Mobility-impaired woman from Helderkruin shares her passion for her community

Jul-Andra van Dyk is a 53-year-old mobility-impaired woman originally from Cape Town, but currently calls Helderkruin home. She has been struggling with symptoms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease all her life and said that before she found out about this disease, it was ‘but one incorrect diagnosis after another’.

“I was diagnosed about six years ago. It’s a familial disease. Almost all my cousins have it as well as my uncles and aunts. We have different strains of the disease and as a result, it affects us all differently.”

Charcot-Marie-Tooth is a disease where patients have muscle wastage and weakness, and Van Dyk said that she had lost her hearing as a result as well. The nerves die and then the muscles waste away. She is still able to walk a bit, but not for long.

“I’m off balance and have no proprioception [the sense that lets us perceive the location, movement, and action of parts of the body],” she said.

Despite all the adversities she faces, Van Dyk explained that she is a helping hand to the community and participates in various projects, which include feeding the homeless, helping others through a project that she had recently undertaken to sell things, and teaching disabled people skills which accommodates their physical abilities for them to sell what they make and supplement their income.

“We have cute little stickers, which we attach to our products, and anybody can join in. Even able-bodied people as well. They can come here and learn some kind of skill. I sew bed socks and make jams and chutney and sell it,” she said and further cited that she encourages her younger daughter to also sell products to help supplement her Sassa grant.

Her daughter also lives with a disability and that is the main reason why she initiated the project.

Van Dyk is very active in her community and mentioned that she used to help a few women make minimal resources which include small everyday things and travelled to townships to teach people how to collect raw, natural materials and turn them into something beautiful and of value.

“We would also hand out crochet hooks and wool, as well as knitting needles,” she said.

Van Dyk has also been very active in advocating and raising awareness around issues about Muscular Dystrophy, specifically Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, and has done a multitude of interviews on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.

The interviews have documented her journey with the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, and she cited that they’re amazing, and provide them with much-needed electric wheelchairs.