“My younger brother, Sanele always battled at school, even failing one year. We lost our parents early in life and as his older sister, I always struggled to guide him on the right path. He became friends with the wrong group of people and got into some very bad habits. I received calls from his school on a weekly basis to report his bad behaviour and disrespect for his teachers. He was then referred by the school to RivLife for assistance where he met a counsellor who then became actively involved in his academic and sporting activities. This made a huge difference to his marks and his behaviour. After time, I even stopped getting calls from the school. Since then on, his marks improved dramatically and he passed all of his exams. Presently he has finished matric and is looking forward to a bright future. I believe if it were not for RivLife, this would not have been possible, and for this, I am very grateful.”
–Nokulunga Ngcobo, 29 February 2021
“In 2008 I lost my job at the factory I was working at. This was because I had an accident and I was always going to the clinic or staying at home because of my injury. I had three children to support and no husband to help me at home. I was at the time 50 and no one wanted to employ me because of my age. I heard about RivLife because of a neighbour and decided to ask them for a food parcel but I had no idea just how much they were going to help me. They are not a shelter that just feeds you and pushes you away. They called me in and treated me with so much of respect. They listened to my situation and even prayed for me. They told my son to come to the centre to help him with his CV and gave my daughter school uniforms and stationery for the year. They even worked with me to find a job. After 3 months I found a part-time admin job, and now after 10 years, I am happy to say I am permanent at that same job and working for the manager. If I didn’t go to RivLife that day I can’t imagine what would have happened to me and my children.”
-Esther Alexander, 16 August 2015