Now the families of the two babies, aged two months and six months old, have received help from ward councillor Franchesca Walker to bury their children because they could not afford the funerals.
Six-month-old Luciano Jacobs simply died in his sleep, says his aunty Hester Jacobs.
“I was at home and I just heard a banging on my door. It was his mother, Juanita. She told me that she put him to sleep and when she checked on him, he wasn’t breathing.
“ Sy het hom geskud maar niks,” she says.
Luciano was laid to rest last Saturday but Hester says the family could not afford the funeral so they turned to councillor Walker.
The second child, Roneto Faro, also suddenly stopped breathing and died while sleeping, his grieving mother Chanté and grandmother Bridgette said.
DIED: Roneto Faro suddenly stopped breathing
“I was sleeping and I just heard my daughter scream. I went to look and she said he is not breathing. We called the ambulance but they said he was already gone. We did not have money for the funeral and somebody told us to come to the councillor,” says Bridgette.
Walker says the two deaths shocked the community and the funds for the funeral were sourced from Mayor Patricia de Lille’s special relief fund for families who cannot afford to bury their loved ones.
She says: “The incidents shocked us and when the families came, I knew I could apply to the mayor’s office for assistance. The families are very sad and this gives them some comfort so they can grieve and not have to worry. We are very sad to lose two children in our community.”