For community member Nonhanhla Sibisi, the freak storm that hit AbaQulusi last month hit harder as it affected the only means by which she puts bread on the table.
Nonhlanhla has a vegetable stall in old location Bhekuzulu, just near the taxi rank and many community members are familiar with her face there, but her business took a serious knock when her stall was blown away after the storm.
“I got up on Monday morning and headed out to work with all the sweets and vegetables to my place as per every other day but what I was met with there was the absolute shock of my life. Where my stall had once been stood nothing but the concrete foundations on which I had built that shelter that had served as premises for my business for many years,” Nonhlanhla recalled.
Sadness still in her eyes, Nonhlanhla explained how she stood on that concrete floor sobbing hysterically.
“I did not care who saw me, they could not possibly understand what this meant to me and my family, I had been running this stall for more than 30 years and to just come here one morning and find the whole structure gone was unbelievable,” she explained.
Nonhlanhla has a son, who is now 30 years old; whom she says was raised solely by the income she made at the stall.
“My son Lethukuthula is now 30 and a lot of community members know him as he was born around the time when I started running this stall. Even during his primary and high school years he would help me set up every morning before going to school. He knew that this was a family business and that he had to help where he could as this was our only means of income,” she went on.
Fortunately for Nonhlanhla, her story did not have to end in despair as she received assistance from local businessman Sipho Masondo who rebuilt the structure for her.
“I have seen her working here for the longest time. Sometimes when heavy rains came, I would ask some of my staff members to help her carry her goods into my premises for shelter. When I saw what happened that day, and just how beside herself she was, I knew that I had to do something,” said Mr Masondo.
Mr Masondo got some of the young men that work in his carwash, just next to where Nonhanhla sets up her stall, to help build a temporary structure so that the 54 year-old woman would be able to continue selling her goods and put food on the table for her family.
“The current structure is just a temporary arrangement, I am hoping that we will be able to give her something better in future,” said Mr Masondo.
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Still amazed by this gesture, Nonhanhla’s eyes well up again and it takes her a few minutes to compose herself again before she reaches into her handbag and pulls out a white rectangular envelope.
“When they led me here yesterday to show me what they had done for me, I just stood on the street with my mouth hanging open, I could not believe it. I did not think such kindness still existed. I am so grateful to Mr Masondo, really, I am out of words. I would just like to give him this card as a token of appreciation,” she said.
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Being no stranger to helping in his community wherever he can, Mr Masondo is well renowned to many members of the community as a person to turn to in times of need and through this gesture, he proved just why he remains a darling to the people of Bhekuzulu.
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