[imagesource: Belinda, Margret and her son]

The rescue of an elderly New Zealand woman living in squalid conditions near Durban is absolutely bonkers and could be adjacent to the TV show Shameless.

Margaret Poynter had been living in the city of Newcastle, more than four hours north of Durban, with a man claiming to be her son. According to residents, the man would push Poynter around in a wheelchair and she would beg in front of shops.

The scene concerned some residents, who eventually approached Belinda Ellor (who serves on the Community Police Forum) and Optimus Protection Services (OPS) in a bid to help her.

Realising the urgency of their situation, Belinda and the owner of OPS, Ishmael Dhalech, immediately went to where she was living to assess her circumstances. Upon seeing the extremely distressing scene, the bonkers story unfolded as well.

They found the 80-year-old had been living in a broken-down combi/van in deplorable conditions. She had reportedly suffered three strokes and had not received appropriate medical attention during her homeless stint, which had caused paralysis in her left arm and an inability to speak.

According to the Newcastle Advertiser, Poynter met a man called Jacques Viljoen while he was working in New Zealand some years back.

In a story that seems like something out of a TV show, Margaret Poynter’s extraordinary journey to Newcastle begins with her falling in love in New Zealand.

Margaret met Jacques Viljoen (the man she ended up living with on the streets of Newcastle) while he was working in New Zealand. After a drunken driving case, Viljoen was deported to South Africa. Viljoen said a year later, against his wishes, Margaret followed him with plans to get him to come back with her to New Zealand.

The exact reasons why the pair ended up in Newcastle remain unclear. Viljoen once explained that he and Margaret were trying to reach his family in Durban from Johannesburg when their car broke down in Newcastle, leaving them stranded.

As their money ran out, they were forced to survive by begging and relying on hand-outs from the community. The harsh reality of life on the streets took a heavy toll on Margaret. In the four years she was homeless, her health deteriorated to ruins.

All the while Margaret was considered missing by her family in New Zealand, with her real son spending four fitful years searching for her.

“It was absolutely heart-breaking to see her living like this,” said Belinda. “We immediately contacted her son in New Zealand and asked him to email us permission to remove his mother from where she was living. Within a day we had sent the email to Colonel Youseff who permitted us to start moving with the process,” Belinda told the Advertiser.

As such, Warrant Officer Karl Langman, Sergeant du Plessis, Mary Dobbie from the Crisis Centre, and Magenta Emergency Services assisted OPS in the mission to rescue Margaret from her pitiful living circumstances.

She was removed from the van, checked by a private doctor and provided with clean clothes, nappies, a wheelchair, and a safe haven until she could be reunited with her family in New Zealand.

On August 1, OPS, Belinda and Hamza Randaree escorted Margaret to Johannesburg, where she was reunited with her son.

“I was overwhelmed. Every time I told her she would be with her family, she would cry in disbelief,” said Belinda. “I would video call her son so she could see him and she could believe this was real,” she said.

Margaret was finally reunited with her son and has since flown back to New Zealand to be with her children.

“For me, the biggest blessing is helping someone. When I would ask how she was, she would hug herself and rub her stomach to gesture to me that she is warm, she’s full, and she’s happy,” said an emotional Belinda.

Now that Margaret is safely and happily reunited with her family, one has to wonder what happened to the man she followed to South Africa.

According to the Newcastle Advertiser, they have spoken exclusively to Jacques Viljoen and details of his version of his remarkable journey with Margaret will be published soon.

[source:newcastleadvertiser&nzherald]