Zakiya McKenzie
zakiyam@caxton.co.za
Melanie Tennant is a passionate administrator at Marang House for chronically ill children.
She makes sure all of the 12 children living at the home get the very best recovery situation possible for their individual conditions. Leaving the corporate world more than four years ago to work at Marang House, Tennant is happy to wake up every day and do her duty.
“I've always done volunteer work with children and now I'm really lucky because working here is not a job to me, it's just something I love
doing.
The children's families are not financially able to travel back and forth to hospital so the child would otherwise end up staying there with a mother or grandmother who then cannot
work.
At Marang House we instill a bit of normality to the lives of these families and we also free up a bed in the hospital.”
The family-oriented environment of the house means that Tennant is a mother and confidante to all the children who come to live there.
They are each 'her child' as much as her biological child.
“All of the children have something to bring. We give them love because whatever we give them here will stay with them, sometimes without us realising. I get very attached to them so when they leave there is a void that it leaves too. The proof is in the pudding in how much they love us back. Whatever foundation you give them is what stays with them for a lifetime and we stay in their hearts forever,” she said.
The seriousness of the children's illnesses and also the economic constraints involved with running the house are not easy to deal with. Tennant admits that it is a very emotional job where she must always be resilient.
“You can become very despondent sometimes but at the end of the day our concern is the children. If we are not here then where will they go.”
Details: Marang House 011-476-6698 or www.maranghouse.com
