What it takes to be a Kasi Hero – 'I live in a shack but that doesn't stop me from helping others'

It takes a special kind of selflessness to give without expecting anything in return. 

Waking up daily to serve those who are less fortunate, worrying about what families are going to eat, what they are going to wear or their living conditions. 

The Kasi Hero Foundation in Soweto is standing in the gap, determined to help where possible and make a difference. 

Founding member Tankiso Moremi has all the qualities of a hero, although without a cape. He and his team of young people are always ready to help and make a difference in people's lives in his area.

"I live in a one-room shack with my child and my girlfriend. I have my struggles but nothing stops me from helping others.

“As unemployed and young as we are, we are the heroes of our community.

“We decided to do something about what is happening in our community with unemployment, parents not working, children starving,” he says. 

The organisation was founded when Covid-19 hit hard. 

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“There was no financial start for us. It was a matter of saying 'I have mealie-meal, you have tomatoes let’s start something like this'. 

“I am very active on social media so I used Twitter to ask for donations to start the soup kitchen.

“The support was so overwhelming, to date, we have never not had a supplies for the soup kitchen,” Tankiso says. 

Kasi Hero currently serves in three communities in Soweto, three times a week. 

“We serve around 700 children, before it used to be 250. Mostly people ask for food. Now you have children coming to the soup kitchen with two lunch tins – one for them and one for the mother at home. That tells you about the situation that happens. 

“We need someone who can donate more food on a consistent basis because the numbers are growing,” he says. 

The foundation might have started as just an intervention but it has become a beacon of hope and a long-term initiative to help curb social ills in society. 

"A Kasi Hero is someone in a community who is not defined by financial backing, or famous. He or she takes initiative to go assist, it is someone who makes sure children have eaten, girls have sanitary pads, kids have school shoes.

“When you start something like this, people start seeing you as someone they can run to whenever they have issues in their communities. 

“Parents asking for shoes for children, a girl saying I don’t have sanitary pads, then you start to see that it’s no longer about the soup kitchen.” 

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People live in dire situations. And as the foundation grows, more requests for help are made. 

A few days ago, Kasi Hero shared images of a child-headed household they were asked to visit and help. 

“What we saw there was heartbreaking. A 22-year-old girl is looking after seven siblings and two children. She is unemployed, her older sister is on drugs and has children too. Her mother and grandmother died months apart in 2019.”

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Tankiso says Twitter has been such a blessing to them. The generosity has been amazing. 

After the plea for help, the Collen Mashawana Foundation visited the home and committed to building them a new house. 

Twitter users donated furniture, clothes and food. 

It has been more than a year since the start of the organisation and Tankiso says it feels more like a calling. 

“We found a small portion of land after getting a local councillor involved. We have a temporary structure donated by BI Phakathi (the famous social media philanthropist).

"We wish to build a centre one day."