Published: 10 August 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
GROWING UP AS NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOURS in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ronni Kahn and Alan Browde developed an unbreakable bond. “We were like brother and sister,” recalls Browde. “We went to the same school and when we returned each day, I’d always be at Ronni’s house drinking chocolate milk and eating chips,” he laughs.
The two joined Habonim together and later made Aliyah where they lived on different kibbutzim. While Browde returned to South Africa relatively quickly, Kahn stayed in Israel for many years before moving to Australia. “We maintained our sibling-like relationship and I always told her that I’d put SA Harvest together when the time was right,” says Browde. “Last year, I fulfilled my promise.”
Since OzHarvest launched in 2004, Kahn has provided over 120 million nutritious meals to Australians in need to date. Kahn says she always wanted to make a difference in the place where her story began. “After building OzHarvest for 16 years to become a nationally recognised for-impact organisation, the opportunity to take the model to my birth country was a dream come true.
“Although I’ve lived in Australia for nearly 30 years, my spirit is still very much South African and to know I can help make a difference there fills me with joy,” says Kahn.
“My lifelong friendship with Alan Browde and his family meant SA Harvest would be run with the same heart, passion and integrity as OzHarvest in Australia.”
In fact, it was Browde’s mother, Apartheid struggle stalwart Selma Browde, who inspired Kahn to start OzHarvest. “I could see mountains of food going to waste from my events company and knew there were still so many hungry people,” says Kahn. “After Selma showed me how she brought electricity to the town of Soweto and changed the lives of so many, I knew what I had to do.”
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When SA Harvest began operating, it had to fight to get backing from local businesses. “Launching in this country was a learning curve,” says Browde. “Once we registered the company, which took a few months, our chairman Gidon Novick came aboard and funded our first vehicle.”
Airline entrepreneur Novick is the former CEO of Comair and founder of low-cost airline Kulula.com. Southern African expats living in Australia also helped get SA Harvest off the ground with sizable donations. “These expats knew what Ronni had done, they believed in her cause, they wanted to give back to South Africa and they trusted us because we were part of Ronni’s team,” says Browde.
Even so, growth was initially relatively slow. Until Covid-19 struck, SA Harvest was delivering an average of around 5000 meals a week with the use of one refrigerated truck.Then everything changed. South Africa went into lockdown (still ongoing) and this figure surged to 90 000 meals a week with five trucks.
The need for such support is relentless. South Africa recently hit the 560,000 infection mark, albeit with a 73% recovery rate. Considering the amount of infections, the official death toll of 10,408 remains comparatively low, although questions around the accuracy of this figure have been raised. Regardless, South Africa’s already shocking poverty levels have increased exponentially in line with the economic devastation brought by the lockdown.
Covid shattered complacency. “Before Covid there were 13 to 14 million people in South Africa going to bed hungry every night,” says Browde. “That’s a massive emergency, a catastrophe. But no one seemed to care. I went from pillar to post to raise money when that amount of people were going hungry and it was very difficult. Then suddenly there was Covid, and individual and corporate consciousness woke up to what was happening.”
Building on the reputations and connections of Kahn, Novick and Browde, SA Harvest raised more than a staggering 20 million Rand (approximately A$1.6 million) in April alone. . This was largely fuelled by substantial individual donations by locals and expats. “There was a window of opportunity,” says Browde.
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“We took that window but it’s already closing. That’s human nature. We all go back into our comfort zones. The number of hungry people in South Africa has now increased by 30% to 18 million. That figure is a terrible tragedy, but 13 million is too.”
Having delivered a total of two million meals (and climbing) over the last four months, SA Harvest has taken its operations to a different level. It has recently teamed up with NGO ‘Chefs with Compassion’ to deliver 67’000 litres of soup for Mandela Day on July 18. They exceeded their target by 10,000 litres and the teams fed over 300,000 people across the country in just one day.
SA Harvest plans to build on its exponential lockdown growth. “We now have around 17 people in the company, about 40% of whom are volunteers doing vital work,” says Browde. “From a one-man show, we’ve suddenly become a big company. Covid was the great impetus to people realising that they’ve got to do something. That, coupled with our relationship, and the reputation of Ronni and OzHarvest, has helped a lot.”
OzHarvest has similarly stepped up its work during the Covid crisis. “Since March, OzHarvest has rescued over four million kg of food, delivering 12 million meals across the country, among other initiatives,” says Kahn. “The teams in both countries are committed to making sure we get good food to those who need it most. The challenge is always finding the funding to ensure we can continue operating these services and meeting demand.”
The response to the work done by both organisations has been heartening. “It’s joyful to see how our model seems to attract extraordinary people,” says Kahn. “Alan has had the same experience in South Africa as I have here... being a magnet for magnificent people!”
Given the energy and passion that Kahn and Browde have brought to their missions, it’s easy to see why.
Main photo: SA Harvest CEO Alan Browde and OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn
