The founder of Sibongile Day and Night centres, a registered non-profit and public beneficiary organisation that cares for children with cerebral palsy, said her own struggles in raising her disabled daughter prompted her to help those in her community.
Nomasango Xabanisa, 47, is a woman determined to provide necessary support to those in need.
She runs three centres in Khayelitsha and over the past 13 years has grown her staff from three to 27 people.
Her daughter Sibongile was born with cerebral palsy in 1991 and she struggled to find a school for her.
“The reason I opened the centre was because of Sibongile. Around Khayelitsha there were only mainstream schools.
"Teachers were finding it hard to accommodate Sibongile,” she said.
Xabanisa then started working at Friends Day Centre, a school for kids with disabilities, in Maitland in 2002, where she learnt most of what she knows now.
Then she approached the principal, Maria von Meyer, about opening her own centre.
Xabanisa started the centre at her own house with nine children, including Sibongile, in 2005. After a while her house had become too small and she sought help from Breadline Africa.
In September 2005, she received two shipping containers, which she used as a kitchen and day care centre.
A month later, Sibongile sadly died.
Xabanisa, in memory of her daughter, was even more determined to make the centre a success.
She started with three staffers, one being Marko Spalke.
Spalke donated essentials for children and bought four houses in Litha Park, which children now live in.
“Marco came in 2007 with people from Germany and they donated things like nappies and he assisted in building the day centre and three homes in Litha Park, so in each house I have a supervisor and I run the day care in Phakamisa.”
Today the day care centre is home to 56 children with various chronic conditions.
There are 27 staff members and one programme implementer from False Bay College, Siphenathi Petshana, 25.
Xabanisa is seen as a beacon of light by those around her.