Vusumuzi Dube
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
The co-founder of Emthunzini Wethemba Children’s home Mrs Margaret Ndoda died on 5 August 2021 and was buried at Lady Stanley cemetery in Bulawayo.
Mrs Ndoda, 88, together with her later husband Reverend David Ndoda founded the home which houses homeless children that are living on the streets. Confirming the news of her death, her first child Mrs Sihle Ngwenya said her mother had advanced in age and had been taken ill.
“She died on 5 August 2021 and was buried on 8 August 2021 at Lady Stanley Cemetery next to where her husband was buried. She was not well as she was now advanced in age. She was admitted to hospital and spent a month there. We later moved her and she was taken in at Edith Duly Home, she was there for a week then she passed on,” she said.
Mrs Ngwenya said Mrs Ndoda passed away just a few days shy of her 89th birthday. Reverend Newman Kolobe who is on the board of Emthunzini Wethemba said they had lost a great Salvationist.
“I have known Mrs Ndoda since 1993 and started working with her in 1996 when I joined the board of the home in 1996. She had a big heart for homeless children in Bulawayo. She was able to take in the children, rehabilitate and return them to their families. We will continue with her job of caring for street children. She was a great salvationist who embraced the disadvantaged at whatever cost,” he said.
Rev Kolobe said Mrs Ndoda was also a visionary who changed the lives of street children and was committed to the home which caters for 20 children.
“I appreciate that she did not turn back, she was a disciple who had been converted to do social work and because of her background as a Salvationist, who are very strong on issues of social concern. We will use all resources she left behind and also to carry forward the project she had started on income generation,” he added.
The home which was originally for 21 boys accommodated girls too at one point.
The board indicated last year that they are seeking permission to admit more children looking at the statistics of homeless children in the city and beyond saying economic pressures have seen more and more children being abused and fleeing their homes and into the streets.
She is survived by five children, several grand and great grandchildren.
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