GQEBERHA – An abandoned house in Zwide that became a drug den, has been transformed by Fountain of Hope NPC into a recycling hub led by young women and youth, offering hope to a community plagued by substance abuse and illegal dumping.

The organisation was founded in 2024 to support the Community Blue Patrollers under KwaZakhele SAPS, providing working gear and stipends for underprivileged people safeguarding the area. It works in partnership with KwaZakhele Police Station.

Its mission is to bring hope and practical solutions to communities affected by substance abuse, gender-based violence and environmental degradation through partnerships, programmes and action.

Fundisani Nxoko, the founder and director of the foundation, said, “The house became a hideout for drug smokers, with cigarette butts, drug paraphernalia and overgrown vegetation making the area a no-go zone, especially after dark when poor street lighting left it dangerous.

“It was smelly, attracting criminals, and it was a bushy house with poor street lighting at night someone wouldn’t pass there.”

From drug den to recycling hub

He said schoolchildren were allegedly among those using the house, slipping through a hole they had cut in the school’s security fence to reach it.

“Residents tipped off the foundation’s community patrollers, who regularly inspected the property for illegal activity after the organisation formed its own patrol unit in 2024,” said Nxoko.

He added that volunteers cleaned the site on 21 September and began converting it into a recycling hub. Eighty per cent of the volunteers were young women.

“As an organisation, we saw an opportunity to turn a problem into a solution. Reclaiming the house and tackling the dumping will make the area clean and safe while creating jobs through recycling,” said Nxoko.

The hub now serves as a buy-back centre where residents can sell waste, a planned training centre for waste entrepreneurship, and a base for township clean-up and greening projects.

“It is a women- and youth-led operation, with the team handling collection, sorting, baling, door-to-door awareness and eventually running training programmes,” Nxoko added.

“Participants will gain skills in waste sorting and grading, baling, business management, SAWIS compliance, health and safety, community engagement and greening.

“The community has been supportive. Residents now bring recyclables to the hub instead of dumping them,” he added.

Nxoko appealed to the public to support the project by bringing recyclables, including white paper and plastic, and donating bulk bags, scales, fencing and trolleys.

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