Giving a hand up

Navigating Hillbrow as a blind person is no easy task. Using just a cane, Nomsa Mbatha negotiates unpredictable traffic, dangerous alleyways and a complex maze of streets to find her way to the MES offices. She is about to join a team of previously homeless people to help clean the dirt off the streets of Hillbrow.

The South African poverty rate ranges from about 45% to 57%, depending on which poverty line metric is used, and in the Eastern Cape it reaches nearly 70%. Many civil society and governmental organisations are actively engaging with this sector to provide assistance, some with relief aid, others with more sustainable models, but what is increasingly being encouraged is a move away from pure charity. Charity, although absolutely necessary in some circumstances, may have the following side-effects:

1. It erodes dignity: those who continue to receive charity on an on-going basis often experience a degraded sense of what they can achieve resulting in a loss in dignity.
2. It decreases value:  it becomes increasingly difficult to appreciate something that costs nothing.
3. It becomes a necessity: by encouraging a culture of receiving and not producing, what initially starts as a much-appreciated gift soon becomes a necessity.

Due to the overwhelming need and high poverty rate in South Africa, South Africans are beginning to experience compassion fatigue. Some may even feel that the ideal of ubuntu has lost its meaning, especially when considering the seemingly consistent levels of violence and spurts of xenophobia that continue to occupy the media’s attention. In light of this, perhaps the answer is not looking to the new burgeoning middle class for an increase in giving, perhaps instead the answer lies not in giving more, but in giving to the right organisations whose mandate is to give a hand up, not a hand out.

Nomsa is one of those inspiring individuals who, despite her clear disadvantage, is becoming a valued member of society by helping create tangible change in one of the most dangerous and dirtiest places in South Africa. Nomsa grew up in rural Kwazulu Natal, without electricity or running water, and when her mother died at the age of 8 which left her family in a precarious position, Nomsa had to take responsibility for the care of her siblings. Due to a meningitis infection, Nomsa has gradually been losing her eyesight and at the age of 22 she is now almost completely blind.

We had the privilege of watching Nomsa, with the help of her MES GROW teammates, clean a dark narrow alleyway used primarily for the disposal of large amounts of refuse as well as an unofficial public latrine. Despite the humble state in which she currently lives, Nomsa wants to finish her schooling and follow her dream of becoming a recording artist.

MES is providing a real chance for the homeless of the inner city of Johannesburg to get out of the poverty cycle. As a member of the GROW team people such as Nomsa are provided with both accommodation and employment opportunities. The program lasts for three months during which time the participants are given a small stipend for the work they do as well as soft skills training, making them employable in the future.

Nomsa may just be starting her journey to become a sustainable member of society but she now has hope for the future, a hope that the GROW program has given her.