‘Kwa moto ayingeni’ … a place where no car can enter
It's an area inhabited primarily by gogos (grannies) and the scores of young children in their care.
During lockdown Jeanne-Louise Broide Kinsey met with Pastor Themba Mkhize of the Ethembeni Community Church to identify the areas of greatest need in the large, rambling location of KwaNzimakwe which lies opposite Munster where her home is situated.
After the discussion, the pro-active pastor agreed to take Jeanne-Louise to the neighbourhood called ‘Kwa Moto Ayingeni’ in Mgungundlovu, Ward 10.
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It’s an area inhabited primarily by gogos (grannies) and the scores of young children in their care.
With friend Allison Lumeau, Jeanne-Louise followed Pastor Mkhize in her compact SUV, having been warned that the English translation of the neighbourhood’s name is ‘place where no car can enter’.
The reason for the name is that the area is surrounded by several rivers that become difficult to cross during the rainy season.
After a bumpy, winding journey of about 20 minutes, they arrived on a hillside where a group of colourfully clad gogos and numerous barefoot children were awaiting their visit.
After distributing food parcels donated by Rotary South Coast, they heard more about the plight of this forgotten community.
Most of the families – around 180 – in the area are headed by grandmothers, some of whom care for up to six young children.
The children’s parents have either died from HIV/Aids or TB or, as Pastor Mkhize put it, “they just give birth and go, leaving their children to the gogos”.
The pastor said the parents often keep the government child grant for themselves and the grandmothers are left to run entire households on their own meagre pension grants.
Jeanne-Louise was told that there are only two water taps which service the entire community, and that these often run dry.
When this happens, the community has to walk down to the river in the valley below to fetch polluted water that is not safe for consumption.
Clinics, schools and creches are not easily accessible and young children have to walk several kilometres to attend class.
The gogos agree that their most pressing need is a crèche that could provide a place of safety, education and nourishment for the 120 children below school-going age.
Pastor Mkhize is appealing to the broader community to offer whatever assistance it can to help make this dream a reality.
He has already procured a site for the project.
Anyone willing to assist can contact him at 076 3989294 or Jeanne-Louise at 083 4301258.
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