Brothers live in small shack
Two brothers have made themselves a home in a shack in the Everest Informal Settlement.
Braam Mulder (41) and Francisco North (39) have been living in a small shack with one bed and a hot plate stove for more than a year.
The half-brothers were living on the streets for two years years before they found refuge in the informal settlement with the help of a stranger who gave them the necessary funds to be able to move into the shack.
“It’s a long story how we ended up here, but it started when my wife and I divorced, and I lost all my finances,” says Braam.
Braam is still in the hope of reviving his singing and DJ career, but says he is unable to do anything about it as they do not have electricity in their shack.
“We are trying to get hold of a solar panel to power some of my equipment so that I can start recording again,” he says.
Braam and Francisco currently make a living by melting discarded candles and making new ones to sell.
“Sometimes we don’t eat for three days at a time,” says Francisco, “and I can’t find work as I can’t leave my brother alone with his epilepsy.”
Braam has suffered from seizures from a young age and has been unable to keep a job.
He says he has to take medication for the seizures every day, but as he is not eating, he cannot and the seizures have increased from one every few weeks to almost four a week.
They say their parents died nine years ago and the rest of their family wants nothing to do with them.
Francisco says residents of the informal settlement have accepted them and sometimes help with wood and food.
“They call us their brothers,” he says.
Braam and Francisco hope their lives will get better and add they are relying on each other to get through these tough times.
