A Ripple Of Change

“Everyone who is involved with Pebbles shares a commitment to changing lives,” says Sophia Warner, founding director of the Pebbles Project.

- Malu Lambert

In 2003 – then a special-needs teacher – Sophia came to South Africa from the UK. She founded Pebbles in 2004. “I needed to do something positive,” she smiles, as she sits behind her desk in the office of the new Pebbles Kitchen. The walls are painted the bright yellow associated with the organisation. The morning sun bounces off this happy colour as Sophia and kitchen project manager, Dominic Johnson-Allen, tell me how they turned their kitchen dream into a meal-making reality. Located on a pastoral corner of Klein Joostenberg Farm on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, the Pebbles Kitchen feeds 1 300 children every day. “We cooked our first meal on 21 January 2019,” says Dominic with obvious pride. “We have now sent out over 50 000 meals from this kitchen to children in the Cape Winelands.”

The Pebbles Kitchen is not a charity as such, but rather a social enterprise – jointly funded by Goede Mensen and Stichting Clouds Foundation – that forms an integral part of Pebbles’ nutrition programme. Sophia explains:

“Pebbles has a holistic approach, with education as the core focus. We try and take away all the barriers to learning. We provide support and intervention in five key areas: education, health, nutrition, community and protection.”