#StrongWomen: Shaka’s Head crèche owner is mother to many

A Shaka’s Head crèche owner’s difficult childhood has become the impetus behind her zeal to see local children remain children for as long as possible.

Sinenhlanhla Mgoqi had to take care of her brothers and sisters after her mother died while she was still in high school.

The mother-of-many said the impact of the responsibility left a mark on her.

“There was no one working at home and I had to sell umqombothi (Zulu beer) on weekends to take care of our daily needs,” said Mgoqi.

Preparing the beer can take up to a week so she would wake up at 4am every day to begin the cooking and prepare her siblings for school.

“Fortunately the community and my mother’s friends were supportive and they helped me by taking care of the children while I was at school.”

But the circumstances made her give up her dream of studying to become a teacher.

After matric she stopped her beer business and found a job at a restaurant in Ballito.

The 33-year-old mother was forced to stop working when she gave birth to her second child in 2016.

But unbeknown to her at the time this would be the beginning of finding her dream again.

“I had to breastfeed my child and my friend brought her child to be taken care of by me. Before I knew it, there were 10 children then within another month there were about 30 children under my care.”

She registered Siyakhula Crèche and she was recently given a piece of land to build a preschool and crèche.

She has 40 children enrolled and is fundraising for building material.

“The new building will help me to have enough space for children and have children’s toilets built, because for now they are using adult toilets.”