Being a mother can mean many things. Cherie Hendricks has been involved in the community of Vrygrond, Cape Town, for just under a decade – and has made a difference in many children’s lives. She met her “daughter-figure”, Lindsay, through the Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation, and has been an active community figure since.
“The way we grew up – even though we didn’t have much – every Christmas my parents would fetch a child at the orphanage and let the child stay with us for the school holidays. That’s where it started. We didn’t have anything to give, but we at least made one child happy,” Cherie Hendricks says. She is chatting to MatieMedia in the living room of her home in Bishops Court, Cape Town.
Cherie grew up as a middle child, with two brothers. After school, she began working at her uncle’s bottle store while her older brother, Richard, attended university.
“I wouldn’t say that my parents were poor,” she says. However, her parents could only afford for Richard to attend university – as the eldest.
“I actually wanted to become a vet,” she says. Her 17-year-old spaniel, Lady, comes scuttling past. Lady is deaf and half-blind, but still wags her tail constantly.
Cherie Hendrick in her garden at home in Bishops Court. She finds gardening “extremely therapeutic”. PHOTO: Kirsty Bucholz
Meeting Lindsay
Cherie’s son, Rory, was in high school when she got involved with the Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation in Vrygrond, Cape Town. It was roughly ten years ago. She met Lindsay through a project called “adopt a child”, where people could financially sponsor children from Vrygrond township.
At the time, Lindsay was a seven-year-old child with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). “She was tiny and frail. It was tough with her, she was seven but she had the mentality of a three-year-old,” Cherie says.
After meeting Lindsay, Cherie got more involved with the charity on a personal level. She would fetch Lindsay on a Friday and bring her home for the weekend. “I would put her in the bath and scrub her down. Then drain, refill the bath, and put her back in clean water. That’s how dirty the water was,” recalls Cherie.
“It’s nice to see people from the outside coming into the informal settlement, and she loves the kids as if they’re her own”
“The charity monitors the children in the community. They do house visits et cetera,” says Cherie. “Lindsay was roaming the streets one day. That’s how they came across her.” It took Cherie three years to get her into a special needs school.
Through her personal involvement with the charity, she got the company that she works at, African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), involved with the Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation in 2012.
“You can see that Cherie’s heart lies in the community,” says Mymoena Scholtz, director of Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation. “Cherie’s been involved with us for eight or nine years. She loves children and helping others; she would do anything in her power to make sure that the children are happy.”
Cherie’s pilot projects were the Christmas and Easter programs. She would organise monetary donations that went towards presents for Vrygrond township children. After getting AEEI involved, she began organising bigger projects.
Where Rainbows Meet Training and Development Foundation’s annual Christmas project in 2017. PHOTO: Facebook/Where Rainbows Meet
They set up the Sekunjalo Edujazz Concert, with the objective to raise funds for educational bursaries for disadvantaged students in the Western Cape. It also acted as a platform for aspiring young musicians to perform with well-known local musicians, such as Jimmy Nevis.
The project started at the Baxter Theatre, but later moved to the Artscape. “Seventy-five schools in the Western Cape would each nominate a deserving child for a bursary. Proceeds from the concert would go to the child’s school fees,” Cherie explains.
“Cherie is very much focused on the education in our community [Vrygrond]. She is also concerned about the support given to children to ensure that they don’t lack the resources or financial support to reach their goals,” according to Mymoena.
“It’s nice to see people from the outside coming into the informal settlement, and she loves the kids as if they’re her own. She is one of our most dedicated partners. I wish for more Cheries to reach out to us,” Mymoena says. The projects have snowballed from there.
“You can see that Cherie’s heart lies in the community”
Home life
The newest addition to the family, Coco Bella, can always be found at Cherie’s feet. Coco Bella is a two-month-old chocolate labrador – and the apple of Cherie’s eye. “I swear she loves Coco more than she loves me,” Rory laughs.
A family portrait of Cherie Hendricks and her son, Rory, with the newest addition to their family, Coco Bella. PHOTO: Kirsty Bucholz
Cherie lives alone in her house, with Lady and Coco Bella. Her older brother, Richard, lives on the same property. Her house was completed around two years ago, but she only moved in this January, according to Cherie.
Her garden is a suburban oasis, and clearly another passion of hers.
“My late mom always had a nice garden. After I got ill, I felt I needed to do something with my hands, and I started propagating succulents,” Cherie says. All the succulents in her garden were propagated from leaves.
“I like to potter in my garden on weekends,” she says. She finds it rewarding to see the plants grow, “and it’s also extremely therapeutic.”
The sound of Bottas and Fred’s barks carry from Richard’s house just across the property; they are good at informing everyone that Rory is visiting.
Rory is Cherie’s only child. She and Rory’s father separated when he was 18 months old. Now, Rory towers over her small frame, at five foot ten. He is a successful chef and has recently returned to South Africa after working for the Saudi Arabian royal family. Cherie is very happy about his return.
An opportunity
Cherie has worked at AEEI for the last 21 years. Last year she was transferred to a subsidiary company of theirs, AO Technology Solutions.
Cherie’s job has given her the opportunity to grow. “It wasn’t something that I was expecting.” In 2008, she had been off work for three months after an emergency operation. When she returned to work, her boss told her that her position had been filled, but he wanted her to do something else.
She got thrown into the deep end, having to acquire new skills in her new position. But it afforded her many opportunities to grow.
“There were many times I was in tears, it was totally new to me. I had to read up, learn, and take courses; that’s how I grew,” Cherie confesses. “For the first five years I was treading water.”
“I now handle corporate affairs and sustainability,” she says. She is also on the board of directors for AEEI.
An unplanned lifestyle change
In 2018, Cherie was forced to take five months off of work. She was under a lot of pressure.
“I was working seven days a week, 16 hours a day. Eventually the job took a strain on me,” she explains. One day, she was meant to attend a team building session that she had organised, but had to go home because of a terrible migraine.
She was up all night throwing up. In the morning, she said something to Rory, who replied, “Mom why’s your speech slurred?”
“I think I’m having a stroke,” she answered. It was her second Ischemic attack, which is a brief, stroke-like attack. This one was worse than the one she previously had at age 36.
Her neurologist said that the Ischemic attack was due to total burnout. She was forced to change her lifestyle completely. She suffered from memory loss for a while afterwards, as well as impaired speech.
“The same year I was diagnosed with Raynaud’s syndrome, which means I have very bad [blood] circulation. My hands go totally numb and purple – I can’t feel anything,” she says as she crosses her arms over her purple, fluffy cardigan.
Cherie Hendricks enjoys pottering around her garden in her free time. The succulents in her garden have all been propagated from leaves. PHOTO: Kirsty Bucholz
Cherie has a deficiency of white blood cells, which causes her to always feel cold. “In layman’s terms, I suffer from the cold. No matter how hot it is outside, I always wear a cardigan.”
Her world has gotten significantly smaller since the outbreak of Covid-19, since her disease makes her particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. “If she got Covid, it would be really bad. She doesn’t really leave the house,” said Rory. “Unless she goes to the garden centre.”