In 2009 the Induna of Ezwenelisha (the leader of the town) and African Impact chose 10 families that were struggling to care for themselves and their loved ones as a result of the impact of HIV/AIDS. So over the past 2 years, our group has carried out plans to aid and empower these families by providing them with knowledge and skills that will help to improve their health, education and employment opportunities. We regularly visit each family and keep records of how they are doing. During my time here I was on the 10 Families project twice. The first time we made a few quick stops on our way to the one of the 10 families (a very African thing to change plans and fly by the seat of your pants) to check on a few people. First we stopped off to check on an orphan boy living with another family who was badly burned and to bring him a mattress because he has been sleeping on the concrete. It was great to see how happy he was to receive it. Then we went to check on Gogo Joyce (Gogo means grandmother). Turned out her granddaughter was very ill had hadn’t ate in almost a week and since they didn’t have the means to get to the clinic, we loaded her, her baby and the Gogo up with us and took her to the clinic. We played with the baby while the she got checked. Fortunately at this stage her tests showed she was HIV negative, but she has to go back in 3 months to check again because it can take up to 3 months for the HIV antibodies to show up in blood tests. They gave her some pills to hopefully make her feel better. After we were done there we ran out of time to do what was originally planned. The only explanation for times like that is “TIA”: This Is Africa.
So the next time for the 10 Families project we did our original plan from the first day; to go visit 3 boys who are living with their Gogo on their father’s side. Their father has died and the mother got into alcohol and was neglecting the boys and yelling at them when she was drunk. But the Gogo does not have enough money to support them so they are waiting for the Gogo on the mother’s side to come and take the boys. So we have been taking them some food parcels and this day we went specifically just to play and spend time with the boys. They range in age from 3 to 9 and definitely don’t seem happy. Although not too sure if they’d like it, we decided to just color with them. Coloring is not something kids do here much and they loved it! Even their older cousins got into it as well. At one point we asked if they wanted to go outside and play and they said no! Eventually we did head outside for some soccer and Frisbee tossing. It was great to just spend some time with them and show them we cared.
One afternoon I was on the garden project which is basically just a garden that we manage on some land that was given to us to use by the Induna. We are currently growing carrots, beetroot, onions, beans, cabbage, spinach and mielies (corn) that will all used in the home based care food parcels, support group and the 10 Families. The day I went we just had to weed and water the garden which seemed like a regular summer day back home. One of the girls thought it was a really physically demanding job which struck me a bit funny. We had to chase a chicken out of the garden first and a group of kids walking home from school came to help as well. It looked great when we were all done. Mondays and Thursdays we go to the Monzi Primary school for after school club which is for orphan children. 9 of them live at housing near the school because they have no one and the rest are children who don’t have parents but still live with family members. After school club gives them a place to go for some fun after school and some food to eat. When we first arrive we dish out the food to the children. Then we get to play for the next 1 – 1 ½ hours. The first 2 classes I helped the kids out with computers. The school was donated 12 computers and no one knows how to use them. So I fuddled my way through my first impromptu computer class for a group of 14 kids who have never seen a computer before and only 7 working computers. It was interesting but actually went well. I was able to plan a bit for the next one and we’ve now laid out a serious of classes for the next few weeks. They are all really eager to learn and it is quite comical watching them try to work the mouse for the first time. Then we went out and joined the rest playing.
My second 2 times at Afterschool club I got to just play with the kids. We played Red Rover (which got dangerous), Octopus which is a type of tag, and I taught them a new game called Over Under, Round and Round which they really liked. Then we usually get to watch and maybe even partake in Zulu singing and dancing. My last day was my favorite by far!! Because it was raining we had club inside. We started off by coloring and braiding with plastic string; or gimp as we used to call it as kids. I was really proud of myself for being able to remember how to braid it like we used to. I taught Tembe, the lady that runs the Afterschool Club, how to do it and she got really good at it so I was happy to be able to leave that behind. Then we played a few games of Simon Says which was great fun. Then the kids wanted to do Zulu dancing. I requested a certain song which I’ve heard many times during my stay and is my favorite. It was beautiful, it brought a tear to my thinking about it being the last time I’ll hear it in person. Then they did some wedding songs which we got up and danced to with them. The last song they sang, they sang some words in English which were ‘Remember Me’. Well, that did it…the water works started for me. The realization that my trip was ending and I wouldn’t be around these wonderful people anymore hit me and made me very emotional. As we were saying our goodbyes my tears were streaming and the children weren’t sure what was wrong with me. The one bright, caring girl in the group realized and she gave me a big hug, as did Tembe. She hugged me and told me she would miss me and told me to come back. I wanted to be able to tell them that I would, but it broke my heart knowing the truth. That if I am blessed enough to come back, it may not be for many years. 
No comments:
Post a Comment