Can you help bury this man?
She has opened her heart and her home to the sick and the homeless and now needs help in finding the family of Kenneth Ndlovu
REBECCA Phathakge (55) started caring for the destitute in 1994, during an abusive marriage, and has lost count of the number of people she has helped over the past 21 years.
Some have been reunited with their families and many, like Kenneth Ndlovu (59), have died in her care and yet her door has remained open to those of all races in need.
In August this year, Phathakge met Ndlovu on the streets of Johannesburg CBD.
“He was sick and I took him to hospital and left my contact details. When they discharged him they called me and that was how he came to stay with us,” she explained.
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Ndlovu had cancer and died shortly thereafter on October 6 in Phathakge’s home. The Phatakge family is now looking for his family to assist with his burial as they do not have the funds to do this.
“His body is at the government mortuary. Usually the people we help die at the hospital and are then given a pauper’s funeral, but now things are different and we don’t know what to do.”
Phathakge has five children.
Her daughter Lerato Pathakge (24), said giving to those in need was part of her upbringing.
“We grew up with this. I grew into it knowing that, as a family, we helped people. With the little that we have and the strength God gives us, we are able to help others, it doesn’t feel like work,” she said.
“After school, growing up, they would come home and help me,” added Rebecca. She pointed out that it was the abusive marriage she was in that pushed her to help others.
“Helping others helped me get through the hard and difficult times. My poverty and pain during that time caused me to feel the pain of others and made me want to help them,” she added.
Rebecca is a domestic worker and with this minimal income she assists whomever she comes across on the streets. The Tembisa resident currently has in her care three adults and one four-year-old who was abandoned by his mother as a baby.
Anyone who knows the deceased or who is able to assist with his burial may contact Phatakge on 071 251 1195 or 073 106 2768.
