Let’s Change Mandla’s Life for the BETTER!

Hello friends,

In an act of spontaneous generosity, seeing someone needing shelter from the rain, we officially met Mandla. Many Durbanites (South African Durban dwelling residents) may know and recognize him from Innes rd. (corner of Innes & Windemere), where we have noticed him sleeping for the last few years. He is an incredibly gentle mannered individual with an incredibly sad story (which we are still in the process of learning). In a nutshell, he fled his homeland in search for a better life. Unfortunately this plan has not gone accordingly as he currently finds himself homeless and living on the streets. He has fallen victim to a number of brutal attacks from the Metro police, who not only destroyed his tent but stole his possessions.

We have provided him with clothes, toiletries and have temporarily put him up at a shelter for a week. The name of the shelter is Haven of Hope. We have visited a number of times and have found it to be incredibly clean, well-kept, non-tolerating of drugs and run by wonderful people.

The purpose of this campaign is to raise money to keep him at the Haven Of Hope, especially now that winter is coming, where he seems happy. We are also looking into ways of assisting him in supporting himself. We have learnt that he does odd jobs like selling cigarettes in town or manual labor, but this is not consistent and not stable enough to provide him shelter. Something that stands out about him is his physical strength (I have literally seem him doing push ups on the side of the road where he sleeps, on my way to work), and sense of pride. Although he sleeps on the street, we see him sweeping his area and keeping it clean.

Haven Of Hope costs R40 a night. They provide a warm shower and bedding, but no meals.

All money raised will go straight to his accommodation and food.

Let's come together to change his life :)

P.s If you know/have any employment opportunities for this gentleman, please let us know. [email protected].

God bless

Images courtesy of Together For Durban. An organization purposed with making a difference in the Durban City.