Granny recycles to keep grandchild educated
Grandchild relies on grandmother’s recyclable tins for university fees.
DEBRA Manuku (62) from Jackson’s Drift informal settlement relies on recyclable tins to pay school fees for her grandchild.
Manuku lives with her two of her grandchildren and daughter who all depend on her, making her the sole breadwinner of the family. Manuku’s daughter is currently unemployed and she relies on Manuku to look after her as she lives with Manuku. The father is not really involved in their lives.
From her pensioner’s wage, Manuku buys groceries and pays for her burial society scheme. She collects tins and sometimes boxes. She gives the money she makes from recycling to one of her grandchildren who is currently in the second year of studying business management to pay university fees, rent and buy some groceries.
Manuku has come to rely on feeding schemes to fill some of the gaps in her household. Some of the food they receive from the feeding schemes are saved for dinner and the next day’s lunch.
Her neighbours told the COURIER that they admire her hard work in making sure that her grandchild is well educated to become someone one day.
Manuku said: “The pensioner’s money is not enough for me to make ends meet. I wake up every morning, do a bit of exercise and after that I start collecting tins. I always collect enough to get about R500. I am too old to walk around searching for tins but as long as my family eat at the end of the day its fine with me.”
The grandchild couldn’t be reached for comment.
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