Lifestyle/Community
Love in abundance for the young and the elderly
Mandela Week was one of love, giving and celebration at Yeshiva College.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
Yeshiva College Shul members collected blankets for the elderly and the less fortunate of Katlehong township to honour the centenary of the birth of former president Nelson Mandela. Under the leadership of the shul’s associate rabbi, Rabbi Alon Friedman, and his wife, Dani, a total of 107 blankets were handed out.
On the same day, the Yeshiva College pupils celebrated the 60th birthday of Rosy Mthembu, the founder and director of Fountain of Love. Yeshiva College and its pupils have a long-term partnership with the Fountain of Love Orphanage Centre, a home for Aids orphans in Katlehong.
Mthembu started the centre in 2003 when a little boy was left abandoned on the doorstep of her house in Katlehong. He had been abandoned because he was infected with the HI virus. Mthembu took him in and went on to found the centre.
Fundraising was then spearheaded by special individuals from The Readucate Trust, a non-profit organisation which focuses on education and literacy, as well as by Marcia Tanzer, the former principal of Yeshiva College Girls’ High School, and her pupils.
Sponsorship was actively sought out, and as a result, for the past 15 years Nashua has been staunchly supportive of the orphanage. Woolworths also came on board, supplying free vegetables and fruit. Other sponsors have included Bravura, Powafix, Siyahamba Engineering, Tiger Brands, Chevron South Africa, Longridge, SAPS Katlehong North, Kido and Smanga Event Organisers.
Today Mthembu has 45 Aids orphans living in her home. Some of them have been nurtured since infancy, like 11-year-old Xolile. She was two weeks old when she was found wrapped in a plastic bag on a nearby dump site. She has been loved and cared for by Mthembu ever since. The children’s ages range from a few weeks’ old to late teens.
Mthembu also provides lunch for 200 elderly pensioners twice a week in the local church hall.