Felicity Lawlor’s Let’s Work initiative creates stability and hope for those who were homeless

To keep Johannesburg clean and the grass cut has been somewhat of a struggle in recent years.

This has caused frustration and concerns for some, but to Emmarentia’s Felicity Lawlor, it has been an opportunity to uplift others and to ‘do the right thing’.

Lawlor, with a need to help her community and fellow South Africans, launched Let’s Work, last year, which is a non-profit initiative.

Today, she employs 19 men on a freelance basis, helping them to open bank accounts and feed themselves. They have, because of Let’s Work, been able to pay rent and leave sleeping in the park behind.

Let’s Work is funded by residents in Northcliff, Linden, Emmarentia and surrounds. Although most donations do not specify areas, Lawlor said a request can be made to clean certain areas.

“I allocate the funds to that area, and then we go and clean it.”

Lawlor deploys about 13 men a day to a specific spot that needs cleaning. The island on Beyers Naudé Drive has been maintained by the initiative since the beginning of the year.

On the corner of Beyers Naudé Drive and Milner Avenue, the grass and litter were removed and a new garden planted.

But because the initiative has become a steady source of income, Lawlor works just about every day. “As long as we have money and there’s work to do, we work,” she said.

Most, if not all of the men, used to live in parks nearby, others come from as far as Germiston, living off informal recycling or doing odd jobs.

Forty-two-year-old Joseph ‘Shorty’ Kgolokwane is one such example. He started with Lawlor late last year after a friend suggested it. Word had already started spreading that there was an opportunity to make a better living.

Kgolokwane wrote his matric in 1988 in the Free State where his mother still resides. He remembers how he used to help his classmates with mathematics.

He was dealt a bad hand in 2010 when he lost his job at OR Tambo International Airport. He has not been able to find a stable job since, but now, he has more hope. He can afford to rent a place and he plans on saving towards a qualification.

“I have forgotten some of the maths, so I will have to learn again but I am stable now and things are getting better. I can start shaping my life,” he said.

By cutting any red tape and opening her heart, Lawlor, through Let’s Work, has been able to help give workers like Kgolokwane a job and dignity. She has also been able to get some training for some of them, based on plumbing, plastering and other skills that might help them in the future.

She also said that both City Parks and Pikitup have been helpful and supportive. She said she understands the lack of resources and the challenges these entities face.

“It’s up to us residents to do something for ourselves; we cannot just sit and wait.”

ALSO READ: #AReSebetseng: Westpark gets a clean sweep