'There is nothing worse than hunger': Siya Kolisi on helping those in need during Covid-19 pandemic

29 April 2020 - 09:34 By Unathi Nkanjeni
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Siya Kolisi and wife Rachel Kolisi dropping off food parcels in Zwide township, Port Elizabeth.
Siya Kolisi and wife Rachel Kolisi dropping off food parcels in Zwide township, Port Elizabeth.
Image: Instagram/Kolisi Foundation

“There's nothing worse than hunger. There's nothing worse than listening to your stomach before you go to bed and you just hear grumbling.”

There are the words of  Springbok captain Siya Kolisi who is on a charity drive to support the less fortunate through the Kolisi Foundation.

The World Cup-winning captain and his wife Rachel recently launched their foundation and have been hard at work delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals and feeding those who are seriously affected by Covid-19 in the Eastern Cape.

Speaking to CNN, Kolisi said helping the less fortunate was something close to his heart.

He said having experienced hunger first-hand gave him more reasons to give back because there was “no better feeling than helping somebody else”.

“There's nothing worse than hunger. There's nothing worse than listening to your stomach before you go to bed and you just hear grumbling. You have nothing to eat, you've got no other choice,” said Kolisi.

“If I went a couple of days without eating I would go to my neighbour and go ask for something.

“Sometimes we live in a house with 10 or 15 people in one room. It's really hard to have social distancing.”

The charity initiative is currently in Kolisi's hometown, Zwide township in Port Elizabeth and he hopes to extend it to other townships, including the Western Cape.

Last week, Kolisi and his wife dropped off 500 food parcels for people in Zwide township in partnership with the Imbumba Foundation and Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The couple also encouraged people to donate and help out in any way.

“With the food packages that we drop off, we are adding messages in the local dialect of Xhosa, because this is predominately for the Xhosa areas,” Kolisi said.

“The most important is this, if you want people to stay home, tell them why. You can't just tell someone to stay home and not give them anything.”


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