Plea for help leads to young woman starting community organisation

Being a university dropout was not a part of 25-year-old Nosiphiwo Nompumza plans, however, when she realised she could make a difference in her community, nothing deterred her.

It all began with a 13-year-old boy who knocked at her door asking for something to eat for his younger brother and his grandmother, in Unit P in Mdantsane.

“When a child came knocking at my home and told me he was going door-to-door asking for food, as a lay counsellor, hearing a child say that it bothered me,” Nompumza said.

“It made me want to know more about their home situation.”

“After giving them food, I asked if I could accompany him home as I was hoping to converse with the grandmother, only to find a situation far worse than I anticipated,” she said.

She was shocked to find their dilapidated home had a broken ceiling, shattered windows, dark marks on the walls and no carpet on the floor.

The family cooked their meals outside, using wood and a pot which they found in a dumpster.

“I knew I had to help somehow. When I tried talking to the grandmother I found I had to yell for her to hear me because she is deaf.

“I just looked at her and promised to help her even though she could not hear me.

“She also struggles to see as she only has one eye that is also partially blind,” she said.

Nompumza also learnt that the boy and other children  had not gone to school since 2020, as they were allegedly told by their teachers that they were slow learners and needed to attend a special needs school.

“When I thought that this could be one of many families who are going through similar challenges, I took a big decision to put my studies on hold and focus on looking after the community,”  the big-hearted Nompumza said.

After posting a plea on social media requesting assistance for the family, more than 4,000 people shared it within a few hours.

The post also reached the ward councillor, who visited the family, only to discover a local tavern owner had the children’s social grant cards, as well their grandmother’s pension card, which he was keeping as indemnity for a tab owed by the grandmother’s son.

“The councillor helped us retrieve the cards which assisted in buying some of the things that the family needed,”  Nompumza said.

After Nompumza’s plea on social media, donations of clothing, shoes, a new stove, electrical appliances, cash, electricity tokens and more poured in from people wanting to help.

“The family’s situation gave me an idea for an end-to-end solution for our area.

“Our area consists of mainly RDP houses, therefore it is predominantly people who are likely to be living either under the poverty line or marginally just above it.

“[As such] there is a high probability that there are some who are living with chronic illnesses that due to poverty either default because they are forced to take medication on empty stomachs, or fail to collect their medication,” she said.

“This is why we registered a not profit company (NPC) with a diverse composition of board members, including nurses, retired social workers and youth.

“Our initial idea is to profile the social status of our community with a focus on food security and health.

“The data we collect will inform statistics that we intend to present to the department of social development as custodians of food security.

“Our research led to us learning of initiatives such as the Community Development and Nutrition Centre [CNDC], which is a perfect fit for the situation we found the old lady in, and likely our entire community.”

She said the NPC aimed to involve the department of health as another stakeholder.

“This is to perhaps get registered or recognised as community health workers who will be responsible for checking up on any chronic patients on medication, collecting the medication for them, and ensuring they take their medication as prescribed.”

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