Experienced Hellen Marima ready to tackle problems in the community
Hellen then spread her wings in 2005 with a carer and domestic worker job in the Wilderness after it became necessary to support her mother.
A lively and confident Ms Hellen Marima is the new social worker at the Suid-Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie (SAVF) in Standerton.
Hellen is far from her original birthplace and mother Ethel, hailing from Giyani in Limpopo and primary school waited in Elim.
After matriculating at Hanyani Secondary School in Bungeni in 1994, a fully-fledged soccer career was on the cards.
She played goalkeeper and later fullback for a women’s team called the Maindies Ladies FC until 1999 and was a member of the provincial squad called Northern Province East.
Hellen then spread her wings in 2005 with a carer and domestic worker job in the Wilderness after it became necessary to support her mother.Hereby hangs a tale.
The Herber family was instrumental in giving her the opportunity to study through Unisa.
“I decided to register at the university for a degree in social work in 2009 and the family helped to pay the fees, even assisting financially with obtaining a driver’s licence.” she said.
“They gave me love and made me what I am today.”
After Norman Herber passed away, his wife, Antoinette moved to America, but contact has not been broken.
She graduated in 2016 and in a frank interview, spoke about an abusive father, now deceased, which motivated her to become a social worker.
“I decided that no child will be abused on my watch,” she emphatically said.
She is single, walks like the marathon athlete she now is and was it not for the lockdown period, surely would have attempted the Comrades Marathon.
