Although the team enjoyed their visit to Zwelisha, it was wonderful to be back in Mafambisa surrounded by familiar, friendly faces. We began the day with a relationship group – we split up into 3 groups mixed with care workers, team members and translators and we discussed things that are close to our heart. This was a great opportunity to ensure that everyone is coping well and allows us to bond and pray with each other.
Later in the day, we split into 3 groups and went on our Holy Home Visits.
(Names changed*)
One group went on a long walk to visit a woman named Sara*. Sara is 25 and has 3 children (Katie*, Beth* and Ty*). Sara was very shy and hesitant to answer our questions but opened up towards the end of the visit after encouragement and support from the care worker. We were shocked to learn that the house Sara and her children live in belongs to her boyfriend who is in his forties, and therefore much older than her. She reassured us that he treats her nicely and told us that protection from God makes her happy. Sara is from Mozambique and undocumented, she told us that she was planning on visiting home soon due to the recent passing of a relative. This journey will be potentially very dangerous for her and crossing the border will not be easy – we prayed for her travels to go well. Sara’s youngest child (Ty*) doesn’t currently go to school but she plans on registering him on Monday. Her oldest child Katie arrived home from school part way through the visit, she was very friendly, happy and confident. We could see that Sara’s life has not been easy and we were saddened to hear that she had felt helpless at a certain point in her life. Katie* and Beth* then joined us on our walk back to the care point.
One of the other groups went on a short walk to a small house with a grandmother and her granddaughter who were both in at the time. The purpose of this visit was to check up on a 15 year old boy who had not come to the care point for a few days. The gogo at the house has 4 children. One of her daughters also has a daughter who were with the gogo when we had arrived. We spoke to the gogo about her grandson and how he was not doing well in school and would be punished there, which may have been adding onto his poor behaviour. We helped look after her granddaughter and after a while we started our walk back to the care point.
The third group visited another home about 45 minutes walk away from the care point. It was the family of a grandmother, Celia* with four grandchildren normally with her as well has her daughter Rosa* (in her early 20s) , all of whome attended the care point. There were many parts of their story which were distressing to hear and they were very poor... As we sat together under the shade of a tree, Celia* was picking leaves off some wild plants that she had gathered, in order to make a thin soup for the evening meal for them all.
Originally from Mozambique, Celia* had come to South Africa following the war in her home country. All of her children and grandchildren were undocumented but, thanks to care workers supported by Hands at Work, they had been granted access to a local school.
The team were shown their home which was in need of attention, three rooms one of which had leaking roof, and another where rain water was seeping through the floor... And they do not have a toilet. This is the sort of detailed information about a home setting which can only be found out when care workers visit a home. These Holy Home Visits (called Holy because the expectation is that God is present and will help) are vitally important to the work of Hands at Work.
As a result of this visit the care workers and the Hands at Work Service Centre staff can assess the needs of the children and the family and see what can be done to help and support them. Their lack of a toilet will make them a high priority.
Amazingly, despite a host of very serious problems, Celia* and Rosa* were delighted to see us and welcomed us so warmly. We were able to pray for Celia* and Rosa* before we left. The visit left us with a lot to think about.
Once we had all arrived back, we were greeted by about 30 to 40 children with ages ranging from 1 to 16. We all joined in singing songs, dancing, playing games and ate lunch with all the children while we were there at the care point.
Aoife and Heidi