A new life for Cry

From being disabled to being a businessman.

A success story in the new South Africa.

As the boy was born his mother cried out in fear.

He had no legs.

He was named Cry.

His large family barely subsisted on the father's earnings as an unskilled casual labourer in the Witwatersrand industrial area near Johannesburg. Keeping their heads above water was a terrible struggle with nothing extra for the handicapped little boy.

His mother brooded for years over her share of the blame for the disabled boy. In traditional society an affliction is seen as a bad omen. The family saw him as a punishment sent by God. Cry felt very bad and fought with all his strength against being rejected and hidden away as the cripple of the family.

When Cry reached school age he begged his brothers and sisters to carry him to school. They helped him because they were sorry for him. His good fortune was to be given a test by a sympathetic teacher. He was of above average intelligence and quickly showed his mental abilities. Now he was no longer the 'half-person' but instead the gifted pupil Cry Hopane. His teacher motivated his parents, brothers and sisters and friends to take him to school regularly. He learned as much as it was possible to learn in a black township school under Apartheid Rule.

Cry became a tireless assistant teacher to his fellow pupils. He no longer had to beg to be taken to school. Those who most needed his help happily carried him there. "That bolstered my self-confidence, my ambition and of course my business sense," laughed the 31-year old. "I have also made a bit of use of that. Whoever needed my assistance had to carry me, so that I could take part in the fun and games." Today Cry Hopane has a wheelchair and is more mobile. His successful struggle to overcome his difficulties has become known throughout the whole Shoshanguve District. Shoshanguve which lies about thirty minutes drive from Pretoria was once part of the Bophuthatswane Homeland. Now it is part of the Gauteng province.

Before I met him a whole series of his friends and acquaintances had made me aware of this young man so full of energy and a thirst for action in the new South Africa. They told me that even from far off I should be able to see the sign on his Aunt Emma's shop on the main road to Pretoria. The former shipping container is painted in such bright colours that I could not possibly miss it they told me. And that is how it was.

The whole Hopane family awaited me happily and busily. The mother was in the mini-kitchen of the shop, responsible for warm snacks and hot dogs. His brothers and sisters in between looking after their families were selling the wares. Cry, as manager, was dealing with clients and the accounts.

"We are so happy with our boy," the mother said. "He has as much drive, as much initiative as the rest of us put together. Due to him the whole family makes a tolerable living. Cry is my gift from God. I no longer want to remember that I cried out in horror at his birth!"

Cry enjoys this family happiness and the respect of his clients. "I have always wanted to be a useful member of the community. I thank my brothers and sisters that they were never ashamed of me and now work together with me. Above all I wanted my mother to be happy, free of the stigma of having given birth to me. That motivated me."

Cry's shop was funded by a loan from Medicos (Medical University of Southern Africa) Institute for Community Service.

(This is a translation of a report of a visit to the Project in April 1998 by Edelgard Nkobi, Member of our twin organisation Community H.E.A.R.T. e.V., Essen, Germany.)