The two struggling shelters, including the Lerato Tshireletso Care Centre Orphanage which houses 9 children, and the Ubuntu Old Age Home with 19 elderly people, are almost at the stage of collapse.

The orphanage in the Tswelopele Local Municipality is owned by Masethibe Ntsabo (59), who started in 2003 and has never received funding ever since. 

The old age home is owned by Cecelia Thebesa (59), who has also never received funding. She started taking care of the elderly in 2014.

From left are Puleng Thupa, Masethibe Ntsabo, Seipati Montshi, and Eunice More. PHOTO: Lucky Nkuyane

Both centres have volunteers but the owners say it has been a mountain to climb when it comes to raising funds to be able to pay the volunteers. The orphanage has five volunteers who are not receiving an income or a stipend from the shelters whilst the old age is being assisted by five volunteers who at least go home with R1000 each, a stipend which is raised through grant money received by elderly people that are being looked after at the old age home.

Cecelia Thebesa

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Ntsabo says for years they have been trying to get help from the relevant government institutions but their calls have been falling on deaf ears. They, however, have been assisted by local farmers, local business people, and members of the community who have enough to share with the elders and orphans who are finding it difficult to survive under the circumstances.

Farmers would now and then come over to drop off essential food, including maize meal, milk, and beans. The shelters then again share the little received with each other.

Apart from growing what they can, farmers would now and then come over to drop off essential food. Photo: Lucky Nkuyane

Ntsabo and Thebesa share a single yard which they rent and each pays about R3000 monthly, with expenses adding thousands of rands whilst receiving no financial aid from government institutions. This is despite constant promises.

Both women explained that they use monies from social security to pay expenses and to take care of orphans and the elderly.

They detailed how some government officials have over the years conducted oversight visits but nothing fruitful came of those visits. Instead, officials would criticise both women for the manner in which items, such as beds, are placed.

Masethibe Ntsabo

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"We have a social worker who usually visits our centre but so far we have only been assisted with registering three children for a grant to assist with the daily running of the centre. I'm overwhelmed by debt as I always borrow money or ask for donations from people in our community. 

“We are renting this place for R6000 and I asked the woman running the old age home to join us here so that we can share the rent. I owe the municipality R80 000 for their services and I don’t know how I will be able to repay that money when they knock at my door to collect. I also owe this place and I don’t know where I am going to take these children if the owner decides to kick us out. I also owe some of the store owners whom I ask food from when we don't have anything to eat and try to pay when we get a grant. I am pleading with anyone who can assist, to please do so,” said an emotional Ntsabo.

Thebesa disclosed that she sometimes has to use her personal things. Photo: Lucky Nkuyane

She further revealed that some of the children were dropped at the centre by social workers, police, and school principals who promised to get her some sort of relief or assistance to look after the children but never did. 

Thebesa also expressed her frustrations about not getting support or some sort of assistance that would help in terms of looking after the elderly.

"I started to look after elderly people in 2014 and since that period I've never received a subsidy or any form of help, including money. For the elderly people who are under my care, I do so utilising their own social security grants which are insufficient also because we need to cook for them and get them medicine when they are sick. Some of them, when they are brought over to the shelter, are brought over here without funeral policies. Some of them have been here for years. 

“We have tried to approach even the local municipality but it seems as if taking care of elders is somehow a sin. I remember in 2015, Masethibe and I went to Bloemfontein. We wrote letters and asked for aid but even to date nothing has come of that," she explained.

Instead, officials would criticise both women for the manner in which items, such as beds, are placed. Photo: Lucky Nkuyane

Thebesa disclosed that she sometimes has to use her personal things such as the heater from her home to make life easier for the elderly people that she is looking after. Her husband also assists her to run the centre and she uses their car as a mode of transport when they sometimes have to take elders to the clinic. 

On the other hand, Ntsabo said that she doesn't have a husband as she decided a long time ago that she is going to focus on helping orphans. She has since raised children who today have become women who volunteer at her shelter, while others moved on to seek greener pastures.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane and Kekeletso Mosebetsi