Victoria Simango is a beautiful, hard-working and generous 29-year-old who has walked an incredible 16-year journey with the Trust. Despite strenuous ordeals and unforeseen circumstances, Victoria recognises God’s overwhelming grace and the unconditional love that comes with belonging to a family.

In 2004, one of our founder Trustees, Peter, met Victoria at a soup kitchen in Bela Bela. The two kept in contact and Peter came to understand the appalling conditions in which Victoria and her older brother Jacky were living. Their mother lived and worked for a family as a domestic worker and the children had to live with their grandmother. Victoria felt that they were emotionally abused, but her grandmother ensured that they were well dressed and fed when they saw their mother. This facade persisted for many years until Victoria’s mother witnessed this neglect. The children were moved to her new home, shared with her second husband and their child. Victoria experienced great joy when they lived together, but this was short lived when their mother, her baby and their older sister all passed away within the same year Victoria and Jacky moved in. 

The extended family ransacked their home, chased their step-father away and left the siblings with nothing but each other and the clothes on their back.

Abandoned and too young to sufficiently look after themselves, Victoria and her brother developed a strenuous relationship. Jacky rebelled against any authority, listening to neither the school nor Victoria, and fell into the harsh grip of drug addiction. His addiction to glue not only posed a threat to his physical health and well-being, but also to Victoria’s. When high, Jacky would physically assault Victoria and sell the limited resources they had to fund his next fix. In the midst of the chaos with her brother and the battles he was now fighting, Victoria fell pregnant. Although Peter, his wife, and the Trust understood this as a massive breach of trust, the Trust continued on the journey with Victoria and Jacky. We wanted to demonstrate our commitment and love to the relationship despite the choices made and this become deeply embedded in our holistic care philosophy.

Victoria gave birth to Maria Lesego and decided jointly with the Trust to relocate to Pretoria to re-write her matric where she had better access to education facilities.

Victoria had to juggle relocating and re-writing matric as a new mom. She successfully passed and made responsible decisions that eventually led to a job as a legal secretary in a successful law firm in Hatfield.

Victoria has since completed a course in Community-Based Interventions through UNISA, and today she is employed by the Trust and works full-time as our Care Coordinator. At the start of 2020 she gave birth to her second daughter, Mpho.

Victoria takes her hardships in her stride, is highly altruistic and upholds a steadfast identity in God. Victoria is a champion.