Steph and Ruth's Activist Project

Throughout the semester students have been working on Activist Projects in addition to the three days a week they worked at internships. I am fairly certain each would agree they have gotten far more from these projects then they could have ever hoped to give. As time permits, and with their permission, i will post student descriptions of projects and pictures.

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Steph and Ruth spent time at a Soup Kitchen in Khayelitsha. Both have written about their experiences and given me permission to post their papers. To learn even more about Iliso Care Society you can check the website at http://iliso.org/



Stephanie Maurer
7 April 2008
Activist Report

Iliso Care Society

From the first moment I met Vivian, the woman who runs Iliso, I knew that this place would be somewhere I would find inspiration. Vivian was overly enthusiastic about having Ruth and I to her home, which doubles as a soup kitchen and safe house for children. She came all the way from Khayalitsha to Mowbray on a minibus (R14, 50) just to meet with us at our home! I was so impressed by her enthusiasm, that I knew her project would be just as remarkable.

When we first arrived, she proudly showed around the center which literally was in her house. How shocked was I to see that each day she serves more than one hundred children and men and women with HIV/AIDS from her house. At home when someone says the term soup kitchen, I don’t usually just think soup. All the soup kitchens I have been to include serving mass productions of bread, pasta, canned veggies and occasionally some lasagna. But here at Vivian’s, she served the same soup every day. No one complains, they just bring in their containers and say how many ladles they need. It was amazing.

One thing Vivian made pretty clear was that she really didn’t need us. Mostly we were there to observe and spread the word, she told us. I was a little disappointed by this because I was hoping to work somewhere that needed my help. She didn’t, she had women from the community volunteering on days they could not get any work. So while we were there, I served soup and then per Vivian’s request took pictures of the place. She said that I should send these pictures to her, and also bring them home to show people what I saw.



I might not have done very much acting while at Iliso Care Society, but I did gather enough information about the place so that I will feel connected to it forever. I was able to see something in Vivian that is not something you can find in everyone you meet. I could identify the fight in her, the pure determination to make it. She developed her soup kitchen into a place which is actually considered a registered NGO. She is taking classes on how to be a better manager and she is handling all her own finances and donations in a very professional way.

Vivian knows how marginalized people with HIV/AIDS can be, and how hard it is to survive. Iliso does it’s part by breaking down the stigmas and stereotypes that often hold people back. With more safe havens like Iliso, there would be a greater opportunity for people to identify their problems and work together towards fixing them. The first step towards changing something is getting people together, and Iliso does just that.

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Ruth Clark
8 April 2008
Activist Project



Iliso Care Society

Iliso Care Society is not just a soup kitchen in Khayelitsha. It is a safe haven for children, a place for catching up with neighborhood friends, and an inspiration for South Africa’s future. Run by an extraordinary woman named Vivian Zilo right out of her home, Iliso Care Society (meaning “An Eye For Care” in Xhosa) serves hundreds of hungry people every afternoon, five days a week. A record is kept of each person who receives the food by willing volunteers, which is also my role.

The first time I went to Khayalitsha, I was astonished at Vivian’s amount of dedication to her fellow South Africans. Here was a poor woman, living in Khayelitsha herself, giving all she had to as many as she could. She was using her own home as a soup kitchen for anyone who needed it, and also as a shelter for children. She began Iliso all on her own, slowly accruing devoted helpers and eventually becoming a registered non-profit organization. She handles everything from the purchasing of food to the finances, and is even attending a workshop to become a better manager. When Stephanie and I went there, Vivian made it clear that we would be gaining more for ourselves rather than helping others. She encouraged us to take pictures to show at home and to chat with the people coming in. We served some soup, posed for a few photos, and just acquired an understanding of what it is that Vivian really does. And just like she said, I am positive that I got more out of the experience than any Capetonian lining up to get soup.

One thing in particular that struck me was how many people come to get soup, and do so willingly. I could not imagine that many people in one area needing such a small amount of food that desperately. Babies and grannies alike, no one was ashamed of their need. I could not imagine myself, in America, being so humble—if I only had one ounce of their humility! And then to see Vivian, an equal in their eyes, serving them and helping them. I was struck, and knew I needed to go back.

My time in Cape Town will definitely be punctuated by Vivian’s soup kitchen. Ideally, I would like to raise money and awareness back in America to help her cause. An inspiration to me is Jackie Sheltry, who went on this trip last year, and sent me a large amount of money to donate to Vivian during my time there. I would love to be able to say that I will do the same thing, and I am absolutely going to try. To still be connected to a small, but significant, organization in Cape Town a year later is extremely commendable.

Witnessing the work done at Iliso Care Society is also amazing to me because of how it relates to my classes this semester. Learning all about non-profit organizations in Vernon’s class was probably the most obvious, which did make me appreciate Vivian’s more. But seeing all those women come in with babies on their backs and toddlers at their sides and their older children coming with more containers for soup really made me appreciate the work of women in this country. Between Vivian, her volunteers, and these brave mothers, it truly seems that women carry the weight of South Africa. Without these women, the world really would be a different place.

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