At this Cape Flats centre for abused women and children, Sister Leonie Weyers elicits smiles when spirits are hurt

Women sewing carrier bags which are sold in partnership with the Kolisi Foundation. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

By Biénne Huisman for Spotlight

29 Aug 2024

The only full-time nurse at the Saartjie Baartman Centre, Sister Leonie Weyers is not only a caregiver to her patients but also helps them to ‘feel beautiful’ again.

In Manenberg, on the Cape Flats, the Saartjie Baartman Centre’s sun-washed linoleum corridors and rooms offer refuge to 109 women and children, escaping violence in their own homes. In addition, the centre offers a 10-bed substance abuse inpatient service for women, and their children under 18 years old.

At these premises, flanked by oak trees behind high barbed-wire fences, woman power is paramount. Women finding shelter here are referred to as “clients” or “survivors”. Of Saartjie Baartman’s 41 employees, 37 are women, and the nonprofit organisation has an all-women board, too.

The only full-time nurse at the centre is 25-year-old Sister Leonie Weyers, originally from Paarl.

Describing work satisfaction at the centre, Weyers says: “A good day in the substance abuse unit revolves around a symbolic funeral, that our clients have to bury the old addictive part of themselves. When they say their goodbyes, they often write ‘thank you’ letters... tokens of appreciation that mean so much. Knowing that our actions aren’t just influencing one person, but are creating a ripple effect in a community. That’s what makes it a good day, being part of the solution.”

On a tour of the centre, Weyers pauses in the foyer, beside a wall-sized artwork of a woman’s face with branches for hair. The painting bears written words, including: “With a heart that’s been destroyed, I can still love and care for others.”

Weyers describes the centre as “a one-stop” facility, offering a variety of services – from legal advice, to specialised rape and HIV/Aids counselling and economic empowerment – to women and children who survived abuse. This prevents the retrauma of having to travel between different government agencies, retelling their stories to different officials, with accumulating transport fees. The centre’s funding is supplemented by the Western Cape’s Department of Social Development, with other funders including the National Lottery and more from abroad.

Leonie-Weyers Sister Leonie Weyers takes a client’s blood pressure. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

Along a corridor, the sound of humming seeps from a door. Inside, women are hunched over 13 sewing machines, stitching together carrier bags which are sold in partnership with the Kolisi Foundation founded by Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and his wife Rachel. Weyers explains that the bag sales result in earnings for the women at work.

Further along, inside her large office with a medical examination bed, Weyers reflects on what it’s like to be the only nurse at the sprawling facility: “You need to be very determined,” she says. “You need to be passionate about what you do because that’s the driving force that will get you here and get you home again. Leadership is important because there’s a lot of people that depend on you.”

The power to feel beautiful

Spotlight watches as Weyers takes a client’s blood pressure. Seated on the examination bed, the woman relays that she is from Great Brak River, in the Western Cape, where she used tik daily. A social worker brought her and her three-year-old son to the centre, where she has received rehabilitation over three months.

“It’s been good to open up, to be allowed to talk about myself,” says the woman. “I’m feeling much better, I’ve been learning new skills, like home care, how to care for sick people.”

Weyers says their substance abuse unit is the only one in South Africa to treat both drug addiction and gender-based violence. Their four-month programme offers counselling, education and skill-building – “empowering women to lead independent, fulfilling lives”.

On the examination bed, the woman extends her hands to show off her fingernails, which are painted teal-blue. This, says Weyers, is a cornerstone of their treatment: restoring dignity and confidence, teaching women from abusive backgrounds to “feel beautiful” again.

Leonie-Weyers Children play on the lawn at the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Manenberg. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

“So when the ladies are here, we give them that power to feel beautiful. We give them clothing, we enable them to do makeup and to do their hair. For a lot of them, getting back to taking care of themselves properly is very difficult.”

Many of the centre’s clients hear of the facility through word of mouth. Others are referred from around South Africa, with women without passports welcomed too.

Commenting on the centre’s catchment area, Weyers says: “In Grootbrak or, say, George, there will be substance abuse outpatient facilities, but if the social worker picks up that inpatient services are required, they will refer women here. At Saartjie Baartman Centre, we take anyone from anywhere. Even if they are from a different country. We also take people without passports, we don’t discriminate.”

Tik and bullets

She notes how tik is a huge problem in the Western Cape, particularly in the immediate area of Manenberg. “It costs about R40 to R60 for a bag of tik, depending on the size. And something that’s happening in the community at the moment, is people using tik in the morning to wake up, to get energy because it’s the ‘upper’. And then they will use mandrax at night, because it’s a ‘downer’, it makes you calm. They will either use mandrax or dagga, or combine the two. And that combination gets very addictive, because you get into that cycle.”

Weyers adds that their substance abuse unit does not treat cocaine or opioid addiction, as withdrawal often requires admission to hospital.

“The withdrawals are just too severe, people get very strong,” she says. “I have personally seen someone go through cocaine withdrawal where they can pick up a table and throw it.”

This recollection is from the Kraaifontein Community Health Clinic, where Weyers worked in 2018 as a student nurse for six weeks.

She recalls another memory from that time: “There was this man with six bullet wounds, a gangster. And I was preparing an injection to treat him and I was walking to him with a syringe. And as I got closer to him, his eyes grew large and he said: ‘No, no, no! Don’t give it to me, I’m scared of needles!’ So there was this man with his guns and knives, but he was scared of a syringe!”

Manenberg is known for high rates of crime, unemployment, substance abuse and domestic violence. The Saartjie Baartman Centre is built on the contested turf of gangs like the Americans, the Hard Livings and the Fancy Boys, with men firing bullets from neighbouring rooftops not unheard of.

Walking outside, across the centre’s lawn – where a woman is braiding another’s hair, next to playing toddlers – Weyers points out the rooftops from where she says bullets sometimes fly. But, doesn’t the presence of the shelter deter gangster shootings? “No,” she says, laughing.

The centre has 24-7 security and police presence. When gang fights erupt unexpectedly, the centre’s staff, including Weyers, are escorted from the premises by police officers to go home via Klipfontein Road, past the Heideveld Mosque and onto the N2 highway. “I’m not going to lie, it can get scary, very scary,” she says. “In times like that you don’t think of yourself, you think of other people – and how somebody has to do it.”

Leonie-Weyers Women sew carrier bags which are sold in partnership with the Kolisi Foundation. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

Moments to laugh

During the interview, Weyers tells anecdotes – like the man afraid of syringes – with a touch of humour. She says staff at the centre try to find moments to laugh often, cultivating positivity in a setting where many spirits are hurt.

Weyers started at the centre in July 2024. Before that she completed a year’s community service at the specialist TB facility, the Brooklyn Chest Hospital in Milnerton, where Spotlight encountered her in 2023 in the children’s ward, sweeping young patients into her arms.

Born to a nurse and a police officer-turned-businessman, Weyers matriculated from Labori High School, a technical school in Paarl, in 2016. There she excelled in the Afrikaans folk sport of jukskei, while learning practical skills such as how to change a plug and to work on electrical circuit boards. This has been useful at public healthcare facilities, she says.

Weyers qualified as a nurse at the University of the Western Cape, where she is also completing a master’s degree in nursing, with her thesis focused on digital interventions to encourage adolescent adherence to antiretroviral medication. For her research, she conducted interviews and workshops with people aged between 15 and 24, in nearby areas including Crossroads and Mitchells Plain.

“My goal is to understand how healthcare workers can better support these teens in their health journeys,” she says. “Mental health is another area where I’ve seen a significant need, especially during my undergraduate psychiatric hours. Many teenagers come for antidepressant medication, and I’ve noticed that mental health support for this age group is often overlooked. Addressing this gap is something I’m passionate about.”

On her chosen profession, Weyers says: “Nursing doesn’t feel like work to me. I’m blessed to wake up every morning and to come to the Saartjie Baartman Centre, and to go home feeling content.”

This week, gender-based violence (GBV) intervention organisation, the Tears Foundation, released a report that shed light on the underreported scourge of domestic violence in South Africa. It published data based on GBV distress calls made to its national helpline over four years. This showed that Limpopo had the highest call rate. Overall, the most distressed calls were made on Sundays. DM

This article is part of Spotlight’s 2024 Women in Health series featuring the remarkable contributions of women to medicine and science. Sign up to the Spotlight newsletter.

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The power to feel beautiful

Tik and bullets

Moments to laugh