By James Lee-Jiang:
Sister Sarah Sibiya, founder and director of the Tshepang Care Centre in Tembisa, was beaming with joy when a group of women from the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women brought wonderful news – a generous donation of a ton of food and essential goods for the centre.
This incredible support will greatly benefit the over 600 children, primarily orphans, that the centre lovingly cares for. It’s heartwarming to see such kindness, which will make a real difference. We do this for God,” she says.
It was a warm Sunday filled with celebrations, dancing, and play, with active participation from community members and the children of Vusimuzi, a densely populated informal settlement in Tembisa, Kempton Park, outside Johannesburg. The community living in a squatter camp near a local cemetery warmly welcomed the group participating in the “Taiwan Can Help” programme.
The day’s event was organised by the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women South Africa Chapter (GFCBW SA), in partnership with Crawford International College in Sandton and the Tzu Chi Foundation in Johannesburg. They hosted the “Mandela Day Charity Donation and Distribution Event” at the Tshepang Care Centre on Sunday, August 10.
A partnership of goodwill
The GFCBW and its partners donated 1 tonne of food to the centre, including rice, beans, canned goods, maize meal, salt, sugar, cooking oil, and sanitary supplies. Additionally, the donation package contained stationery and uniforms, as well as printed aprons for the kitchen volunteers, featuring the words “Tshepang Care Centre, Love from Taiwan – Powered by GFCBW” on the front. Most importantly, the Taiwanese women purchased and donated sewing machines to the centre to enhance community empowerment efforts and ensure the economic sustainability of local women.
The centre is more than a care place for children, it also serves as a skills development facility to empower the poor community, an issue that the donor partners took into account in their plan. Furthermore, they also gave the centre an assortment of kitchen equipment that included pots and pans, while Tzu-Chi donated 300 kilograms of rice, which was delivered in bags to the care centre and clearly marked “Love from Taiwan”.
Students from Crawford International College, who accompanied GFCBW SA leadership, entertained the crowd with a variety of games and danced with the community members and children, making the days so special to the community.
According to GFCBW SA secretary Yi-Ting Cheng, they initiated a fundraising drive as part of the Chinese community in South Africa. This effort aimed to contribute to the community during Mandela Month in July and give the donations as part of Women’s Month in August. The late icon Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, and the day was declared as Mandela Day by the United Nations. Many people worldwide, particularly those in South Africa, use the day to generously assist the underprivileged in different ways.
“As a women’s organisation, we thought it was important to distribute our donations from the fundraising efforts in August, which is also the month of Women’s Day. In line with this, we visited the Tshepang Care Centre to provide these donations,” Yi-Ting said in an interview at the centre.
“Out of hearing Sarah’s story and how she started the centre from scratch, we felt it really resonated with the power of women, as well as being able to give back to the community in celebration of Mandela Day. So, we picked the centre as our target to receive the donation, that’s how it all started,” Yi-Ting added.
A backing from the top office
In his speech, Oliver Liao, Representative of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa, cited South Africa’s “Ubuntu” philosophy of humanity and mutual care, noting its alignment with the Taiwanese value of “When others are in distress or hunger, we feel their suffering as our own.”
He praised GFCBW SA, Crawford International College, and the Tzu Chi Foundation Johannesburg for demonstrating care through concrete actions, stating: “As Taiwan’s representative in South Africa, I am proud of them and honoured to stand alongside them.”
GFCBW SA President Danica Chin emphasised that the event commemorated both Mandela Day (July 18) and Women’s Month in August, expressing gratitude to the Care Centre for its role in connecting Tembisa to the world.
Chin commended the Centre for operating a bakery and sewing workshop, caring for 32 orphans, and providing meals to more than 600 people daily. She pledged that “all funds raised will be returned in full to the Centre” and called on the global community to unite in doing good under the spirit of “Taiwan Can Help.”
The event was also attended by CJ Lo, Director of the Economic Division of the Taipei Liaison Office, who came to witness and enjoy the proceedings. Many other dignitaries and members of the Taiwanese community came in numbers to witness and celebrate with the community.
About Tshepang and Sarah: a “Mother” with a vision to uplift a poor community through education
Sarah Masechaba Sibiya, who some call “Mother Teresa” because of her generosity and good heart for the suffering, is a former nurse who left her public nursing profession to answer the urge to help the underprivileged in society. She was attracted to Vusimuzi Informal Settlement, where the centre is situated, by poverty among community members, something she identifies with, as she also experienced a difficult childhood herself.
“Life is difficult in this place. The children tell us that they went to bed hungry the previous night and that the food we give them is their first meal of the day. That hurts me as a parent and a nurse who knows the situation in his community. I am happy that Tshepang exists and makes a difference in the community, even if that difference is not huge.
I wish this centre could make a bigger difference to these people. We want to give more than one meal a day, at least two meals a day, so that we can fight hunger among children and the people of Vusimuzi,” Sibiya said.
The “Mother” or “Gogo”, as the kids affectionately call her, was excited by the Taiwan Can Help initiative, which she said would go a long way to make a difference among the children. “We are thankful to our Taiwanese sponsors, who gave us large amounts of food and various other items that we need. They made us feel proud, showing that there are people out there who love us at Tshepang Care Centre. We wish others could follow suit and come forward,” Sibiya said.
The centre has 32 kids who attend the creche free of charge daily with volunteer teachers. But the remaining 600 attend different primary and high schools locally, and they come to the centre after school to get meals, due to their destitute backgrounds. For them, the centre has become a second home that also assists them with homework and offers its library facilities for them to learn.
“We just need these little ones to get a basic education before they go to school,” Sibiya said, referring to the pre-school kids. Their teachers are volunteers because for them it’s a way of giving back to the community,” Sibiya said.
Some of the children who started at the care centre’s creche were on the brink of entering university after they passed their grade 12 or matric. As the school began informally prior to 2013, one of the first children who were admitted to the centre is already a teacher, while several others are studying at university.
“It encourages us that what we are doing is good and is making a difference in the community; we thank God for that. We are proud because if it were not for the Tshepang Centre, some of them would have been criminals or taking drugs,” she said.
The centre is registered as a non-profit organisation, but it is not funded or sponsored by the government whatsoever. This is despite doing such a massive task of taking care of the children from a poverty-stricken community, out of nothing. “The reason that the government doesn’t fund us is that we are in a squatter camp. We have been trying, but we are not being assisted by our government. Everything you see here is donations from individuals, various organisations that come to us, and private companies, including retailers that donate groceries,” Sibiya said.
A woman with a good heart
Asked why she resigned from a nursing job to run a non-paying squatter camp pre-school? She laughed, saying the question is difficult for her to answer because it hits straight into her heart. She comes from a poor background herself, and that made her become a humanist, which she started during her time as a nurse working for the Department of Health. She used to use he earnings to purchase goods to donate to the needy, including taking her own belongings.
“We were so poor at home that as a child, I used to go to school without shoes. So when I grew up, it became natural for me to help children from poor backgrounds so that they don’t suffer like I did in my childhood. I don’t like to see any child growing up like me,” Sibiya said.
As then nurse, when she was off duty, she used to buy goods and food for orphanages before she decided to quit the profession and concentrate on her charity work. “That was the beginning of my life as a caregiver of orphaned children. But I felt this was not enough, so I resigned as a nurse and started working full-time to take care of orphaned children, which is how I started Tshepang Care Centre,” she said.
At home, she is also taking care of three orphaned children whom she has adopted and treats as her own. “These children were toddlers; they were barely three years of age, and one was 18 months when I took them into my house. But they are now teenagers aged 14, 16, and 18 years and no longer need the tender care of little ones. These are my children now; we are a family,” she said with some emotion. “To be honest, I love what I am doing. I have never been so happy in my life. Yes, it does not pay, I sacrifice a lot, but to see children happy, to see the community lifestyle changing because of my efforts, it makes me very happy,” Sibiya said. – @NewsSA_Online
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