READY FOR ANY BATTLE
Community crusader Omi Nair relishes being on the front lines
MAKING her community safe – and changing the eating habits of her thousands of her followers on social media – keeps outspoken Chatsworth grandmother Omitha Nair busy.
The 60-year-old, who takes on everyone from ward councillors to government ministers – at the weekend she criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for only taking a few questions from residents when he visited Chatsworth as ANC leader – is passionate about not only seeing but bringing about positive change.
“I do things for my community and for a better life for our kids from Chatsworth. I am ready to tackle any battle,” said Nair. “My work will never stop. I enjoy it too much.”
For Nair, a book-keeper by profession, growing up next to new Amnesty International boss Kumi Naidoo, in Bayview, inspired her to serve humanity.
“I remember seeing him jumping fences and running and hiding under beds in neighbouring homes when the Special Branch would come looking for him,” she said. “He often told us about the struggles people were facing and how he was trying to make a difference. I would often look at him in awe and wonder and asked myself, what can I do? How can I assist?”
Sitting in the pink lounge of her Crossmoor home, Nair said she had found her calling over the years.
She is regarded in her community as the “go-to person” with no issue too big or too small for her to tackle.
From fighting off land invaders together with her community, taking on government departments, patrolling the streets, supporting impoverished families and charitable organisations, helping elderly residents get title deeds to the state homes they had lived in for decades, to speaking on various issues on radio, social media and at public meetings, handing over memorandums, opposing bail for people accused of crimes against women and children – Nair has done it all.
She is also trying to raise funds to build a hall at Crossmoor Secondary.
“I am passionate about pupils and seeing them get the education they need. When I left work as a book-keeper years ago to look after my kids, Derisha and Lushen, I became aware of PTAs (parent-teacher associations), now known as school governing bodies,” she said. “I was the first chair of Crossmead Primary School and Crossmoor Secondary School, and I arranged fund-raisers and all sorts of things that the schools required. Even now I am still helping.
Nair is also big on the Banting diet, growing her Facebook page, Omi’s Healthy Eating the LCHF Way, to 28 800 followers.
“I have been Banting for two years now. I used to suffer with terrible pain in my knees and took medication for several ailments… going up and down the stairs at home was tedious just for me,” she said.
“When my daughter gave birth and started losing weight quickly, I enquired and she told me she had been on Banting. I am not a person that enjoys diets because I have tried it all and it doesn’t work. But I decided, why not?”
During the next 10 days, Nair said she could feel the spring in her step. “I started moving up and down the stairs quicker, my health was improving and I was weaning myself of the medication.”
Her weight dropped from 103kg to 75kg.
Believing Banting is more suited for English meals, Nair modified it so traditional Indian meals could also be enjoyed.
“When I first started Banting, I enjoyed the meals but I realised I was beginning to miss normal curry. I realised the recipes weren’t tingling my taste buds and I needed to adapt them to the Indian style of cooking. You can’t eat roast cauliflower bake all the time.”
When she is not too busy, she spends time with her husband, Rooben, who runs his mechanic business from their garage, or visits her grandchildren in Johannesburg.
An avid collector of teaspoons and tablespoons from around the world, Nair displays them along a wall in her lounge.
In her dinning room, her two children’s medals, trophies and awards line a cabinet, along with pictures, including one of her son with Michael Jackson in Sun City, another of Queen Elizabeth when she was in Durban and one of Nelson Mandela when the then president visited Chatsworth.
While Nair said she did not have many heirlooms from past generations, the advice that had been passed down was priceless.
“Never forget your roots. No matter how far in life you may reach, your roots make you who you are so always stay grounded, treat people how you would want to be treated, never treat a disadvantaged person with disdain or be judgmental,” she said.
“And always be humble. The most beautiful characteristic a person possesses is humility – respect and tolerance should be a way of life. These wise words were from my paternal grandmother and my late parents.”