Page 18 - OJA Annual Report 2022/2023

MESSAGES OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is Philasande Mngomezulu. He is a diplegic CP and attends the place of safety but goes home for the holidays. Home is not a great place and most of his family members are alcoholic and are often under the influence of alcohol. This often compels Philasande to spend most of his time indoors, usually unclothed and without food or water. He inherited an old but still working 2012 CE Power Chair this year, which he loved to bits, until it finally broke. On the day we managed to coax a small amount of life back into it (about a month after it broke down), Nelisiwe Buthelezi’s chair arrived!!!! Unfortunately, Nelisiwe passed away early this year. So, Nelisiwe’s chair was then passed on to Philandane, as it was the perfect size for him. Now he happily drives around on it!
Thanks OJA!!!!!
Thembokwakhe lives at our ‘place of safety’ outside the hospital gate.
His mother is an alcoholic and is on her last legs. The SASSA cards are at the shebeen, as it is used to borrow money for booze.
The last time Themba went home, he sat in his own excrement for three weeks without moving once. His situation only changed when we, as the OJA, came to fetch him and take him to our place of safety. Before then, he had been living under these miserable conditions. After moving into our place of safety last year, he got his first motorised wheelchair, which was not ideal because it was old and rickety.
But since then his life has changed dramatically. This year he won first prize in the motorised wheelchair race, which came with a voucher at Jet Stores, which he used to get his first ever new set of clothes. Now, he has gotten a brand new Velocity motorised wheelchair. Now he is a happy lad, as his life has totally improved.
Lusaso and his mom collected his wheelchair from Issy Geshen Home.
18 Operation Jumpstart Association
ANNUAL REPORT 2022-2023