Growing need for social activism
Over the years, heroes and heroines have come to the rescue of children and the destitute. Welfare services have roots in the 20th century
THE FREQUENCY of babies being abandoned points to the inability of our society to protect and care adequately. Among the many concerns of our fledgling democracy, caring for society’s most vulnerable remains our collective national responsibility.
The provision of welfare has interesting historical beginnings. Early 20th century Durban had many socio-economic factors that sparked the provision of welfare for the poor. The high numbers of child labourers and vagrant children roaming the streets of Durban led to white philanthropists forming the Durban Child Welfare Society.
Sadly, children of colour were denied access to this welfare society.
The Great Depression of the 1930s saw a phenomenal increase in the number of street children. Municipal authorities were reluctant to confront the rising tide of indigent black children.
After negative press coverage, the municipality established the Bantu Child Welfare Society in 1936. This was inadequate to cater for the burgeoning numbers.
Social activists later developed places of safety, such as the Brandon Bantu Home and the Motala Lads’ Hostel to assist indigent African and Indian children. In 1927, two institutions were established to cater for indigent Indian children, The Aryan Benevolent Children’s Home and the Durban Indian Child Welfare.
The oppressive conditions of Indian indenture resulted in overcrowded conditions, mass poverty, high child and maternal mortality, high incidences of disease and widespread illiteracy.
On May 1, 1921, Bhawani Sanyasi officially opened the Aryan Benevolent Home in Bellair. Wood and iron buildings served as living quarters for administration workers, the caretaker and as a home for the destitute. The home was run on donations from Indian businesses. Stallholders in the Durban Indian market also donated unsold perishables such as fruit and vegetables to the home.
The home received numerous requests from destitute families to accommodate orphans who were in need of care and protection. On October 7, 1926 the management committee accepted its first group of orphans. In this group was a future president of the Aryan Benevolent Home, Shishupal Rambharos.
Professor Fatima Meer penned a glowing tribute to Rambharos in which she noted: “There is the heart-rending image of the 6-year-old Shishupal struggling to transport his mortally ill father in a wheelbarrow for medical attention; there is the grace of the tender-hearted boy whose sweet nature blocked out the pain and hunger and responded to the kindness of his benefactors. Far from harbouring resentment, he converted the tedious demands of his elderly companions into service as prescribed by the Vedas (holy book) and conquered his deprivations by converting them into fulfilments.” Rambharos’ dedication towards the welfare of the most vulnerable is a lasting legacy.
The Durban Indian Child Welfare Organisation exists today as the Durban Child and Welfare Society. Mrs S Moodaly was the first chairwoman of the society, followed by Mrs Gadija Christopher and her army of volunteers who provided love and hope in the sea of poverty from 1927 to 1952. They developed clinics, giving free medical treatment and medicines to poor families.
In a time of untold pain, when many babies died at birth, the society trained ayas (midwives) who walked to the assistance of mothers to ensure that babies were delivered safely. They also provided child welfare and social services to the needs of people from the Magazine Barracks, Mayville, Umgeni and Cato Manor. In the 1940s and 1950s, they set up the Milk Club at the Railway Barracks and sewing clubs in Cato Manor.
Another hero was found in Hazrath Soofie Saheb, who arrived in Durban in 1895. He bought land on the northern banks of the Umgeni River in Riverside, where he built a humble wood and iron cottage. That is now the site of the famous Soofie Saheb Mosque. An orphanage, Yateemkhana, was then built with an old age home on an adjoining plot. Every Thursday, people of all races and faiths, were attended to by a qualified hakim (a physician using traditional remedies) and free medicine was dispensed.
As social crises mount, now more than ever, humanitarian activism must be activated to heal our society and grow South Africa together.