There were tears of joy and ululation as police officers from Amajuba District and construction workers arrived at gogo Elsie Nomgqibelo Sikhakhane's house to start building her family a house. For many years, Sikhakhane, her two unemployed daughters and eleven grandchildren shared one room.

Last week Wednesday, her tears were wiped away when cops from Amajuba Cluster in Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal teamed up with Nyatee Foundation to build her an eight-room family home. Sikhakhane is one of the elderly women who have been identified by the SAPS Amajuba Cluster to help build houses as part of their initiative to give back to the underprivileged families under their cluster. an emotional Sikhakhane said for a change, she was not crying because she was sad, but because she was happy and grateful that her family would finally have a decent place to call a home. "All my life, I have never thought that I would one day have a beautiful family house where I will have the privilege of sleeping in my own room, with no children to disturb me. I had accepted my fate that I would leave this planet without having the financial power to build my family a nice family home. I know that everything happens for a reason, I think it was all in God's plan that we had to go through that suffering of sharing that one-room house with my family for us to be seen," she said. "This is an unforgettable early Christmas gift my family has ever received," she added.

Sikhakhane said that she didn't know how her house survived so many years of rainy season and storms. Throughout the KZN floods, her family was never affected "I used to call all my family members to pray every time there was a storm or heavy rain. I always asked God to protect us and keep us safe during the bad weather, and he was faithful enough to do just that," she said. She told ZiMoja that sharing one room with the whole family was both dehumanising and sad. "We used to do everything in that room, we would ask the boys to go and wait outside when we were taking a bath. I'm grateful that God has sent his angels to build us a big family house with furniture inside," she said.

SAPS Cluster Amajuba Head Fred Boet Alexander said they decided to come up with the initiative to help needy families to be closer to the community as they need them when dealing with criminals in the area. "We cannot be successful in curbing crime if we don't work hand in hand with the communities. If we are able to give back to the poor, this will make our job easier in keeping our community safe," he said. Alexandra said that they will be building more houses in the area. Nyatee Foundation founder Teddy Nyathi said that they are delighted to work together with the local police in giving back. "This is the only beginning. We have been giving back to the community of Amajuba for some time now as we have Tertiary students that we sponsoring their education so building houses for elderly people is also one of our priorities," he said.