Pauline Mokae

Pauline Mokae has been taking care of those who need help since 2008. She started with a soup kitchen, using money from her own pocket. Following that, she ran a safe home and an aftercare centre. Today she is the founder and director of Wheatlands Community Care for the Aged in Randfontein, Johannesburg.

Pauline says when she saw older people on the streets, she wanted to take care of them, so she used her own home to accommodate them. Wheatlands provides its tenants with love and a healthy diet and has a clinic to take care of their medical needs. A community-run volunteer group, the non-profit organisation is designed to be a catalyst to help community members take care of their loved ones.

Other organisations have come to the aid of Randfontein’s older citizens: when the Wheatlands centre needed a fire detection system to be certified as a registered care home, the Krugersdorp Lion’s Club organised the system’s installation.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, the Hlaudi Foundation and Thapelo Morena, a professional football player from Mamelodi Sundowns, brought food for Wheatlands, which receives no government support.

Pauline says that she wants everyone to understand that it does not take much to help others and to have a good heart, and it seems that many are responding to her example. 

The name of the organisation at which you work

Wheatlands Community Care for the Aged

Your educational background, listing your qualifications and institutions, if any:

• Matric

Your greatest achievement

My nonprofit organisation

Please give us a motivational quote that inspires you

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” — Desmond Tutu