With this spirit, the Shincheonji Youth Volunteers South Africa Branch continues to provide a range of community-based services, including community clean-ups; disaster management and relief efforts; orphanage visits; youth development and women empowerment programmes; various other community-centric projects; and soup kitchens.

Earlier this month, in partnership with the uMngeni Municipality, the Shincheonji Youth Volunteers hosted a 'Meals of Hope' soup kitchen in Howick to assist people who are unemployed and in need of food, especially children.

Food for the feeding scheme was supplied by local businesses, while the Speaker of the uMngeni Council, Councillor Janis Holmes, brought along apples for the children and their carers.

Also present was Councillor Thembelani Sikhakhane, who helped prepare hotdogs.

Explaining the motivation behind the Shincheonji Volunteers, the Shincheonji Volunteers team lead said, “We aim to create a lasting impact by collaborating with government, schools and civil society leaders and members to run needs-based projects,” and, “We also aim to provide hope and spread love within the communities we work with, as well empower societies to take ownership of their environments and shape a brighter and better future for all.”

Meanwhile, Shincheonji Volunteers is the volunteer branch of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which was established in 1984 in Seoul, South Korea. The South African branch of Shincheonji Church of Jesus was established in 2013 in Cape Town. Shincheonji Church of Jesus has branches in more than 100 countries. In Southern Africa, there are branches in 5 provinces, as well as in Zimbabwe and Namibia.