Tsakani – Nomvuyo Mhlongo (65), a former teacher with 17 years of experience, is a mother of three and a grandmother to six grandchildren.
She is a community leader and respected woman who fights to alleviate hunger and injustice in her community.
Mhlongo fell in love with community development after the Panel for Investigation Diagnosis and Assistance (Pida) was introduced. Pida aims to assist socially challenged and differently-abled learners.
“Investigating these issues exposed me to many social ills and challenges. I was drawn to helping families in dire need of assistance in various circumstances.
“In 1996, I left the teaching fraternity to pursue my calling into full-time ministry of word and sacrament in the Methodist Church of SA. I ministered in the North West, the Eastern Cape (studying at Rhodes University), Mpumalanga (as a chaplain at Penryn College), Gauteng, the Western Cape, KZN, and ended up back in the Eastern Cape at Mount Coke, where I retired in 2023.
“Ministering through the devastating effects of HIV/Aids, Covid-19, drugs, and substance abuse affected me in ways I could never begin to describe, and it made me commit myself to fight injustice and bring peace and healing wherever I can,” she said.
She said everywhere she travelled, she always came across poverty, GBV, unemployment, hopelessness, and inferiority and superiority complexes.
“Absent parents and dependency stared me in the face. I knew, for example, that I could never end poverty, but I wanted to do all I could to alleviate it,” she said.
Mhlongo recently launched a gardening project in Rockville, Tsakani.
“It aims to channel issues of poverty and hunger in the community. The home gardening project is very close to my heart because I believe it is a restoration programme. It aims to restore dignity among family members, especially those unemployed, enabling them to earn respect for contributing to the livelihood of their families,” Mhlongo said.
Mhlongo also assisted in establishing the newly formed Rockville Day Care Centre. She has also communicated with many individuals and business people to try and get sponsorship for it.
She also introduced a routine of communication among the elders – they share stories and experiences and educate one another on different topics daily.
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“At the daycare centre, we practice different skills like mat making, beadwork, flower arranging, which would assist unemployed people to make a living. We also exercise every morning together,” explained Mhlongo.
Mhlongo is an active member of the Rockville Community Forum, which regularly establishes opportunities for the community.
They try to build unity in their community through meetings, development programmes and other effective ways of bettering the environment they live in.
She added that she is a community activist because old and young people face challenges that need decisive tackling.
”My mission is to affirm everybody as being created in the image of God. They need to know that they matter and have a divine role in making this world a better place for all,” she added.
