- Concerned residents in Langa have established the Inkanyezi Day and After Care Community Project, a non-profit organisation, to educate people about dementia and provide support to those affected.
- The organisation, founded in 2019 and re-opened in 2022 after a pandemic-related closure, offers free services, including exercise, storytelling, games, and bible studies, to individuals with dementia.
- Despite facing challenges like lack of funding and transport, the organisation’s co-founders, Thelma Madlala and Gloria Mahlanyana, are determined to provide care and support, and are urging local businesses to assist and for more people to join and benefit from their programmes.
In an attempt to educate people about dementia, concerned residents from Langa have established an organisation to offer help to the affected people.
Launched in 2019, the Inkanyezi Day and After Care Community Project was forced to temporarily shut down a year later due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the non-profit organisation (NPO) that looks after and educates people about dementia, re-opened its doors.
Thelma Madlala, the co-founder of the NPO, said nobody is safe from the illness as it affects everyone.
She said the organisation was established by six members, mostly pensioners. “Each family has someone who suffers from this illness, but they do not realise that because they have no information about it. Most of the time it affects old people. They tend to lose memory and sometimes talk about people who died long ago,” explained Madlala.
She said they want people to know that there is such an illness and it cripples many families.
Madlala advised people to send their relatives to their organisation or visit healthcare centres for help.
The NPO runs from Area 3 Community Hall in Zone 9.
According to Madlala, some symptoms include short temper, memory loss, confusion etc.
Madlala said they established the NPO after they realised that a lot of people in the community lived with the illness.
She said they started working from her house in Zone 15. “We started with few people and the number has grown to eight now. We are still looking for more people. We used to meet twice a week, only on Tuesday and Thursday, but we later changed and met four times a week, from Monday to Thursday. The current ages start from 60 upwards,” she explained, adding that they also cook for them.
She said since they opened the organisation, they have used their money to sustain it.
Another co-founder Gloria Mahlanyana said that people can come and join the organisation free of charge.
“Sometimes we visit local schools to talk about dementia to the learners and to empower them. We want more people to come and join us. We have our programmes to keep them busy like exercising, storytelling, games, bible studies, and music. We open from 09:00 until 16:00 from Monday to Thursday,” she stated.
Mahlanyana said their challenges are lack of funding and transport. She also urged the local business people to assist them with whatever they can.
