INSPIRED by her mother’s drive to help others, Yolanda Mtsaka, 28, of Scenery Park, founded Buffalo City CareGivers to ensure that the homeless of East London have something in their stomachs.
Mtsaka said her mother would turn their home into a sort of shelter where she would welcome strangers and feed them.
“I started feeding the homeless five years ago. I used to watch the way my mother would treat the homeless while I was still in high school,” she said.
“She used to call a guy, Andile, to fetch food and clothes. I always asked her: ‘why do you care about this dirty guy?’ as he would come in and sit on our clean couches.
“My mother would look at me and say ‘that dirty guy is a man of God. He is the same human being as you. He’s got feelings’.”
She said her mother instilled in her the knowledge that the homeless needed love and tenderness just like everyone else.
It was this teaching that prompted her to buy bread and butter every week to feed the homeless when she moved out.
Mtsaka said she was introduced to Mandla Gxumisa by her friend Ayanda Mdlalo to seek assistance in raising funds for the organisation’s aim to expand it and do more for the homeless.
“The goal is to not only to feed the homeless but to also try to find them shelter and take them back to school and create job opportunities for them,” she said.
Mtsaka said they were targeting homeless children and adults in and outside East London. The aim was to reach out to other parts of the Eastern Cape.
“We are doing what we can in our community by donating food, clothes, office materials or resources and by providing an open heart with more hands.
“We’re also open to people who collect clothes and food continuously as this is one of the crucial services that are in demand for our drive,” Mtsaka said.
