Noma has a big heart for aiding the aged
Former nurse set up a care centre with funds from her own pocket
WHEN they were about to pass on, they called on her to pray for their souls, and that touched Nomalanga Mogomotsi so much she decided to resign from her job and open a care centre for the aged.
The 65-year-old founder of Noma’s Care Centre for the Aged in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria, said she had worked as a nurse for 32 years before giving her full attention to the old and frail, who lived in the home.
Mogomotsi is a retired nurse who worked at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital’s oncology ward, where she witnessed many dying patients who requested her prayers before their souls departed.
“When I worked at the oncology ward, aged patients would call me to pray for them but when I found out later they passed away after my prayers, that broke my heart. So I later resigned to start a home for the aged,” she said.
The NPO care centre was founded in 2006 and is run under the Department of Social Development, and operates from two centres in Ga-Rankuwa.
It is manned by 87 staff members, with the one centre in Zone 16 housing 90 older persons, and the other, in Zone 4, accommodating 45.
Yesterday, Mogomotsi said she has always had a soft spot and a big heart, which saw her set up the centre with funds out of her own pocket.
She said the centre had become a huge part of her life and she sometimes faced challenges as some senior citizens were neglected by their families.
“It becomes a huge problem when some of them pass away, as I use my own money to give them dignified funerals,” she said.
The lack of funds for caring for the aged was a worrying factor. She said they always hoped sponsors would help them and yesterday she said one of the Zone 16’s most pressing issues and biggest needs was for a pavement inside the premises.
“We need help, we need a pavement because it can get messy and muddy in the yard when it rains, we also need a shelter for shade, as the old people like relaxing and talking in the shade,” Mogomotsi said, adding that the sun, however, forced them to stay indoors.
And their cries have been heard by South African Breweries (SAB), who partnered with local businessman Moshe Lesutu and visited Noma’s Care Centre yesterday, to fulfil their obligation to meet the 67 minutes for Mandela challenge.
They delivered food parcels and blankets to the old and frail: “We would like to acknowledge the great work that the caregivers of this centre provide because they are the ones who take care of our grannies and grandpas every day,” said the SAB’s Mduduzi Nkalo.
Nkalo is the district manager, and he explained that it was their responsibility to look after the communities they worked in. He promised to be back and to pave the required area, and also to provide the centre with shade.
Lesutu had already paved the outside area of centres, and said: “I help my community where I can and I want to show them that we love them.”
Mogomotsi said she was overjoyed about what the SAB had done.
“I am so happy, I am overwhelmed because all this was a huge surprise for me as I did not expect all this. We are blessed and we are going to say goodbye to winter with all these warm blankets.”