Make every day Mandela Day

Community members, public works employees, members of parliament and even the speaker of the KZN Legislature attended the Haven of Rest’s Mandela Day celebrations in Tongaat.

The Haven of Rest is a non-governmental organisation housing a cluster foster care facility for HIV/Aids orphans, an old age home, a halfway house for recovering addicts, a medical clinic, a school and a hope centre for abused women.

Haven of Rest’s pastor Ronnie Naidoo welcomed all the guests, giving them an idea of just how much work goes into keeping the Haven running and detailing some of the many services they offer.

“We aim to be a beacon of hope to the homeless, destitute and downtrodden of society by rendering essential services to all people irrespective of race, colour, creed or religion,” said pastor Naidoo.

The speaker of the KZN legislature, Lydia Johnson praised the work being done at Haven of Rest and appealed to all those present to get involved and make every day a Mandela Day for their community.

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“I cannot overstate how important the work being done here is,” said Johnson.

“Too often we abandon our elderly and ignore those suffering from HIV/Aids or drug dependency. It needs to stop here!”

Attendees also had the privilege of hearing first hand testimony from Nelly Ngcobo, a recovering whoonga addict and self-confessed former “iphara” as extreme, often homeless drug addicts are called in Zulu.

This confession brought cheers of amazement from the crowd, who could not believe that such a well spoken, respectable young lady could ever have been one of the derided iphala.

“I used whoonga for almost three years and I had to do stupid things in order to support my habit. I used to steal from grocery stores until they caught me and called the police. I am lucky I did not go to prison.”

Ngcobo described her life roaming the streets of Durban, living in the infamous ‘Whoonga Park’, sleeping in the streets and plumbing the horrid depths of the human condition.

As speaker Johnson said: “That park wasn’t named ‘Whoonga Park,’ we allowed it to become that by ignoring our children, by ignoring those in our society that need it most. This needs to stop today!”

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