Wheels that give hope 1 meal at a time

POLOKWANE – The bakkie carries something very valuable to her and 300 other people like her.

It is the Meals on Wheels bakkie and its appearance at the corner of Grobler and Potgieter Street means for at least one night in the week she will not go to sleep hungry.

Bodlani, who is in her 50s, is homeless and sleeps on the sidewalk on the corner of Kleinenberg and Webster Street every night.

She lost the room she and her family were staying in because she could not afford to pay for it. She has been all alone in the world since 16 January 2001. On this fateful date, Bodlani’s husband and daughter died in a taxi accident.

“I should have been on that taxi with them but there wasn’t enough money to pay for my ticket so I stayed behind,” she says.

It was the day my life ended. The day I died inside. But my body still lived on just to fight starvation on the streets of this city.

She has been making a living with piece jobs doing cleaning.

“The only sure thing in my life is the Meals on Wheels bakkie that brings the food which takes away my hunger once a week,” she says, as she puts a piece of bread in her apron pocket. She says this is to make the food last a little longer.

Giving a little bit of hope

Speaking on behalf of Meals on Wheels in Polokwane, Darlene Akpan said they relied on the generosity of others and need every donation they could get.

“These people have nothing and if we can bring them a little comfort by giving them food,it is a blessing one cannot describe,” she said.

The Spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, Adéle van der Linde, said there was no homeless shelter in the city, nor was there a law that protected people like Bodlani.

“The only assistance these people get is from private organisations like Meals on Wheels. We urge people to get involved and donate whatever they can, be it time, resources or money, to assist in a need that grows every year,” she said.