HEARING the sound of an approaching vehicle uplifts the spirits of the elderly at St Peters as their Good Samaritan would have arrived with the meal of that day.
Some even line up along the road in the sweltering heat as the afternoon approaches in anticipation of food.
They tell unbelievable sad stories of having to tie a cloth so tight around their stomachs to sustain the water they would have drunk the previous day.
About 15 elderly men and women and 45 school-going children have for the past two years been saved by the Magolide Foundation, which gives them a meal in the afternoon, their only meal of the day.
St Peter’s is a settlement outside Bulawayo and is home to underprivileged people.
At some point, their bodies became so emancicated due to malnutrition.
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However, founder of the foundation, Sazini Tshuma, took the duty to help them where she could.
“We have clocked two years without farming anything, I was diagnised with prostate cancer, which made me fail to do anything in the fields. Even though I tried sometimes, I wasn’t as strong as before,” said 65-year-old Austin Ndiweni.
Ndiweni took a few steps from his home after seeing others queuing, until he got to the place and waited for his tea and five slices of bread on his usual chair.
“When Tshuma came to us and told us her idea, we were very happy. It was very thoughtful of her because we would spend the whole day on an empty stomach, just drinking water,” he said.
“After a few weeks, she came to us with the little food she had at that time and told us to come and get lunch, which has been our only meal for the past two years. So we eat here, until the following day, for most of the time.”
He added: “I am struggling with accessing medication for my illness. It has become very expensive for me and I have stopped. I would go to the hospital, get checked for blood pressure, then they refer me to the chemist, of which I won’t be having the amount needed. I fail to sleep because of pain. This is my third year with this illness.”
Marita Mhlanga (78), in tears, expressed how much the foundation has saved her, as her only supportive son is battling for his life in hospital after being involved in an accident.
“This foundation has saved us very much, I am on ART [antiretroviral treatment], and I would take my tablets on an empty stomach, and I got very ill from that. I wasn’t like this, I was very thin, and I am now strong because of the food we get here,” Mhlanga said.
“We would go for days without food, I remember when I would get a belt and tightly tie it around my waist and then drink water on an empty stomach.”
After holding the tears that were clearly almost flowing down her wrinkled cheeks, in a shaky voice, Mhlanga already looked forward to the next meal as there was nothing else to eat again on that day.
“As we have eaten here, I will have my next meal tomorrow. My only son, who would help me, was involved in an accident and died, so I do not have anywhere else to go except here,” she said.
The elderly vowed to help their Good Samaritan by starting a garden that would help them with balancing their meals.
However, they are facing a challenge with water, as they cannot go to the community borehole, but depend on the school children to fetch the water during the weekends.
“We are appealing to well-wishers to help us further deepen our borehole. It was dug, but it’s not deep enough to reach the water table, so that could help us in doing projects that will sustain us.”
Mhlanga also supported the appeal saying the projects would go a long way for them as they would be getting two meals a day.
“We really appreciate the Magolide Foundation, and we want to start our horticulture projects so that we find something, however, we need water to do that, so we appeal to well-wishers to help us with a borehole, we will try starting a garden for our meals.”
Magolide Foundation was launched to help the less privileged, the elderly who would have been neglected by their children who stay outside the country, and the mentally-challenged who are ill-treated by their families.
Fourty-five 45 children are beneficiaries of the foundation, being taught hair braiding, sewing, gardening, soccer and netball.