To end hunger, sometimes you have to think inside the box

People can’t function when they’re hungry. But every day, children across South Africa are forced to attend classes without having something to eat. Benjamin Constable realised this while coaching basketball at a primary school in Durban. “This just struck me as the most obvious challenge South Africa faces,” he says. “How do you grow and develop if your stomach’s empty?” Trying to uplift kids with sport took a back seat. The children needed nourishment. Constable’s solution didn’t lie outside the box, but in one.

He had to first come up with an idea that involved the community and would sustain itself. Constable conceived FreshBox, an online service offering fresh fruit and vegetables at low prices. For each box ordered, the NPO donates an identical one to children in need. “We’re trying to change the face of charity,” Constable says. So far, he provides over 200 kids with  boxes filled with food, giving them the strength to take on each day.

“We’re moving towards changing the lives of children,” Constable says. His initiative currently focuses on primary school kids, but Constable wants to expand and provide nutrition in the crucial first 1 000 days of a child’s life. It’s said an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Constable has taken that a step further, enabling a generation of children to thrive. With innovative thinking, we can break new ground and reap the fruits of our labour.