Life will never be the same for a Khayelitsha after a local retailer built them a wendy house as part of the Nelson Mandela Month celebrations.
On Thursday 20 July, the family from Obama informal settlement received the wendy from Goal Supermarket.
The beneficiary Zizipho Tyesi (27) expressed her gratitude to the supermarket. She said she still does not believe she has a new wendy house.
“God has his way of doing things. My shack was leaking and the water came underneath whenever rained. I am really over the moon,” said the unemployed mother of three children.
Tyesi, who grew up without parents, stated that she did not know anything about their whereabouts.
“I don’t know my mother. I never saw her. I first saw my father when I was about 13 years old, but he never showed love for me. I have heard that he is around Khayelitsha, but I do not know where he is,” she said, adding that she grew up under her aunt’s care.
Tyesi stated that she left her aunt’s house due to alleged bad treatment. She added that she struggles with her children as she does not work.
“Sometimes we go for three days without food. In most cases, I survive by joining a queue in the soup kitchen in our neighbourhood. Sometimes our neighbours give us leftovers,” she stated.
Goal marketing officer Lawrence Ndengane described the initiative as part of giving back to the community. He said the supermarket donated at least five wendy houses to needy people in different communities.
“We had a competition that was dedicated only to Mandela Month. Our customers were entered through our Facebook page, where a contestant had to nominate a needy family and tell us why we must build a wendy house for them. So, we selected five families as winners (two from Delft, one from Harare, one from Mfuleni and one from Philippi),” he said.