Day 5 - Mluti Home Visits

Here are some of the stories from our home visits in Mluti that we went on today. Pippa and Alice stayed behind to help cook and play with the Under 5’s. 

Visit 1: Chris, Chris and Mark 

Mark, the two Chris's and Charissa went with Virginia and Angel to visit Michael just across the river. 

Michael had unfortunately lost his wife about a year ago, leaving him to bring up three children on his own. However his families had stepped in to help him. Amerly was his eldest and still lived with him, the other two, Sheila and Melody had gone to live with Aunts and Uncles, one quite close but the other a long way away the otherside of Johannesburg, and this made visiting almost impossible. 

Michael now lives with his brother in the home that we visited together with his brothers two sons! Michael is a builder and electrician by trade and has had previously employment. But at the moment cannot actually get work. He and his brother are currently building the house they are living in, but cost of materials is prohibitive when you do not have an income! 

Michael is however quite an artistic builder and has taken care to create a beautiful house, together with a sculpture garden and striking artistic features.

Visit 2: Ben, Matthew and Harry 

We visited Mluti for the first time today and went on our second Holy Home Visit. Ben, Harry and I went on a brief walk away from the care point up a hill accompanied by Rachel and Prudence. 

The family we visited was a mother, daughter and the mums sister. The mother also had 3 brothers who all now no longer live at the house. The mother is currently 24 but has unfortunately lost both of her parents over the last few years. The mother’s sister was 17 and the mother’s daughter was 9. The girls both go to school and both attend the care point however the mother has struggled to find peace work currently. 

Ben, Harry and I all got invited into their home to have a look inside and sadly we could see the burn marks all up the wall and on the ceiling timber from a previous house fire in the past. We all then stepped outside to pray over the mother which Ben led. We prayed for her safety and future in regard to hoping to find some peace work and to also look over and protect the house.

Visit 3: Sally, John and Adam 

Adam, John and I went on a Holy Home Visit together with Eunice from the Service Centre, Rosie from the Hub and one of the care workers (and her baby) from the care point. 

We walked for about 15mins, down the hill behind the care point, across a stream and back to the other side. When we arrived neither of the parents were home but we discovered a 20 year old young man caring for two pre-schoolers. It turned out he is the older brother of the three school age children who attend the care point and uncle to the pre school children that he was looking after for his sister who was off doing piece work. He welcomed us in and we sat together in the garden and he explained the family’s story. 

They had arrived from Mozambique in 2013. Due to lack of papers he was unable to continue in school so stopped education at 8th grade. None of the family have papers - including the children that have been born in South Africa. This means that the only work available to them is piece work. John asked what he would like to do for work and he said handyman jobs and particularly plastering.  But at the moment he just sits at home all day unless he can secure any piece work. 

While we talked and prayed the small children amused themselves and played together with some toys. I was really struck by this and how they did not come over even once to interrupt. We did get some cheeky smiles from them though. 

On the way to the house we had admired the vegetable patch at the end of their garden. The young man explained that they grow various vegetables including tomatoes, beetroot and cabbages. He explained that they keep some to eat and sell the rest. 

The young man did ask Eunice what we could do to help the family. She had to sensitively explain that we pray for the family and will continue to pray for them and their situation and that the care point will continue to help the children with food and support. I think we all felt quite frustrated that there is no quick fix we can make happen. 

The three siblings arrived home from school at this point, dropped off their bags and some got changed out of their uniform.  They joined us for the walk back to the care point. The pre-schoolers joined us too as they are part of the under 5s group at the care point but had not attended this morning.  It was an honour to have taken part in this Holy Home Visit.