KEY POINTS
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A student collects plastic clips to support cancer patients with wheelchairs.
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Over 80,000 clips gathered to fund essential mobility equipment.
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Campaign promotes recycling and inspires action across communities.
A young woman from Chatsworth started a campaign to gather plastic bread packet clips in an attempt to help cancer patients.
A student’s grief inspires a drive to help cancer patients with wheelchairs
The project was initiated by Bayview resident Abigail Camille Haridew, 21, who gave her sister’s hair to the Cansa Care Center.
For patients who lose their hair while undergoing treatment, Cansa makes wigs out of donated hair to help them regain their dignity and self-esteem.
Haridew saw a tiny jar full of vibrant plastic bread clips next to the front desk when she was touring the center.
Through the recycling program, Cansa is able to exchange plastic bread clips for necessary mobility aids that cancer patients would not otherwise be able to purchase.
The fact that such a small deed could greatly enhance someone else’s dignity and everyday quality of life moved her greatly.
Before growing the campaign, Haridew, a third-year medical student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, began it at home.
She inspired friends and classmates to start gathering clips together because she was driven by compassion and a desire to help others.
She then disseminated the campaign throughout her larger community by contacting her old school, Depot Road Memorial Primary School.
Over 80,000 clips were gathered by Haridew and her supporters in less than a year, which is eight times her initial target of 10,000.
Small actions create big change for those battling cancer
She said the success inspired her to aim for 100,000 clips while encouraging others to start similar projects in their communities.
For Haridew, the campaign is personal, rooted in the loss of several family members to cancer in recent years.
She described the campaign as a meaningful way to transform grief into healing, support, and community-driven compassion.
Each collected clip, she said, represents a quiet act of kindness that provides mobility and dignity to someone in pain.
Her work reminds her why she chose medicine: to help others—one moment, one decision, and one life at a time.
According to Iol, Haridew urged others to join by collecting clips at home, work, church, or school instead of throwing them away.
She said sharing the campaign message on social media or starting collection groups can help spread the impact even further.
Every clip matters, she said, and every participant helps bring a wheelchair closer to someone in desperate need.
