Siya Kolisi gives back to women who once gave his family food to help them survive

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has come a long way from begging for food from neighbours to feed his family in Zwide, in the Eastern Cape. Now the sportsman wants to give back to those who helped him all those years ago.

Siya has been handing out food and essentials to people in the area during the Covid-19 pandemic and recently shared a story about his struggles growing up there.

"As a young boy, some days we didn’t have food at home. And I would go from house to house with an empty cup asking for maize meal, beans, anything that would feed my family and I for the night," he wrote.

He said he was reminded of this by women in the community that he is now trying to help.

"I was reminded of these stories from the same ladies that would fill my cup all those years ago, while delivering food that will fill their families for a month."

He thanked the people of Zwide for teaching him ubuntu and shared pictures of the community.

Speaking to CNN about his outreach, Siya said having experienced hunger first-hand gave him more reasons to give back.

“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,” he said.