The world has opened up like a miracle for a Zandisile Koti, a car guard at a Gonubie mall, received the gift of sight thanks to kindly Ronnie Coetzee, 73, a retired police colonel who noticed Koti's "smokey eyes" and his hesitant way of walking.
"He was literally walking like a blind man, assessing the ground with his foot before stepping forward. "That's how I established something was not right," said Coetzee.
He said the car guard's face was a familiar one as he had worked at the complex for years, but he had only recently become keenly aware of him because his wife's eyesight had deteriorated.
Coetzee's wife, Joanne, was diagnosed with serpigenous choroidopathy, a rare eye cancer, eight years ago. At the time she was only the 207th person in the world to be diagnosed with the condition.
"For seven years Dr Steven Cook, an eye specialist at the Eye Centre has been fighting my wife's eyesight, as the disease causes the eyesight to deteriorate."
Coetzee said it was partly because he felt so powerless at being able to help his wife with this loss that he jumped at the opportunity to help his "fellow brother".
"I thought it unfair for someone to have an eyesight problem that could be fixed, yet still go through life partially blind because he could not afford an operation."
Koti was taken to Dr Cook, who operated on his right eye.
Said Koti: "After the operation Ronnie took me into his home and cared for me and clothed me while my eye was still bandaged. I left school in Standard 2 because I could not see, but today thanks to the kind deeds of God's Good Samaritans I can see and do my job better."
Coetzee, with his friend and neighbour Peggy Mali, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2013 and through chemotherapy and radiation has overcome it, have been taking Koti to their Methodist Church in Gonubie.
"More than R17000 has been raised from friends and business owners around Gonubie to assist Koti with his operation, and now we're trying to collect more for his other eye," said Coetzee.
The neighbours have also been struggling to assist Koti with his identity document which does not reflect his real age.
"It's an ongoing struggle with the Department of Home Affairs, but we have given them the relevant documentation and are awaiting feedback." -