Today we said our goodbyes to all of those who have been so
welcoming at Hands at Work, in particular Kristie and Daytona. We had a debrief
of our time there then made our way to Mercy air via Caster bridge and the
amazing chocolate shots! After arriving at Mercy Air and meeting Cathy Middleton
we spent some time in the pool before Connor and Georgia prepared our meal,
which was very nice.
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| Link for Life Team Wolgarston 2019 on the steps at the Hands at Work Hub |
We also wanted to take this opportunity to write some more
stories that we came across in our time with Hands at Work:
On the 2nd day of our visit to Share I went on my
first home visit to see Maria* her sister and her father. When we arrived we were
given some chairs to sit on and we exchanged names. After that her sister
invited us into their house where she showed us a photo album filled to the
brim with photos of all of her family, this made me very happy as it showed how
proud of her family she was. Then we headed back outside and were explained the
current situation of the family; her two other brothers had gone to work and
from what we could tell the mother had either passed away or had left. She then
explained to us that her sister was currently living down the street and had to
come and check on her father every morning; this was because the house was too
small and they were currently trying to build an extension so their whole family
could live together. Overall, I think for me this was a really positive trip as
everyone was very happy and it was clear that everyone was trying as hard as
possible to improve their life which filled me with a great sense of optimism
for the future of the community.
By Nicholas
On the first day we visited Joy* who cared for 4 children.
They lived in relatively poor conditions until recently when hey moved into a
new government funded house; this contained running water and separate bedrooms
which was a massive step up on the earlier accommodation. However, they did not
have the papers that are now needed for a child to attend schools which meant
that it was unlikely that her youngest child could get any education. The
children she has that are at school struggle greatly and are held back years,
separating them from their friendship groups. This home visit really affected
me as it made me realise the value of education and the large amount of
opportunities that I have and may not have been fully appreciative of those
opportunities.
By Joseph
On the second day of visiting Mafambisa, myself, Matt and Nick went to visit a young man
called Auzi*, he was a young man who was in charge of his house. He had a very
sad story as his mom was busy out working all the time which gave him lot of responsibilities. At the time of the
visit his mom was back home as she was extremely ill. When the care worker was
with the mother, Auzi told us that hip-hop was now his only hope as in year 9
he got kicked out of school, because he got in with the wrong group off people,
it was really sad to hear this as he was clearly a lad with ambitions but a few
things in his life had badly set him back. At the end of the visit Auzi showed
us his music and we were all shocked how good it was considering the facilities
he had.
By James
Yesterday, on our last day in Mafambisa, Connor, Georgia and
I went to visit a boy called Simon* and his 28 year old sister Audrey* who as
caring for her daughter as well as her younger brother. When we arrived, we
were invited into the main bedroom where Simon was sat on his phone in an
armchair that was directly next to the double bed. We began conversation and
listened to the story that the family had to say. Gugu soon after told us that Simon
had been one of the children affected by the new school rule that everyone has
to have a birth certificate and we found out that Simon was forced to leave
school at the end of grade 9 and wasn’t allowed to progress into grade 10. Throughout
our time there at their home, Simon didn’t speak much and was on his phone a
lot however as we spent more time there he was less shy and spoke more. We
found out that Simon doesn’t do anything around the house and his sister Audrey
does most of the work. One of the most challenging things about this story was
that Simon just sits at home watching TV everyday while his friends are at
school and so he always looks down. This is because the family are from Swaziland
and because Simon travelled over the border illegally, he will find it hard to
get papers to allow him to go to school. His mum also works in Swaziland which
means he doesn’t have a mother figure in his life.
By Adam
On our first home visit at share we met a guy called Eric*,
his brother had sadly passed away and he was caring for his nephew. His parents
had both passed away as well so he was pretty lonely. However he was very proud
of his house and enjoyed trying to improve it and make it look nice so me and
James helped him pick up rubbish and take it to the dump for him. This meant a
lot to him as he wanted his property to look nice. We also found out that there
was a problem with the water tap at the end of the road so it was only on two
days a week, this meant that by the end of his water was warm and unpleasant.
By Connor
I went to go and see a guy called Derrick* he is around 20
and has to care for his mother and his sisters three children. He has an
incredibly hard life as he was kicked out of his school for getting involved in
the wrong things. He got involved in things such as drugs and alcohol. He has
to fetch water from the brook everyday to water his crops.
By Matt
My first home visit was to a Gogo and her husband who cared
for he son’s children as her son died a few years ago. The two older boys Timo*
and Nushi* were both at school and both attend the care point regularly. When
we met both boys they seemed very quiet and reserved in comparison to others.
The Grandfather was sitting with the youngest daughter on the floor and seemed
very attentive towards her and she seemed very smiley and happy in comparison
to her siblings. The Grandfather was a plumber although was in the midst of
building the extension to the home that was originally a government home, the
one thing that surprised me was that he’d built all the bricks himself before
they eventually ran out of money.
By Georgia
The last home visit we went on was to visit a Gogo and her granddaughter
Lucy* and her two children who, at that time, were asleep. We were told about
how, because when Lucy`s parents died, they had no death certificates. Along
with this, she had no birth certificate so there was no verification that they
were related. Lucy`s children did not have any papers either so they could not
attend school. It is insane how much these people rely on certificates and
papers, they are the things that could make or break a persons life.
By Florie
*names have been changed