The Pietermaritzburg Hare Krishna Food for Life project has been actively engaged
in free distribution of hot vegetarian food since February 1997.
The devotees meet each Tuesday evening to clean and cut vegetables and to get the
grocery items ready at the Noar Road Temple, Northdale, through the courtesy of the
Ved Dharma Sabha and its president, Mr. S. Satgar. Preparation of the food
commences at noon each Wednesday.
The hot vegetarian meals are transferred to large containers and then to a truck
loaned by Mr Michael of Michael's Construction. The food is then distributed to
schools, institutions and to all informal settlers in the Pietermaritzburg area.
His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami, the regional secretary of GBC in South Africa , says in a special message:
"At present South Africa is going through a very tough time and there is pain and strife for too many. How to make the transition to a truly optimistic future?
We need to go deep within ourselves to bring out our best on the spiritual
platform. The process of Krishna Consciousness is the ideal means of achieving
that. We want to introduce a spiritual recipe for peace through our
Pietermaritzburg project in the form of mass prasadam (sanctified food)
distribution for those who are needy, materially and spiritually...We thank you all
for participating in this project."
The Hare Krishna Food for Life complex will be built at 5 Bombay Road. It will
have modern kitchen facilities costing an estimated R350000. Fund raising will start
on August 1.
Food for Life will publicly declare Pietermaritzburg, Raisethorpe and Northdale as hunger free zones just as Durban central and Chatsworth have been. Contact devotee is Lokabhandu Dasa.