Elderly women reclaim their lives
Vulnerable grannies support each other with healthy living
IN the remote Ngcamngeni village, a group of old grannies have formed an all-female movement fighting against high rates of crime and rape in their community.
The group is made up of predominantly elderly women. Together, they look out for one another and are each other’s support system.
This is all thanks to Nomalinge Mlindi, the community stalwart who has brought all the women together. She has lived in the village for more than two decades. The older she grew, she said she began to realise how the elderly women were often neglected. She said she had a soft spot for elderly women.
“After my own grandmother passed on, I decided to reach out to more old women. I found that they were alone and isolated; often left behind to fend for themselves or look after their grandchildren.”
Mlindi, from the village outside Keiskammahoek, runs Mbono Service Centre for the Aged, where she houses vulnerable elderly women who aren’t taken care of in their households.
She provides them with two meals a day, physical exercise, while they also partake in other recreational activities to boost healthy lifestyles.
Mlindi has also recently launched the Ngcamngeni Women’s Forum to assist other vulnerable women in her village.
Together, the women stand up against crime and the prevalence of rape cases in their community.
The all-female movement is made up of predominantly elderly women, who together act as one another’s support system.
The 56-year-old, who had stayed in the village for the past two decades, told the Dispatch that the older she grew in the area, she began to realise how the elderly women in her community were often neglected.
In 2003, she said, she began conducting research into how old women in her community lived. She said she later found out that most of them lived in appalling conditions.
Following this, she established the Mbono Service Centre for Aged, a centre that houses 30 destitute and neglected women from the village.
Every day, she said, the women partake in golden games for the elderly, games such as pass the ball, 100-metre sprints and goal shooting exercises.
“They are also taught literacy, gardening, art and craftmaking before they are taken back to their homes every evening.
“We try to meet all their basic needs and keep them healthy and active,” Mlindi said.
Her centre also dispatches caregivers who go into the community to give routine checkups to bedridden women in their homes.
Mlindi said although grateful for the progress they had made, she still felt unhappy about the large scores of women who remained uncared for.
She said incidents of rape and crime has escalated in their village and that little was being done to protect the vulnerable.
However, she said, her forum has brought about “new hope”.
“The women are empowered now and this has an impact on the frequency of the crimes. Our group is shaping the village. We are tired of reporting cases because nothing happens. We are now taking back our own streets.”
In June the group of elderly women marched and submitted a memorandum at the Keiskammahoek Magi Court, where they called for more protection.
The 80-year-old Nomajama Gxekwa, who has been a victim of crime in the village, said she was “honoured” to be part of Mlindi’s forum, saying “they have been a huge help to me”.
Mlindi said her vision was to see the women “physically active and worry-free”.
Mlindi dreams of growing her centre to accommodate more women. She also wishes to have a hospice and home of safety for those who find themselves neglected and alone. —