Mrs Paullette Robert, a donor from Switzerland, visited the Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged, a non-governmental organisation based at Waterval, on Saturday last week to inspect the progress on the centre that she built for abandoned children, orphans, the elderly and people affected with HIV/Aids.

According to Robert, the donation came courtesy of her late husband, Dr Paul Robert, who was actively involved in the centre before he passed away two years ago. She said: “My husband was a doctor at Elim hospital when he realized that there was a need to assist the organization which actually catered for the poor. He then started involving himself in the centre, donating things for the poor people.”

According to her, her husband retired in 1995 and went back to Switzerland, “but he did not forget about the centre as he used to send things to the centre all the time, to assist the elderly, orphaned, abandoned, people with disabilities and those affected with HIV/aids that were attached to the centre.”

Asked about the total expenditure on the newly erected centre that she built for Elim Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged, she declined to reveal the amount that she used to finance the building of the centre.

She expressed her delight with the fact that the building was 95% complete.

The centre, according to the administrative and public relations officer, Ms Molly Baloyi, was established in February 1993 after a needs assessment determined that the elderly needed care. “In 2002, it was asked by the Department of Health and Social Development to include in its programmes HIV/Aids as an extension after realizing that the elderly were carrying the burden of looking after the sick and the orphaned children. In 2005, the drop-in centre was also established,” she said.