GEORGE NEWS - It is a calling. There are many hardships, but the rewards are absolutely worth it. This is what field director Neziswa Matiso, better known as Nezzy, says about her work at Usapho Indlu.

The NGO, founded a mere three years ago, helps households and families from Thembalethu and Pacaltsdorp improve their lives through counselling, education and empowering them to become financially independent.

As field director, Nezzy manages numerous aspects of the NGO.

She plays an active role in the three food gardens run by Usapho Indlu (two in Thembalethu and one in Delville Park), oversees the education centre where 40 kids receive after-school educational help, runs a Bible study group for adults and children and helps prepare the meals that the Thembalethu youth and children receive.

Usapho Indlu helps youngsters find work, give referrals, and helps provide transport to interviews. Usapho Indlu has an asset-based approach, and works towards equipping communities to become sustainable and not reliant on others.

Nezzy is fully committed to the Lord and the work she does, helping other people to map out a pathway out of poverty, just like she has been helped. 

She has been supported over a period of 16 years to break free from very bad circumstances to become the leader she is today.

And she is paying it forward. It is the most rewarding experience, she says with excitement, to see a child who receives help with school work get more than 50% for the first time in their life; to see a drug addict get clean, start contributing to the community and grow to the point where he can himself be trained to counsel others; to see long-time unemployed women find and keep steadfast jobs, contributing to their families' upkeep.

"Seeing other people being transformed is an absolute highlight," she says. "The people we work with understand our heartbeat."

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