Meet our Senior residence.
At Soli Deo Gloria we also care for destitute seniors. Seniors end up with us as a last resort. They normally don’t have family to turn to and have no savings or worldly possessions due to various reasons.
At Soli we take them in and provide them with a safe place to stay, 3 meals a day and we try and give them the best medical assistance possible.
Most of the people ending up at Soli have either worked for a business where they never paid into a pension fund, to small a fund or they spend/lost their pension funds.
Government pension money is R1 890 p/m ($115p/m) and its impossible to live in a house and pay all cost of living.
JOHAN VAN ZYL 03/01/1959
Johan van Zyl is living at Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre for the past 8 years. He was born and raised in Benoni, but moved to Lydenburg with his family.
Johan is a retired Fitter & Turner (Industrial Machinist), separated from his wife after a short marriage, though they never got divorced – he doesn’t know where she is or even if she is still alive. Johan has one daughter. He has no contact with any of his family.
Both his parents died and his only living sibling passed away in 2021.
Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre is now his family.
Johan van Zyl was also a chef in the army and still loves to cook for his close friends. He likes listening to music and tell old stories to his best friend, Johan, while they listen to music.
At the age of 49 he had a stroke which left him in hospital for 2 months and he suffered brain damage. He also suffers from arthritis in his hands, which causes him to loose his grip.
Piam Botha was brought to Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre after his mother and father passed away.
His family was concerned for him, staying alone on the farm.
Piam was born in Orkney, but Lydenburg has been his hometown for the past 52 years.
He was never married and has no children. He built houses in Lydenburg until he retired.
Piam suffers from Hearing and Speech impairments and had cancer in his left ear which was cut out.
Piam still has two siblings of which he still has contact with.
Piam Botha 06/03/1955
Corrie Cornelius 16/11/1949
Corrie was born in Johannesburg and is the second eldest of 9 children.
As a former veteran who served in the South African Military for 30 years, he travelled all over South Africa.
After the military, Corrie worked on the Coal Smelters for 15 years as a boilermaker.
Corrie ended up in Lydenburg to look for work and was revered to Lelievlei. He had to choose between finding work or getting his pension. He decided to stay once his pension was paid, as he was tired of travelling. He wanted to settle down and enjoy his retirement years.
Corrie divorced after 9 years of marriage and has 1 daughter and 4 grandchildren.
He never married again and has no contact with any of his family.
Corrie suffers from Eczema and other related issues. He is one of Soli’s eldest residents, staying here for 14 years.
Desmond resides at Soli Deo Gloria for more than 4 years. His family brought him here as they do not have space or time to care for him.
Desmond is an old comrades and marathon runner, who travelled the world and won numerous medals.
Desmond suffers from Alzheimer’s and intestine cancer, this has impaired mobility.
He loves spending his days outside his wendy house reading a good crime novel and eating ice cream and cookies.
Desmond has no contact with any of his family and has only 1 brother who visits occasionally.
Desmond Wolmarans 09/05/1951
Cecilia van Emmenes 18/05/1953
Cecilia van Emmenes moved from Durban to Soli Deo Gloria with her husband and grandchild to start a new life for them here.
Married for the third time. Her first husband of 30 years was killed in a truck accident and her second died of a heart attack. She has 4 daughters (one passed away at the age of 21) and 6 grand children.
Cecilia was born and raised in Rhodesia and moved to South Africa in 1976 with her sister-in-law.
Her husband, Gert du Preez, is working for a contractor on the mines as a supervisor, but doesn’t earn enough for them to afford accommodation of their own.
Cecilia’s favourite place in South Africa is Potgietersrus – where all her children went to school.
Hanta & Bokkie met each other at Soli Deo Gloria, they fell in love and now live happily together.
Hanta was born and raised in Witbank, but later moved to Pretoria to become a qualified nurse. Her husband died after 40yrs of marriage due to lung cancer and Emphysema. Both of Hanta’s children are abroad and though she never gets to see them, they still have regular contact.
Hanta suffers from asthma, arthritis and diabetes, but is always willing to work.
Bokkie was born in Nelspruit. He worked for the State Printers in Pretoria and did Security Work in Nelspruit for 2 years.
Bokkie is divorced and has 1 daughter and 2 boys.
Bokkie was homeless for six months before he came to Soli Deo Gloria. He has no contact with his family or children.
In 2020 he was diagnosed with cancer, after he had an operation to remove a tumour in his face and sinuses. Bokkie is now cancer free. But the negative effects of the medication and the sun prevents him from working in our vegetable garden.
Hanta Ferreira 14/01/1956 & Bokkie Liversage 19/12/1953
Henry Sauerstein 30/01/1950
Henry is an imported Boer, who comes from Abroad. He came to South Africa in 1969 and was part of the South African Army where he completed his national service duty. He was also part of the South African Defence Force fighting in the Angolan war.
Henry worked in the army for another 33 years as qualified Chef.
Henry retired from the SADF in 1997 and afterwards worked on the Oil Riggs and Ships and has worked in 17 different countries.
His favourite place to work was on the South African borders in the SADF as part of his service to South Africa.
Henry was married five times and has three children. He has no contact with any of his family accept for one child.
Henry is very active and relatively healthy, and is still cooking everyday for the residents at Soli.
He is only looking for a place where he can stay in peace and quiet.
Nico Els was born in Rustenburg and raised on a farm. He finished High School in Koster where he was the Head boy of the School and Boarding school.
Nico did his B.Com Marketing degree Pretoria in the evenings whilst he was working during the day. After his studies he started his own businesses. He was involved in transportation, Building & Construction and Printing over the years.
He was married for 28 years until his wife past away. They had three children and 4 grandchildren.
Nico lost his businesses due to big investments at a bad time. After this he worked for Nissan dealerships and other loose jobs to make ends meet. He resided in Johannesburg and later Nelspruit.
His daughter from Schoemansdrift brought him to Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre. Nico is very healthy except for the Osteoarthritis in his hips which causes difficulty in walking.
Nico was a very active person and loved his sports.
He played rugby for Northern Transvaal, a provincial team in the 90’s, in 1971.
Nico Els 10/10/1949
Johan Korff 04/11/1949
Johan was born in Marble Hall and raised on a farm in Britz. After school he went to the Correctional Services.
Johan was employed in Agriculture, Construction, Transportation, Farming and built factories for a gaming farm.
He was self employed until Covid, when he lost everything.
Johan got divorced after 19 years of marriage and never re-married. He has 2 children and 4 grand children.
Johan was referred to Soli Deo Gloria by two other former Soli Deo Gloria residents who stays in a settlement in Witriver. The situations there are far worse off then at Soli.
Soli Deo Gloria Care Centre is a place of rest for Johan. He isn’t one for confrontation and injustice.
Tracy moved in to Soli Deo Gloria in January 2021. Her daughters brought her here as they had no place in their homes for her.
Her husband died after years of marriage and Tracy never remarried. They have 2 daughters and 6 grand children.
Tracy suffered from a stroke, months after she moved in and this is causing her to have seizures, impaired mobility and speech.
Tracy celebrated her 60th birthday at Soli Deo Gloria. This is her new home and she met her new best friend here.
Tracy is now bedridden and on top of the seizures are having convulsions as well. She needs to go to Steve Biko Hospital to have a brain activity scan done but have no medical aid or funds for this.
Tracy Swan 15/09/1961
We care about our seniors at Soli
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