.

The money she earns selling small potted plants usually goes straight back out to people who need help paying for electricity or school shoes. Her dreams are modest: a garden to grow crops for the soup kitchen, and a future peaceful enough to sit on her stoep listening to success stories from the children she feeds.

Sunny's Take

Meyer recently reunited with a young woman who relied on the soup kitchen as a child and is now a university student. These moments fuel her greatest hope: that one day, her soup kitchen won't be needed anymore because the children she calls her own will have found their way to better lives. "It is important that one's future is better than one's past," she says, speaking from a heart that knows both hunger and abundance.