A Brooklyn women threw a party at her home, for underprivileged children from her neighbourhood.
The 42-year-old chef and single mother, who is originally from Bonteheuwel, says she started small feeding schemes in various communities after returning to South Africa from Japan 22 years ago.
In her teens, she met a Japanese man and decided to elope and study a chef’s course there.
Ms Brown says she grew up in a poor environment, was raised by her grandmother and never knew her father. It was a life she didn’t want for her own children or any other children for that matter.
But instead of simply handing out meals to children and sending them on their way, she decided to throw in some entertainment and some motivational words.
This is the seventh time she has held the party at venues across the city.
“The aim is always to inspire the younger generation including my kids, they are our leaders and they shouldn’t let their circumstances determine where they are headed,” she says.
She tells the children how she started working at 16, selling encyclopedias, but she dreamt of becoming a chef because she enjoyed cooking meals with her late grandmother, Millie Brown.
She realised her dream of becoming a chef when she joined a culinary school while living in Japan. Ms Brown now runs bed and breakfast from her home.
On Saturday, 40 children between the ages of four and 14, who had heard about the party through community WhatsApp groups, queued at her home, waiting to be sanitised and introduced to the entertainers, who included KCVocalist, King Klutch and Shakir ChuQy.
The children created their own dance battles and were cheered as they competed against one another. They were given soup, sandwiches, party packs, yoghurt, fruits and bread and porridge to take home to their families.
After the party, Ms Brown and staff from her B&B went to Woodstock to deliver meals to the homeless.
