Precious finds her voice again thanks to Hot Cares and Silverstar

There are some people whose kindness and quiet courage fill every room they walk into. For the Letcher family, that person is 41-year-old Precious Mtshali – a devoted mother, qualified teacher, and the heart behind countless small acts of care in their home and in the classrooms where she works.

Precious spends her mornings as a teaching assistant at Bryandale Pre-Primary, her afternoons helping in the school’s aftercare, and her Saturdays working in the Letcher family home. Over the years, she has become part of their extended family – someone they trust with their children, their home, and their hearts.

But behind her gentle smile, Precious has been fighting a devastating, invisible battle.

In studio, Precious believes she’s joining us to raise awareness about hearing loss. Sitting with Bunny and Shona, she shares her journey – the fear, the exhaustion, the love she has for teaching, and her dream of one day having the right hearing aids that will allow her to truly hear again.

Then we reveal why Nadia Godridge, Events Manager at Silverstar, is really there.

Moved by her story of quiet resilience and unwavering dedication, Silverstar is covering the full cost of the specialised hearing aids Precious desperately needs – devices properly suited to her level of hearing loss, so she can finally experience clear sound again and participate fully in both her work and her life.

But it doesn’t end there. As part of a R60 000 Hot Cares Christmas package, we’re also:

• Gifting Precious a teacher’s starter bag, filled with essentials like a laminator, guillotine, colourful stationery, stickers, coloured paper and cardboard, files, playdough, and more – everything she needs to create vibrant, engaging lessons.

• Providing a shopping voucher so that Precious and her family can enjoy a truly special Christmas together, without the pressure of stretching every cent.

• Treating her to a spa day with a friend, including treatments and lunch, to give her a rare moment to rest, be pampered, and simply feel celebrated.

In one morning, the world around her becomes louder, clearer, and kinder. The classroom becomes a place of possibility again. Conversations with her children no longer feel like a struggle. Her dream of teaching with confidence moves from “maybe one day” to “now.”

For Precious, this is more than just a Hot Cares Christmas surprise. It’s the sound of her life coming back into focus – and the start of a new chapter where her courage, talent, and love for teaching can finally be heard.

A quiet battle with hearing loss

At the age of 36, Precious began to lose her hearing – suddenly and without any clear medical cause. There were no long years of ear infections or previous problems; the world around her simply started to fade. At first, it was subtle: asking people to repeat themselves, leaning in a little closer, watching lips more carefully.

Then, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, everything changed. As a student teacher, Precious found herself in a classroom full of masked children. She could no longer lip-read their words, and their voices were too soft and muffled to hear properly. Teaching – the work she loved and had trained for – suddenly felt almost impossible.

“It was an incredibly painful experience because, as a teacher, communication is vital.”

In 2020, she was referred to Helen Joseph Hospital, where she received her first pair of hearing aids. She clung to the hope that they would restore what she had lost. But they didn’t work the way she needed them to. She went back several times, searching for a better solution, yet her hearing remained impaired and her world remained muted.

Later, she found a promotion with Hearing Works and underwent another test. There, she was told that the type of hearing aids she truly needed would cost around R20 000 – far beyond what she could afford. So Precious did the only thing she could: she started to save.

By 2023, after years of putting her children first and sacrificing her own needs, she had finally raised R10 000 and bought the best hearing aids she could manage. Even then, they were still not suited to her level of hearing loss.

Every day, she pushes through emotional and mental exhaustion trying to lip-read her colleagues and the children in her care. She worries about her job security. She battles feelings of isolation and frustration. And yet, she never stops showing up. She never stops trying.

“I simply need the right support to continue doing what I was born to do.”

Turning up the volume on hope

When the Letcher family wrote to Hot Cares, they described Precious as humble, hardworking, and devoted – a woman who has quietly carried so much, while continuing to give her best to her children, Tracey and Terrence, and to every child in her classroom. They knew that if anyone deserved help, it was Precious.

Her school principal agreed, calling her dedicated and hardworking, and firmly believing that once her hearing is properly restored, her confidence – and her career – will finally be able to flourish.

This Christmas, thanks to the incredible generosity of our listeners and the record-breaking R31 million raised at this year’s Teddython, Hot Cares was able to say yes. With the support of our friends at Silverstar, we’re stepping in with life-changing help valued at R60 000.