JOHANNESBURG – On this week’s edition of Mid-Morning Talk on The Nafeesa Dangor Show, Salaamedia visited the elderly in Tembisa as part of their outreach programme.
Salaamedia outreach programme Live from Tembisa, East of Johannesburg, recognizing Sindiswa Mabindisa’s efforts in taking care care of the elderly from her community. #HumanitarianJournalism https://t.co/pVcFk1BIWz
— salaamedia (@salaamedia) August 12, 2021
Founder of ‘Wretched Woman’s Diary’, Sindiswa Mabindisa, 29, is a witness of injustice against the elderly and is an activist against the neglect of senior citizens particularly.
“Growing up, I was abandoned by my parents so I felt wretched and this project became a way of finding me,” said Sindiswa.
‘Wretched Woman’s Diary’ was founded in 2019, after Sindiswa saw the need to help the elderly with disabilities and mental limitations by bathing them with her own toiletries, washing their laundry, cooking and carrying them on her back to the clinic.
“People tell me ‘you can’t give what you don’t have’ but I have been doing that every day,” said Sindiswa.
Dineo, a volunteer of the project, heard a radio interview of Sindiswa where she spoke about the work that she does for the grannies and reached out to offer her help to the project.
“I did not have a job and I wanted to volunteer somewhere and that’s when I found Sindiswa’s story very intriguing and I wanted to help,” said Dineo.
Some of the challenges that Sinidswa and Dineo face is that, because they can’t get to bathing all the grannies in one day, they begin to smell. Another challenge is that they have to carry the grannies on their backs to the clinic because they don’t have wheelchairs or transport.
Fortunately, the Fakir family from Homestead Park donated a wheelchair that they were not using to help Sindiswa transport the elderly to the clinic.
Another such donator is Hello Group, who gifted Sindiswa a cellphone after she shared that a granny who was in need could not get in contact with her and passed on as a result.
Aslam Chicktay, from Hello Group said: “We were touched by her story and we had to help her. We have not only given her a cell phone but will educate and equip her with knowledge to be able to earn money on her own to be able to use to help the grannies.”
Hello Group has given Sinidiswa sim cards that she can use to sell prepaid electricity and airtime. Salaamedia donated sanitary packs to the project to help with the sanitation of the elderly.
