Returning to SA after completing her internship in horticulture in 2019 at the New York-based Kurt Weiss Greenhouses, a leading producer of hydrangeas and azaleas in the US, Eastern Cape-born Zimasa Tantsi Mhlana had no idea what her next step would be.
Eastern Cape health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth spoke on the future projects and challenges of rural health care at a three-day rural health conference in Chintsa, which closed on Friday.
“I never imagined something like this could happen to someone like me after all the bad things that I had to go through. Seeing my children looking different from other children broke my heart.”These were the words of Nofika Qalashe, a 31-year-old widow and mother of four who has been bedridden since 2021.
Abject poverty and a sickly mother and toddler in need of care have left three young children with no choice but to put their schooling on hold.The Qalashe siblings aged 13, 11 and nine have been attending school intermittently to look after their three-year-old brother and 29-year-old widowed mother, Nofika, who has been bedridden since 2021.