Lesedi la Batho Social Relief Fund, South Africa

While still upholding our objective of provide social relief support to the Mabopane community while assisting the client find an economically viable permanent solution  

Sibanda's Story

This year our paths crossed with Mr.Sibanda again. This time through a referral from his neighbour who has in the past witnessed the support that we had provided the Sibanda family with when Mr. Sibanda lost his child who was a breadwinner and had no money to conduct a funeral for her. The Sibanda family were also on our monthly food parcel register and were given financial literacy training until they were back on their feet.

 Mr. Sibanda, an 81-year-old male’s ageing has come with a lot of health issues leaving him bedridden and unable to take care of himself and his fostered grandchildren.

Mr. Sibanda lives alone with his Grandchild and rely on child support grant and his pension grant to survive. This year his health worsened causing him to rely on the community to assist with cleaning his house, taking care of his grandchild, running his errands of buying food and paying bills. However, some community members saw it as an opportunity to scam him of his money, leaving him and his grandchild without food and unpaid financial obligations.

This year our outreach team stepped in to assist Mr. Siband’s family with food parcel, School uniform and stationery for the grandchild, providing financial literacy monitoring and advice with the help of his neighbour who is assisting with taking care of the grandchild. Mr. Sibanda is now on the medication and his health is getting better, His eating well and his managing his finance with the regular monitoring and support for our team.

Koketso's Story

Our community visibility helps us reach those in need through the community referral. As it was with the case of Mr. Sibanda, it is also evident with the Case of Koketso, a 27-year-old mother of two.

Koketo was referred to our outreach team when she was struggling to register her children with the Department of Home Affairs which also hindered her from getting child support grant for the children. Our Outreach team assisted her receive her children’s birth certificates and then assisted with registering the children for their child support grant which then enabled her to take better care of her children’s needs.

It is often the little things that stand in the way of our progress and better living but through our support and partnerships Lesedi la Batho is able to change a family’s situation to open new opportunities.

The Nkwenyana's story

A mother of two also received a helping hand from Lesedi la Batho when her house and belongings were burnt in a fire. Patricia is a member of our Gender-Based Violence (GBV) support group. After fighting hard to heal from her past traumas of GBV. One evening when Patricia and her family were sleeping, a fire broke out in the house and all their belongings were burnt and Patricia found her and her children homeless. She reached out to her social workers at Lesedi la Batho to share this tragic news. The Lesedi team assisted with reprinting her children’s birth certificates, clothes for her and her children as well as building her and her family a new home.

When we hear that help is needed, we act immediately to ensure better living conditions for the community with the help of the donations received