Day 9 - Monday 25 Feb
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| Helping to prepare lunch at the Care Point which is based at a local church |
Today, the group woke up early again for the weekly Hands at
Work prayer meeting at 8 o`clock. We then headed back to Mafambisa for our
final day there; when we arrived we helped wash up the utensils used the
previous day. After that we all gathered in a circle, sang some songs and then
got into our groups for our Holy Home Visits.
[They are called 'Holy' home visits as part of the aim is to help the people being visited know that God cares for them, During the visit the volunteer care workers listen to the concerns of the people in the home and will then ask pray with the family asking for God's help - often the care workers will have a sense of God guiding them about possible support the family might need or how they can be helped further... the visits are Holy because Hands at Work believe God is present as well as the care workers.]
On one of the home visits we met a young man called Jack* who was the leader of his household, he had a sister who was very ill and he was looking after her two children. We later found out that his ‘last dream’ was to be a hip hop music artist, however he never had enough time as he was always running the house. We believe he has a lot of potential as a young man and has a chance to have a great life.
[They are called 'Holy' home visits as part of the aim is to help the people being visited know that God cares for them, During the visit the volunteer care workers listen to the concerns of the people in the home and will then ask pray with the family asking for God's help - often the care workers will have a sense of God guiding them about possible support the family might need or how they can be helped further... the visits are Holy because Hands at Work believe God is present as well as the care workers.]
On one of the home visits we met a young man called Jack* who was the leader of his household, he had a sister who was very ill and he was looking after her two children. We later found out that his ‘last dream’ was to be a hip hop music artist, however he never had enough time as he was always running the house. We believe he has a lot of potential as a young man and has a chance to have a great life.
We also met another Gogo called Samantha*. She looked after
her grand children and her great grand children in her small house. Her son had
died meaning that she had to head up an extremely large family. One of the
saddest things that she told us was, because her son and his wife had died
without official papers, their children had no papers to get work. The lack of
papers also meant that her great grand children would soon be forced out of
school, leaving them with an uncertain future. This was one of the most moving
visits that we have been on throughout our time here.
On the next home visit we met a boy who was 15 years old and
his sister who was 22, the mother had left to go to Swaziland and the father
had passed away. The older sister had a one year old son who was very happy and
spent the whole time playing. However, the boy was not so happy, he had been
kicked out of school because he didn’t have a south African birth certificate and
therefore was no longer in education. Because of this, he was extremely bored
and had spent every day since January doing nothing. His past times were spent
at the care point with his few friends.
We continued the day with playing with the children; we did
crafts like painting and colouring as well as making paper aeroplanes. An amazing
end to our final care point experience! J
*names have been changed
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| At a Holy Home Visit |
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| Making new friends |
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| Lunch is served |
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| A tasty shared lunch! |