Your good deeds may be for sale

Ronél Botes said her 18-year-old daughter, Nicole Botes, first spotted the couple on the corner of Great North Road and Mercury Street when they moved from Farrarmere to Pomona.

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“We used to pass them a lot and one day we decided to approach the woman,” said Nicole.

In April this year, they asked the woman if they can “spoil” her for a day and when she agreed, they had her hair and nails done.

Ronél explained they did this to ask the woman why she and her partner lived on the street.

Ronél said the woman replied that her partner was retrenched from his job and that her family and his family chased them away after living with them for a while.

“We fetched her partner and gave them meals and let them sleep here some nights,” said Nicole.

That was when Nicole took to Facebook to appeal for the community’s support to buy the couple a wendy house.

“We asked for donations, but one man said we could have his wendy house, free of charge, if we dismantle and build it again ourselves,” said Nicole.

They then used the donations for other things the homeless couple needed such as a cell phone, mattress, bedding, a gas stove, cutlery and crockery.

“I gave the woman clothes I took from my closet,” said Nicole.

Ronél added that they drove them everywhere they needed to be.

Both believe the homeless pair have sold almost everything they bought for them.

“The man even sold the vegetables we bought for them,” said Nicole’s boyfriend, Dylan Meyer.

Nicole and Ronél suspect the man was using drugs.

“I don’t think the woman was using drugs, but the man definitely was,” said Ronél.

“When he used our bathroom sometimes, we knew after he came out that he was on a trip,” said Nicole.

She also said he was aggressive at times and other times he would be drowsy when he came out.

“It was always after he finished in the bathroom,” she said.

They also claim the man told them he was addicted to drugs and alcohol before.

Ronél said she felt this particular pair did not want to be helped and that they are too comfortable on the streets.

They reportedly told the family they make a minimum of R140 per day and some days they get as much as R700.

Nicole said she was warned by many Benoni-based Facebook users, but she just wanted to help them.

She said she will continue to help people as she knows not all people are the same, but she will do it differently in the future.

She also said she will do more research on the people she wants to help or when she wants to assist an organisation that helps homeless people directly.

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