It was great to be back in Mafambisa today for our third and
final day with the care workers and children. We set to work chopping
vegetables and cleaning out the pap pot from the day before, with Richard even
making up a siSwati song for the purpose!
There was a full complement of care workers there today, so
we got to meet Alzeira and Emma as well as reconnecting with Ma Rose, Virginia
and Nomthlebu. In a circle together we sang songs, prayed and shared together
our assessment of our own energy levels. It was uplifting to hear the care
workers report that their energy levels were high, aided by our being there to
provide encouragement and support.
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| The remarkable volunteer care workers of Mafambisa at the new cooking point |
We had designated home visits of the children to make today.
Yasmine and Trudie joined Prudence from Hands at Work and Ma Nxyebo in setting
off to visit the home of Truth*, a five year old girl who uses the Mafambisa
care point. Truth was due at the care point yesterday but did not show up, so
the purpose to find out why she did not attend and to see how both she and the
family are doing.
However, just as the visit team was set to leave the care
point for the home visit, Truth rounded the corner and appeared at the care
point gate. It was a delight to see her back there, but the Hands team decided
nonetheless that her family would benefit from a visit to see how they are.
Hand in hand with Truth, the team set off for her family
home which is over a mile and a half from the care point. It was 28 degrees
today in the mid-day sun, meaning that, by the time we reached her home on the
far edge of Mafambisa, Truth had already walked at least three miles that day,
only half of the journey under adult supervision.
Truth’s family live in a shack. Truth’s mother, grandmother
and aunts warmly welcomed us to join them and their children in the shade
outside their home. They are refugees from Mozambique, which means that none of
them has official papers and therefore no access to government subsistence or
electricity, nor education for any of the children. Their income is from ad hoc
piece work, which means that some days they have food to eat and some days they
do not.
Truth has a close relationship with her paternal
grandmother, but her father is not in her life – an all too common tale for the
children in this community. Today the family had had a delivery of water, but
some days the truck does not come and then they have to rely upon collecting
water from the local stream for drinking, cooking and washing. Truth’s mother explained
that Truth was absent from the care point yesterday as she and her siblings all
had seasonal colds, for which they had received medicine from the clinic.
When they learned that we had travelled from the UK to be
there with Hands at Work and with them, Truth’s aunty said that it was “a
blessing” to have us visit them. The blessing was ours, for we could see the
power of the Hands at Work mission in operation before our eyes. Without the
care point in Mafambisa, Truth may not have eaten today, and may not eat
tomorrow. Hands at Work is dedicated to serving the most vulnerable and Truth
certainly in this group.
*Names changed for anonymity
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| Some of the children show off their cards which were made for them by students from Wolgarston High School in Penkridge |