Family calls streets their home
IN THE middle of winter, a homeless Chatsworth woman opted to live on the street, with her two children in order to be with the man she loves.
When a community activist found Magdelene Naidoo, 35, and her sons – a toddler and a four-year-old – accommodation at the Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH), the arrangement didn’t last long. Three days was all she could manage.
“They made us bath two times a day, in the morning and the evening, and not when we wanted to,” she said.
“My children were also crying for their father and I couldn’t stand to see this. He was not even allowed to visit.”
She packed her few belongings and returned to the roadside spot she shared with her partner of 16 years, Clive Pillay.
Nelson Subramoney, the community activist who found them space at ABH, remains concerned about their welfare.
“The ABH took the mother in due to the children. Men are not allowed. He needed to go to a home of safety for men in Pinetown,” said Subramoney.
Last Friday, the POST found Naidoo and her children huddled under a tree. It provided little protection from the cold and wind that day.
Her unemployed partner, aged 37, sat beside her smoking a cigarette.
The mounds of sand, dirt and human faces nearby illustrated their reality.
Naidoo rocked her nine-month-old son on her lap, while the older child played on a bank near the road.
“It’s not that we don’t want help… we do not want to be separated,” said Naidoo.
Soon thereafter a resident, Emmanuel Makotsi, from Paphos Fellowship, arrived. He prayed and offered them advice before leaving.
Asked how they survived, she said: “We beg and people help us. An aunty comes every morning with hot curry and rice for us and noodles for the baby. Another person gave us blankets, nappies and milk formula. We use the toilet and bath at a nearby train station.”
A tow truck driver, who parked in the vicinity, watched over them at night.
Their lives, said Naidoo, had never been easy.
“We lived with Clive’s family in Chatsworth. I worked as a packer at a grocery store and he sold newspapers. But we both lost our jobs and were separated in 2003.”
She said he was sent to his uncle’s home in Phoenix and she found a place at a shelter in the Durban CBD.
During that time, Naidoo learnt she was pregnant.
“With the little money I had, I bought stickers and sold them at the Suncoast Casino.”
While selling the stickers and begging
in the area, she lost her balance and fell on her belly. The child died.
Years later, the couple were reunited and, in 2015, had a son.
With the money she received from the government child support grant, they rented a place in Malagazi for R700.
However, the building leaked and had no toilet or bath facilities. Eventually, the family left.
They moved to a house in Chatsworth but could not pay the rent and found themselves back on the streets.
Naidoo said Pillay was unable to secure a job because of his health.
“He has a metal plating in his leg. If he works, the metal plate will constantly move.” What’s more, he lost his ID.
This had also prevented them from being legally married.
On Monday, officials from the Chatsworth Child Welfare moved the family from the streets to a new location.
Logan Naidu, the director, said they were together in a place of safety. He added that he was dealing with 35 other cases of homelessness.
The director at the ABH, Nirode Bramdaw, said they also received several such cases and tried to help whenever possible.
“However, in some cases, because of the reliance on alcohol and drugs, some individuals prefer life on the streets.”
“It’s not that we don’t want help… we do not want to be separated.” Magdelene Naidoo