A Day in the FieldWe fetched Bonisile, our home-based caregiver, at the pre-arranged spot on her dirt road intersection, standing with her umbrella in the midst of a drizzling rain. With all this rain and the resulting mud, it was far from an ideal day to be doing home visits. Especially because I hadn’t been prepared for the drizzle and didn’t have anything but my fleece with me - no rain jacket or umbrella of my own. And neither did our two new Thembalethu staff whom I had set out to orient to our home-based work: Roy, our newly-arrived Peace Corps volunteer for two years had arrived the week before, and Philip, a Zulu Pastor who has just joined our team to support our caregivers, patients and orphaned & vulnerable children as well as other clients.
Bonisile climbed into the back of the pick-up (bakkie in South African lingo) to join Roy, as we still only have our one two-seater truck and I was orienting Philip in front. (We are trusting God to provide us with a five-seater vehicle in the coming months. If you would like to assist, please let me know.) Bonisile then directed us through the grass and mud paths to the first of her patients’ homes where we parked the bakkie a short distance away and walked the rest of the way through the wet grass.
We arrived at the homestead, a row of mud huts, where Bonisile tucked her head in one of them that was pouring out smoke, and then invited us to follow her as she entered. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, windowless room, we saw a weakly warming wood fire pouring out smoke and immediately my eyes started to water. Just behind the smoky fire were nearly a dozen buckets and dishes of all kinds that filled up nearly half the room, placed strategically to catch the water pouring through the roof onto the mud floor. We arranged our Zulu grass mat to sit on the floor just outside the muddy radius and greeted our patient, a middle-aged woman dressed in navy blue. From the duk head-tie of navy cotton through to a navy cloak, navy top and navy skirt, seemingly every inch of our patient was covered in navy blue – the clothing of a recent widow. The woman went on to tell us that her one daughter had married off, and with her husband passed away in December, she was now alone and without any income or assistance.
To make matters worse, because of traditional restrictions on widows, she was unable to make or sell any of her handywork, or even earn any money from her skilled mud-cement plastering of the exterior walls of people’s homes. Her in-laws, whose compound she lived in, perhaps because of their own limited income, left her to fend for herself. Which was difficult, in fact nearly impossible for her to do as long as she is wearing mourning clothes. She would be allowed to burn those clothes in June/July at a traditional party and when a cow had been slaughtered for the ancestors.
We prayed for Bonisile’s first patient; Philip encouraged her and shared God’s love and hope with her, encouraging her to not give up, but to continue persevering through this difficult period. We said our goodbyes and left her with a large bag of maize meal, as well as some beans and soy protein mix, making a note to refer her to Xoli who, having completing her studies, is now registered as a social auciliary worker.
Bonisile then continued to lead us onto the neighbor and her other patient, who, we found out, was also recently widowed in a very similar situation; without family support or any hope of making an income as long as she was in mourning clothes. We listened to her sad, lonely story, Phillip encouraged her and we prayed for her, buying some Zulu grass mats from her to support one income-generating activity she could, as a widow, be involved in. We also left her with a bag of maize meal to give her the local staple.
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| Joshua has a brief rest during a day at the office. He enjoys a drink of water on top of the bags of maize meal for distribution to our OVC. |
Blessed to Be a BlessingThembalethu has received and been able to pass on tremendous blessings to the Amangwe community in the past few months. Below are some of the highlights.
• In March we started a soup kitchen with new funding we received from Breadline Africa! We are now cooking for 19, soon to be 35 orphaned and vulnerable children three days a week before and after school. We also provide these children with home work assistance, and also fun!
• We have also received funds to add a pastor on part-time to provide spiritual support to our caregivers, patients and OVC. Phillip Tshabalala joined our care team in April and has already received very positive reports from our caregivers as well as some of the patients and OVC he has been able to visit.• With the funding we received from NACOSA (The Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria), we give 42 OVC food parcels each month, and we also assisted 64 OVC with full school uniforms, school bags, blankets and other material support. (Some are pictured here.)
• We have also added a Peace Corps volunteer, Roy Griffin from Oklahoma, to our team. He is living with a Zulu family near to our centre and will be working with us for two years. He has already been a great help with our data and reporting to funders and will hopefully help us get a big, flourishing veggie garden going as well.
We are so amazed at God’s goodness and provision to us. Thank you also for your prayers and support to make all this work possible!
Betsy, Eugene & Joshua Meyer
