No Meat No Problem in Clermont
On Sunday, 11 November 2018, Vegan eKasi held it’s first ever Vegan Month community outreach event at the Clermont Auditorium. It was a great success with no less than 55 people from Clermont and surrounding areas. The event featured a presentation entitled “No Meat No Problem: Plant-based Eating in the Townships” by the organisers and founders of Vegan eKasi, Yahav Ndzanze and Shaiyah Luthuli. The focus was mainly on lifestyle diseases and the benefits of the vegan lifestyle. It detailed why it is more relevant now more than ever to adopt and maintain a vegan diet, especially for the Black townships of South Africa. It was recently reported in an article by the S-Mag (SowetanLive) entitled “Are Our Lifestyles Killing Us?” that black communities suffer the most from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer. The event was to share information on how a whole foods plant-based vegan diet can minimise their impact and even prevent their onset.
The keynote speaker was KZN-born, world-renowned music producer, writer, teacher and legendary Maskandi-Jazz guitarist Bheki Khoza. Mr. Khoza spoke of his journey of when he first transitioned to a plant-based diet more than 20 years ago; “We were at a buffet in China where I first learned of the word ‘vegetarian!’ I didn’t know what that was.” he recalled. “There was no meat at all, but the food tasted so good. Being the radical I was at the time, I decided then and there to be a vegetarian!” From that point, close to 30 years ago, even though he was on and off, he continued to learn more about the lifestyle and health, elevating with the seasons to becoming a pure vegan with no meat, eggs and dairy products. This push to being a complete vegan was inspired by “these strange-looking, Bible-reading fellows,” as he described members of the African Hebrew Israelites he met in Johannesburg who shared with him from the Biblical Scriptures that God actually had originally intended for humanity to eat a vegan diet (Genesis 1:29, Ezekiel 47:12). In his closing remarks, Khoza left the public with something to ponder, stating that “if the way you ‘live’ is only causing you disease and death, then that is not a life-style. It i, in fact, a death-style! We must move now from a death-style to a real life-style.” This was to reorient the minds of the people and emphasize the 4 key messages that the people were left with to consider:
- Food is medicine
- Water is medicine
- Exercise is medicine
- Rest is medicine
From the audience’s view of the event, Mcabango Mabaso, who came all the way from Shelley Beach, Port Shepstone to attend the event, said the event “was a very productive and very fertile one. In terms of health, I think it’s a solution for the entire world, since we have so many diseases around the earth and around the country. Here we were given the right direction to the solution. So I think it was good and perfect. And I wish it can split and have one also in Port Shepstone.”
Click here to see more photos from the event.
What are your thoughts on this post? Would you like a similar presentation like this done in your community? Drop us a comment below.
About us
Vegan eKasi is a movement that aims to increase awareness about the benefits of a plant-based diet and healthy living in Black townships and disadvantaged communities in South Africa. This website is dedicated to inspiring, encouraging and assisting people eKasi to adopt and maintain a healthy vegan lifestyle in the simplest, cost effective and delicious way possible.. .
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