Today we were invited so spend the day with the care workers (all of whom are volunteers) and children in Zwelisha.
Zwelisha is 30 minutes to Mafambisa where we have spent our first two days, and the Zwelisha Care Point is supported by Link for Life Project and by St Anne's Church in Chasetown as well as by other donors.
As we arrived we were met by the care workers and there were introductions for everyone there. We then joined in their worship session and there was a time of prayer.
You can listen to the simple but beautiful song here ...
We had been given some small gifts to pass on to the care workers by members of St Anne's Chasetown and this was a nice job to do. The care workers were delighted . After this we moved out to do Holy Home Visits. Izzy and Lucy take up the story from here....
Izzy writes...
Today, along with other team members, I went on two impactful home visits with the care workers in Zwelisha. The first woman we went to visit shared her story regarding her education. Unfortunately, she didn’t do very well in her last year and now struggles to find work. She has to wait another year to redo her exams and get good results, therefore has little of her own money to support her family and relies on other family members and child support. The house they live in consists of a fair amount of space, however it simply doesn’t shield them from the overbearing worry of money. When asked what she would want us to pray about she requested that we all hold the hope of her siblings doing well in school and that they go onto get good jobs, hopefully fulfilling their aspirations. Her own aspirations were to be a teacher, once she had been able to gain qualifications.
The second people we visited had a mother and children living in the home. We talked with the mother about her struggles revolving around housing. She is currently working on a house to move into, as soon she will be moved by the owners of their current residence and will simply have to walk around trying to locate another home if she is unable to find one sooner. Her daughter also later arrived during the visit and we discovered she was pregnant, this came as a shock to all of the team members, when we were informed she was just 16 years old and pregnant with the child of a 26 year old man. She had hopes to have her child and then continue education and eventually become a baker, it was very encouraging to hear her aspirations, however still hard to consider a teen pregnancy involving a much older individual.
Lucy writes...
I was with the other team, and we visited a home with 5 children, a mother and a Gogo (grandmother). There were a number of difficulties this family faced including not being legally documented. Upon arrival at the house, the young children very quickly warmed to us. Having visitors seemed to bring them out of their shells. We prayed for the family for the possibility of getting documentation, for the mother who needed to get some results from medical tests at the clinic ....so we prayed she would be able to get them and also for her older sister who has difficulties with communication.
When we left the home the young children came back to the care point with us. The two young girls loved to swing and run, the smile this brought to their faces was so meaningful. One of the boys loved to run ahead and jump out at us as he thought it was hilarious. Our care worker told us about two cousins to this family ...two children who live with another Gogo, but they have illnesses meaning they need daily medication however because Gogo needs to find work, it is up to care worker Julia to make sure the medication is given, each day before school. This kind of caring hard work is not easy for any person to do so it is important for us to share these stories.
Izzy and Lucy
It was hard to say goodbye... But it was a day spent well for us and we hope it was also as enriching for the children and their remarkable care workers .