EXPRESS READ: GANGSTER TO GIVER, HOW SIS DOEKIES FEEDS THOUSANDS

‘I used to eat out of a dump but today I cook for others!’ says former gangster Sis Doekies who supports her local community by running a soup kitchen from her own house for thousands of people who are struggling for food | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers 

Former kindergarten teacher Katherina Johnson (53), affectionately known as Sis Doekies, grew up near Tulbagh and attended Montrouge Primary and Waveren High Schools. Today, she lives in Fisantekraal with her mechanic husband Abraham. They have three adult sons and four grandchildren

‘I was born on a farm in Tulbagh, the youngest of a very large family. My father worked as a waterman on the farm and my mother as a cleaner in the farmhouse. We lived in one of the workers’ houses on the farm and my parents created a life for us that, despite financial strain, felt safe, warm and full of love.

When I was nine, my world shattered when my father died from jaundice. Though my mother still worked at the farm, we were asked to leave our accommodation and had to move in with my older brother on a neighbouring farm. Things were never the same. My mom was wrecked by my dad’s death, started drinking, and wasn’t really available to me. Sometimes I had to eat out of the dump. Life wasn’t good.

terrible things

I was full of anger and resentment and, still aged nine, found myself escaping to drugs, a way of life on the farm. It wasn’t long before my siblings and I joined a local gang, which led to me doing some terrible things. At 18, I found out I was pregnant.

But even in the darkest places, a seed of hope can grow. I had a niece my age called Cathleen whose life had changed. She kept praying for me and urged me to find something better in the God she trusted. I knew deep down something needed to change for my child’s sake, but it took me a while to believe that I wasn’t too far gone. With her persistence, I joined her in church.

And there, on a farm, in a simple shed where the pastor prayed for me, I met Jesus. He offered me freedom, forgiveness, and a chance to start again. I left the gang and never returned. I believe God healed me completely of bitterness and addiction.

Later, I went to a funeral at the original farm and confessed to the farm owners my hatred for them. I told them I forgave them for asking our family to leave our home and asked their forgiveness for all the bad things I’d done on the farm as a gang member. It became a day of great reconciliation and we’re still friends today!

Sis Doekies: ‘I prepare the same food for the people in our community that I give to my own family. I’m humbled and privileged to be able to give food to another person’ | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

Fast forward to some years later, after having married Abraham, the best husband and father to my first son and the three children we had together. I’d started cooking for the children at an aftercare that I ran from my home when I realised they were arriving hungry. On the same day but in different places Abraham and I both heard a voice calling us to help the poor people in our community. We were both overwhelmed and I cried, but we decided we had to do it.

It’s that call that’s kept us going over the past 24 years, and now sees us feeding between 200 and 500 people at our house three days a week, and taking food to Dunoon township on another day. On 13 December 2023, we had a record 885 people in one day!

‘We want everyone who enters our door to know they are valued and loved,’ says Sis Doekies | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

We want everyone who enters our door to know they are valued and loved. We don’t just feed people, we offer them hope. I have big pots to fill and they have to be full to the top to feed all the people outside, but it is my passion.

Looking back, I see how God took the broken pieces of my life and wove them into something beautiful. What began as a story of pain and bitterness has become a story of redemption. I used to eat out of a dump but today I cook for others! For that, I’m forever grateful.’