Organisation to advocate for the rights of elderly
The elderly care centre caters for more than 40 elderly people of Delmore Gardens, Delmore, Jerusalema, Comet and Ulana informal settlement.
Masibambaneni, a Delmore Park-based charity organisation, was launched this month to benefit the elderly people in the area.
The organisation boasts over 40 members from areas such as Delmore Gardens, Delmore, Jerusalema, Comet and Ulana informal settlement.
The organisation was initially founded in 2018 but was registered last year August. According to the founder, Mxolisi Matina, the organisation operated from Ulana informal settlement before moving their offices to Delmore Park.
“The reason why we moved was that after formally registering the organisation with the Department of Social Development, we were told to look for a new viable place to run our programmes from.”
Matina said the aim of the organisation is to fight for the rights of the elderly by raising awareness in communities about the social ills facing them.
The organisation aims to promote the welfare of older people and provide them with skills so they can have some form of income apart from the pension money they get.
“Some of the activities undertaken by the elderly when they meet at the centre on Monday, Wednesday and Friday are exercises, counselling and they receive a meal.
“The reason why the elderly partake in exercises is because we want them to keep fit and live a healthy life. On Tuesday and Thursday our care workers embark on home visits where we access their living conditions at home. Other services we offer is to pick up their medication in hospitals because we have seen that the elderly sometimes don’t fetch their medicine because sometimes they don’t have taxi fees.”
Matina said some of the challenges they are encountering are financial issues.
“We are a self-funded organisation and rely on donations from the public.
“We are still in the process of applying for the Department of Social Development funding,” explained Matina.
Anyone interested in contributing to the sustainability of the organisation and its activities may contact Matina on 061 455 4747.
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