Mam’uGrace brings good tidings from Cape Town trip

Alex Hospice and Rehab Centre founder Grace Marutlulle brought good tidings from her recent fundraising mission to Cape Town in which she raised R360 000 from the auction for her new home for the terminally ill.

Mam’uGrace, as she is popularly known in the township, left Johannesburg on October 27 with her entourage to attend a fundraising event on October 28.

According to a statement from her fundraising manager Chantel Oppelt, who is the executive director for the Institute for Applied Alchemy, the trip was an overwhelming success and attracted well-deserved interest and acclaim for the state-of-the-art centre.

Before her departure, Mam’uGrace described the new hospice, which is said to be 80% complete and due to be officially opened in March/April next year, as a realisation of her life-long dream to serve the terminally ill patients in her community.

“When I started the hospice way back in 2000 in a scrapyard, I admitted two patients and they both passed on the same day but that did not dampen my spirits and resolve for a state-of-the-art facility as I kept dreaming and hoping, and here I am today,” she said.

Mam’uGrace said her wish was for the centre to be well looked after for posterity and that she also wished for the facility to become financially viable and self-sustaining.

The township’s leading philanthropist Linda Twala, who attended the roadshow sendoff, said he was extremely excited that Mam’uGrace will be able to realise her dream. “We will always stand by her as we have done in the journey that she has walked so far to this day,” he said.

The hospice is being built by the City of Johannesburg’s development arm, the Johannesburg Development Agency and its project manager Nombuso Mtsweni said the project was 80% complete and on target toward completion in March or April next year.

Around R360 000 was raised at the hospice live-stream fundraising auction from the Capetonian Hotel which will go towards the operational costs of the 48-bed centre, which includes a frail care ward, consulting rooms, rooftop green garden and solar installation.

The centre will also care for chronic and terminally ill patients from Alexandra and surrounds.
Details: www.alexhospicerehab.org