Noxolo Mafilika in her home in Site C Taiwan Informal Settlement. Photo by Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik.
11 June 2015
Going to bed on an empty stomach is not something new for Noxolo Mafilika of Site C Taiwan Informal Settlement. The 37-year-old mother of two has been sharing the little she has with the Sibhozo boys who lost their grandmother early this year. GroundUp published their story on 23 April.
Mafilika lives in a three-room shack. Just inside the entrance there is a shelf with groceries such as Jik, sugar, samp and beans.
“This is what I do for a living; selling these just to make some money and help my husband,” she said.
“On the weekend, I sell chicken. I give them to people then I collect the following weekend. A chicken costs R60,” she said.
Her husband works at a construction company but does not have a permanent job. She has a disabled child for whom she pays school transport.
Mafilika grew up in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape.
“My father was getting a disability grant. At that time it was only R480. I know what it is like to go to bed with an empty stomach, with tears crossing your face,” said Mafilika.
“We used to have only two meals - samp and beans or sour milk … When my father got paid, he used to buy us oranges. At least for that one day, I would have something to say when friends talked about what they had eaten,” said Mafilika
“I know poverty. I know what it’s like to want something, knowing that you are not going to get it,” she said.
“At home we were five children, and we usually had other kids who had left their home to live with us. My father taught me that we can not chase people away. In Xhosa we say umntu akalahlwa. I get strangers coming to my house, looking for food or a place to sleep, and I always welcome them,” she said.
Just like Sivuyile Sibhozo, Mafilika’s elder brother left school at age 14 to work.
“When I grew up, I didn’t have shoes. I used to borrow them from friends. I never played sport. Not because I didn’t want to, but because the situation at home prevented me. I used to cry until I accepted my life,” said Mafilika.
Asked how she managed to look after her family and the Sibhozo boys, she said, “I just do. I always share the little I have. I cannot watch other people going to bed with an empty stomach, while I know I can do something. … I cannot lie and say it is easy, but I share what I have.”
“Life is not easy but I don’t go to bed with an empty stomach and I can not allow such a situation to happen to the boys,” she said.