My name is Nomthandazo “Thanda” Mnguni. I come from KwaZulu Natal, a province in South Africa. I kindly write this letter to share my life story and request consideration for any assistance anyone could offer.
I was raised by my mother and grandmother, and we come from a very disadvantaged community known as Kwamashu, where there is high crime, poverty and poor housing, education and health facilities. My mother and grandmother have supported me with going to school and studying hard and because of this, I was able to successfully achieve and excel at school and get my Matric.
Above is my mom ‘Mary Jane’, is her English name. She brought me up as a single mother. She is 59 and her health with her age are more rapidly deteriorating and is putting her job and our livelihood in danger. She has been the breadwinner in our family and because she does not have formal education, she works in low pay jobs as a domestic worker and house cleaner. She struggled for 15 years with her diagnosis of Diabetes type 2. This disease affects her ability work properly, if at all, because her blood sugar drops and spikes so unexpectedly rapidly, that she often faints in public and on the job, which causes her to lose her memory and wake up after many hours not knowing where she is. It is becoming more and more difficult to work and pay the bills. My grandmother is 78 and her pension is so little that it cannot be relied on to allowing my mom to retire.
With the financial assistance of a family that my mother has worked for, most of her life, I was able to go to a good school and Matriculate. Thereafter, I started working at a call centre that had long hours with minimum pay, and not having a car made it difficult to always get to work on time by relying on poor taxi services. With the money I earned and the help of my family and my mom’s employer, I was able to further my education and trained for 2 years to become a Massage Therapist. I completed the course and qualified. I have been trying to find work as a Massage Therapist, but it has been very difficult to find stable work in this field.
I am now 20 years old and decided to try making something of my life. I saw that I could work as a Massage Therapist on Cruise Liners and decided to apply for the job which I didn’t think I could be lucky enough to get. I was given an interview and I couldn’t believe it when I was told my application was a success. I got the job. This was the most amazing news I could get. This gave me such hope for a better future whereby I could return the favour to my family. I could finally provide and take care of myself, my mom and gran, and allow my mother to have medical care she needs and even retire like she deserves of working so hard her whole life and giving selflessly to her family. This has been my dream and I have worked so hard to achieve it. I am the first in my family to have this opportunity.
After my successful application I was then informed of all the training requirements I would need to work on Cruise Liners and suddenly my dreams felt like they were ripped from me. In order to get the in-house training and work, I would need to pay for; The training, flights to both Cape Town and the UK, as well as pay for Uniforms, medical, criminal record clearance certificate, VISA’s, training materials as well as for the accommodation and food whilst on training.
The financial requirement for undertaking this training comes to around R35 000 or roughly $3050. This money would be required by 14 May 2018 and I have no idea how I will be able to come up with this huge amount in such a short time. It’s already a struggle just to buy food and survive. For some, this amount may be possible, but for me and my family, it’s impossible. It is so disheartening that this financial requirement can prevent me from achieving my dreams and providing for my family, and work hard so my family will be proud of me and have a better life compared to now.
I would be so very grateful if anyone would be willing to sponsor anything they can that will allow me to have a better chance of reaching my dream and making an honest living that would better not only my life but also my struggling family. By contributing to this GoFundmeSa, your money would be put to the cause of empowering me to work in a field that is my dream and passion and allow me to safeguard and give back to my family whom I owe everything to. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity and you will change our lives positively forever.
I appreciate that you have taken the time to read my story. Life has been hard, but it hasn’t stopped me from smiling and being hopeful for what the future could hold.
Thank you and warm regards,
Thanda Mnguni.
