KwaNyuswa resident empowers her community

THANGIWE Khanyeza (right) lives in KwaNyuswa in the Valley of 1000 Hills community and, at 68 years old, she is the matriarch of her large family of seven children and eight grandchildren and is the much-loved and respected leader of her local gogo support group. Her group is one of 68 people that form part of the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s Gogo Support Groups programme.

The group she oversees, aptly named Shlanguse Ndlala (Shield Starvation), is well-established and is one of the oldest gogo support groups as it has been meeting and working together for nearly 15 years.

Originally formed by Thangiwe with 12 local gogos in 2005, the group’s numbers have since swelled to 27 as the variety of activities the group has initiated has continued to grow. The core focus for their many activities continues to be their vegetable garden which is lovingly tended by the group’s members twice a week.

Each season yields the most impressive crop of fresh produce that includes spinach, cabbage, pumpkin, onions and carrots. The vegetable garden plays a crucial role in providing food security for the grannies and their families and has helped them endure many tough times.

“We are very proud of our garden which has helped us to feed our families and we did not have to spend the little money we have at the shops. Our families are very grateful for our garden, too, because they know, without it, things would be very difficult,” said Thangiwe.

In addition to her group’s vegetable garden, Thangiwe’s horticultural skills, which she developed with the help of HACT, have literally borne much fruit over the years with her homestead currently boasting a large collection of fruit trees that she planted from seeds. From avocados, bananas and guavas to oranges, grapefruit and lemons,

Thangiwe’s fruit trees provide a never-ending variety of fresh and healthy food to her family’s diet, but serve as a teaching aid to help educate her group members and neighbours about healthy living.

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“I am passionate about people of all ages living a healthy and active life,” said Thangiwe. “This is why I started our group in the first place, because there were so many gogos sitting at home doing nothing instead of finding ways to help themselves.”

Finding ways to help themselves is what also gave life to one of the group’s other key activities, their savings club. Each month, after they’ve received their state pensions, each gogo contributes R200. This is meticulously recorded in the group’s register by Thangiwe. Each gogo then has a turn to receive the group’s monthly collection that quickly amounts to an impressive R5 400.

The gogos can decide what to spend their money on, as long as it meets their family’s tangible needs.

Three grannies, including Thangiwe, who where living in mud houses have used the money to build concrete block homes. Other projects recently completed by the grannies include the installation of kitchens as well as indoor toilets in several of the oldest group members’ homes.

Looking back at how far her group have come and their many accomplishments, Thangiwe said her support group members have become like family to her.

“We laugh together, we work together and we even argue together, but what matters is we do it together because we’ve learnt that together we are stronger than on our own,” she said.

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