THE responsibility of being a wife, a mother and business assistant are roles too, but underneath them is the spiritual centre that connects us all.
A soul filled with compassion, care and ‘ubuntu’ to reach out and touch someone’s life is just what the new Empangeni Child and Family Care committee chairperson aspires to be.
Nareen Chetty, born and raised in Eshowe, has been living in Empangeni for 13 years.
‘I have been with welfare for five years now. I started as a committee member then advanced to a member of the executive committee and recently chairperson,’ said Nareen.
Assisting full time with a family business, Nareen spends her weekends coordinating fundraising drives for the welfare.
‘‘I love children so much and it deeply saddens me to see broken, helpless and abused children. I want to make a difference especially where children are involved,’
‘At welfare we offer programmes for destitute mums and babies as well as counselling for rape victims,’
‘We have two social workers at the premises, but my main responsibility is to raise funds and keep the welfare afloat as it is a non-profit organisation. We appeal to our community for assistance in fund-raising and supporting our events too,’ said Nareen.
Spirited and deeply cultured, Nareen hopes to some day travel to India.
‘I would love to travel to India, especially the temples and learn more about my culture. Also, I love cooking traditional meals. My favourites are mutton biryani and butter chicken,’ she said.
Attaining a diploma in Public Relations and Customer Services, the 35-year-old mother of one assists at their Empangeni industrial family business with administration duties.
‘Despite helping my family with the business, I like to get involved in other projects and I am really blessed to have an extremely supportive husband and immediate family who encourage me through all my ventures,’ said Nareen.
If she is not cooking, working or helping others, Nareen enjoys the odd film or TV series.
Finding refuge and peace of mind in prayer, Nareen dedicates her mornings to some meditation.
‘My driving force is beginning my day with prayer, it is important to be thankful and grateful for the gift of a new day, the mere fact of waking up and having breath and an able body is a blessing,’ she said.
