A night in Alex

Sandton resident Solly Krok celebrated his 92 birthday with a sleepover in Alexandra with the sole aim of highlighting some of the daily challenges and struggles faced by the residents of the iconic township.

The ‘big sleepover’ as it has come to be known, was the brilliant brainchild of Krok himself who described his experience of sleeping in Alex as ‘something that may sound a little disconcerting and even reckless to some, but was great fun, fascinating, astonishing and exhilarating’.

The Krok ‘keep the wolf from the door’ team of Marc Lubner of Africa Tikkun, Romi Lewenstein of FeedSA and Clair Jaeger, who came in her personal capacity, were hosted by Alex philanthropist and community builder Linda Twala. Jaeger described Twala as the ‘unofficial mayor’ of Alexandra.

“Alexandra has a vibe of its own, it moves to its own beat, very upbeat, and teaming with life. Its unique culture of music, wood smoke, pungent odours and overpopulation is rampant. The levels of need and poverty are jarring, thousands of people are unemployed, hungry and in need of simple basic resources,” said Jaeger.

“Being picked up at Solly’s house in a Mercedes-Benz, with more security than the president, and being escorted through standstill traffic with blue lights and sirens blaring in a cavalcade is somewhat dramatic to say the least. The warm welcome we received in Alexandra was beyond expectations. Nothing was too much trouble.”

The sleepover team visited shacks and spent time understanding how families lived. One of those visited was Miriam Morifi, a gogo, with her six grandchildren, a son and a daughter all sleeping in one bed, in a single room, as neat as a pin but it is tiny, and space is a scarce commodity, according to Jaeger.

“Social distancing is impossible. Ablutions are outside, shared and very rudimentary. There are public rows of chemical toilets and no hot water,” Jaeger added.

She said for many residents, a bath meant scavenging for wood, building a fire outside, fetching a bucket of water from a public tap, heating it on the fire, then bringing it into your one-room house and bathing using a plastic container.

“Food is also prepared in the same room, meals are eaten too and there is barely enough space for everyone to sit, and privacy does not exist.”

Later the team handed out some of the 62 blankets, 62 scarves and 62 sanitiser and mask packs, and 1 000 loaves of bread before tucking into a kosher braai arranged by Lewenstein with some of the locals.

In true Alexandra style, Jaeger said the cold night was offset with warm smiles and an air of hospitality and positivity. Teaching the camera crew and local children to toast marshmallows over the fire was both a treat and fun, she added.

In Alex, Jaeger said Twala was often considered as the godfather of the people and was loved and respected unconditionally. “One would be hard pressed to find a wiser and more compassionate icon.”

His doors and gates to his property were always open and his generous heart even wider, she added. People in need stream into his home continuously, knowing they will find help or at least a loaf or two of bread, Jaeger said of her observations of the constant traffic in and out of Twala’s house.

One of her observations was how Twala’s home in 16th Avenue was filled with relics of a rich history of the struggle against apartheid, photographs framed in time tell of Twala’s countless engagements with famous people over the decades.

When his home was destroyed during the struggle years ago, Twala chose to build a centre focusing on the community’s needs rather than just his own. His focus remains on the elderly, the disabled, mentally challenged and single mothers and children. He now lives at his former family home in 2nd Avenue.

“After a quick coffee the next morning, we visited the Phuthaditjaba Centre, his former home in 16th Avenue, which has since become an Africa Tikkun initiative established by the late Dr Bertie Lubner and others in 2006 to serve meals to the elderly,” concluded Jaeger.