Day 12 - Zwelisha

Day 12 - Zwelisha

The team gathered for a relaxed breakfast at 8:00am on the veranda over looking the Hand’s Village. A new tradition for our team this year is Eggs for breakfast so Chris cooked many variations of eggs for the team as well as many other breakfast possibilities as they sat and prepared for the day ahead. 

At 9:30 we bundled into our bus along with Prudence and having Busie and Aleysha following in a separate car. We made our way to Zwelisha, a new community for many but a community to return to for Chris, Alice 1 and Alice 2. Having picked up Busie and Alyesha, with the car dropped off, we headed into the depth of the area and following roads that aren’t completely familiar to us and Busie and Alyesha managed to take us down the wrong road so a quick phone call to Tyler (Alyesha’s Husband) we managed to work out where we had gone wrong and turn around but a Busie and Alyesha were terrified of everyone at Hand’s finding out that they gave us the wrong directions. 

Upon arriving in Zwelisha we were greeted by the care workers, some of which were familiar to some team members. We then got into playing with the Under 5’s at the care point, all of which seemed to our team to be quite needy. We played many games and we were thrilled to find out that the children knew ‘Hallelu Hallelu’ and it became great fun explaining to them that we were singing this at our holiday club just a couple of weeks ago. All of them enjoyed playing with the balloon balls which had kindly been donated (thank you Sue) and they had great fun chasing them when the wind blew them across the care point.  

It was then time to gather inside of the building to encourage and pray for the care workers. We all introduced ourselves and let everyone know how we were feeling today, the care workers all seemed well and said that their families were doing well as well. Chris then shared the word of encouragement from Philippians Ch. 4 Vs. 4-7 and spoke about the power of prayer and knowing that God will be walking alongside us throughout all our life. The care workers then shared any prayer requests that they had and we prayed ‘South African’ style (everyone prays aloud together) with a Chris ending by praying for the prayer request.

We then departed into 3 groups, Oliver, Alice 1, Clarrie and Lucy went for holy home visits while Chris, Alice 2 and Sophie stayed behind to entertain the under 5’s and to await the expected children from school. 

Alice 1 and Oliver went to visit Deidre in her home right next to the care point. We were accompanied by Aleysha and Bussie from Hands and Julia who runs the care point. 

At first glance we saw a rather large plot of land with a large home on it... the care giver was raking her ground and a couple of children were lying on a rug in the sun - it was very hot! On arrival Julia and Bussie insisted that we went into her house to sit and talk - this turned out to be so important as you will read below. Bussie shared after the visit that as with anything we shouldn’t judge anything by its appearance. 

On entering the home - there was a strong sense of urine and as we entered every room it became apparent that she was not coping and that life must be so overwhelming if she is struggling to keep her home clean and tidy. In every room there was litter, broken furniture and equipment, clothes and food waste in piles or just discarded on the floor - the care worker later described it as “Chaos”! 

We then finally stopped in one of the bedrooms - one the children Aya was lying on the bed really ill...we learnt that she had a tooth ache and was also suffering with an eye infection - she had been to the clinic yesterday to get some eye drops.. she has to take them in the morning and at night but when she had dropped into the care point earlier in the day it was evident that she hadn’t been given them... Julia and Bussie talked for a long time with her about the importance of following the doctors instructions. It was also became evident that Aya was also on a combination of other medication which after discussion became evident that they were really strong, there were four different types, the pills were massive and if in different circumstances would be stored in a fridge... the good thing was that this medication was being given daily which was a relief to hear. We also discussed how Aya would need to go to the hospital regarding her tooth ache as opposed to the clinic as at the clinic the dentist can only see 20 patients whereas at the hospital there is a dentist there full time- Julia and the mum would take her there tomorrow. 

Next we discussed who else lived in the home - we found out that the house belonged to Deidre’s mother who had recently walked out due to the chaos within the house. Deidre said she had 9 children but 3 had died and one now lives in Pretoria - she is also caring for her Grandchild Pele. Pele is her daughter Wendy’s child. Wendy is 19 and is struggling with distraction of being a teenager - she looks after herself but takes very little responsibility for her son or helping out around the house - recently Aya had found some marijuana in Wendy’s school bag and when she was confronted about this she said that her and her friends put it in their alcohol. On reflection we were not sure she was telling the truth about this. 

When we asked what we could pray for for her... she replied 

- Pray that her home could be like others and not in chaos 

- Prayer for Aya that she would get better 

- Prayer for Wendy that she would stay on the straight and narrow 

Oliver prayed for her and before we left the Care Worker left her a challenge to sort out all of the old or ill fitting clothes before tomorrow when the Care Worker would return. 

As we left, the team from Hands felt that to tidy and clean her home would be very overwhelming for her so she thought that a team from Hands could go prepared to help clean, tidy and then she would be able to keep it neat and unchaotic from then on. It left Alice and Oliver feeling mixed emotions. On the positive side the Care Workers at Zwelisha have taken a real role of responsibility for some of the more vulnerable families and starting feeding some of the children porridge for breakfast and letting them stay at the care point all day. 

Clarrie and Lucy went on a Holy home visit with Prudence, a member of the Hazyview Service Centre team who had been with us all of this week, and Violet, a care worker at Zwalesha. We travelled about 10 minutes from the care point to a home where we met Sam, a 13 year old boy. His family are originally from Mozambique, but left in 2006, and like so many others, found themselves in South Africa without papers and ID. They moved to Zwalesha in 2013. Sam is one of five children, the eldest is 21 and the youngest is 3, who live with their mother, because their father has abandoned them. They arrived in South Africa and only had a very small and basic shelter to house six of them in, which made living conditions extremely tough. The local Pastor, alongside the help and support of the care point, agreed to help build a house for the family to live in. Sam was the only one at home, because his mother was attending a meeting at the school. Sam has two older brothers, 21 and 16, and the 16 year old is currently working to support his family. He also has three younger siblings, a brother who is 10, a sister who is 5 and another brother who is 3. We were invited into the house, which was ‘well equipped’ with a fridge and a television and clearly more space than the hut. All 5 children share the house while the mother still lives in the hut. We discovered that Sam did originally attend school when they first arrived but at the beginning of this year he was forced out by the authorities - a difficult story to hear, but one that is unfortunately so common in South Africa. Sam loved school and his English was really good - much better than our Siswati anyway! He misses school, and is clearly quite lonely without his education. He runs a small shop at the front of the house, selling tomatoes, potatoes, onions and snacks for 5 rand each, but we couldn’t help but wonder how much custom he would actually get. Sam is very useful around the house and helps his mum to clean and wash, so for a 13 year old we were very shocked, yet amazed at the commitment and support he gave to his family. His 10 year old brother, Nick, is the only one who attends school currently because he is still young enough to go, but his younger siblings are too young, and he himself and his older siblings are too old to go without papers.  Prudence asked Sam about the care point, and discovered that most of them do attend almost everyday. He also said that the family are very thankful for the care point and everything they have done for the family, and so realise the importance of attending as often as they can. Sam has also received some educational support from the care point, as well as some tutoring from a member of Hands, but much of this is catered towards the younger kids, which is difficult for a 13 year old boy to attend. We were humbled to have been able to visit Sam today and it gave us plenty to reflect on, especially the vast issues in the education system and lack of opportunities this is creating for many of the children we meet. 

Once we all got back to the Zwelisha care point it was a perfect opportunity to get the parachute out which immediately lit up the faces of both the children and the care workers. We tried to play many different games with the parachute and they loved when we made an igloo and they all had to sat on the inside. Prudence then decided that it was time to dance, so out came the boogie box and we began with Shine which filled the care workers face with even more joy and then went on to Great Great Brill Brill which confused them even more. 

We returned into the building with the children where we sang lots of worship songs including Hallelu Hallelu which the do exactly like we do so that you stand up when you sing. That was great fun for all the team and it was even better that they got faster and faster as they went through.

It was then time to eat and serve the meal which was Pap, Chicken feet and cabbage. We then had to say our goodbyes and get in the bus to debrief on the way home. We then got back to the hub ready for the bring and brai where Chris, Lucy, Sophie, Alice 2 and Oliver shared some reflections of our trip and we listened to the other teams share before ending in prayer.

The evening was finished off with a wonderful Ceilidh lead by Chris and Alice the First. The whole Hands team joined for a brai where tasty food was enjoyed by all. The team also had to opportunity to share with all of the Hands team about their experiences over the past two weeks and how their relationship with God has strengthened. Chris introduces the team and then Sophie and Lucy shared their experiences about their first time in Africa. Alice the Second and Oliver then followed this, talking about their experiences returning, love as the teams vision, and the partnership with Mafambisa. It was such an amazing evening with lots of laughter and love. We’ve even got some quotes from fellow Celildh dancers; 

‘A great time of fun and letting off steam after an intensive week’ - Lesley 

‘Invigorating - most fun I’ve had since this morning’. - Chris

‘A really great way to have fun with everyone here ... also learnt that I can’t dance’ - Ian 

‘That was so much fun tonight, thank you guys’ -  Candece