Every night, in the lonely hours between midnight and 2am, a mother of 4 roams the streets of South Africa looking for recyclable goods. This is her story.
There are so many people in our nation who labour against huge odds and make a difference to their families’ lives. They will never be the heroes who make the headlines but they are definitely heroes in our eyes.
Every night, in the lonely hours between midnight and 2am, Alice Mahase roams the streets of Dunoon, an informal settlement east of Tableview in Cape Town, scouring the community’s alleys, sidewalks and piles of garbage for discarded plastic… bottles, baths, broken plastic chairs.
In fact, anything made from the non-biodegradable material.
This rather unusual behaviour at the time when most others in Dunoon are sound asleep attracts bemused attention from the few who are awake and who spot her. Even the criminals prowling the darkened areas of the community give Alice a wide berth… they think she is crazy and hiss “Hey Bergie! What you looking for?”
After her long hours of collecting recyclable material, Alice, proud mother of four, receives tokens for the plastic she has brought into The Domino Foundation’s Recycle Swop Shop in Dunoon. She exchanges the coupons for basic food and clothing for herself and the younger members of the family.
This is her only source of “income” which significantly supplements what her husband Joseph brings home.
She says she loves the work which she has been doing for the past four years. She says, “I don’t care what people think of what I do. We are decently dressed and we eat well.”
The Recycle Swop Shop programme is one of seven operated by The Domino Foundation in KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape and is an empowerment initiative.
The community of Dunoon are given the opportunity to help themselves (a hand-up rather than a hand-out) by collecting recyclable items which they then exchange at the Swop Shop for essential personal and household items, as well as school supplies and toys. The significant amount of recyclables which are removed from Dunoon by Alice and the other women involved in the programme also has an impact in creating a far healthier, cleaner and safer environment for the whole community.
Alice is a determined woman who is an inspiration to others in the Dunoon community, showing that hard work in the face of very adverse conditions can have very real benefits.
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