Sue's report

Sue Heywood is a US citizen who is deeply involved in not only raising funds in general to help with Carryou Ministry's work but also has been instrumental in getting US sponsors to help specific children and families. She recently visited Carryou Minstry, as well as many of the kids and families she has come to personally know over the years. Of the reasons she did so, was to see what the current needs are and to report back to the US sponsors.
 This is an extract from her report. To respect the privacy of many of the people concerned, we choose not to publish the names of some of the aid recipients.

 When I was there in early October I was again aware of how much our funding achieves. While I was going round the homes and schools this time, I was able to buy three months supply of milk for an orphaned baby whose grandmother had run out of milk and money to buy it, food for a number of hungry families whose shacks showed no evidence of anything for today's meal, paraffin for cooking and text books for school. I also brought  with me two bags stuffed tightly with beautiful clothes, some jump ropes and frisbees! I always first asked Rev Lawrence whether the money I gave would be a help and appropriate. The joy it brought, I wish you all could see. Thank you for your past support of this wonderful organization.

Photos from October 2012

At the Toekomsrus drop in Center, table tennis which was bought by a friend in New Jersey last Christmas. The caregiver was teaching a long line of eager kids. To the right on the floor a small crowd played monopoly and scrabble!

Finger board was equally popular

 ***** girls wearing T shirts donated by Tuxedo Library. They live in a one room outhouse on a farm with one bed. They were hoping for a government low cost house, but so far nothing has happened.

More T-shirts for the ***** family. Their caregiver  (in blue) tries them for size.

Martha Come is one of the most promising people I have met. She is taking every opportunity offered to her through the DIC, her church and her school. She is going into 12th grade. She and her brother live on an orphan grant of R250 a month...about $35. Carryou is applying for further assistance for them. The neighbors showed me several sheets of corrugated iron which they had bought to repair Martha's roof which leaked in many places.

Next door this grandmother was very happy with a new T-shirt.

***** is another girl whom I have watched develop and have hopes that she may improve her conditions through her own efforts. The youngest of three sisters, she has seen both her parents die and just recently her eldest sister. She seems healthy, and grateful for Carryou's support.

 **** ...a sad little boy. I couldn't get a smile out of him. When you see the home situations it stresses the urgency for Drop in Centers, creches and extended school programs. There's such a 'nothingness' about life in a squatter camp.

Pamela Serage went with me on the first day. What a joy she is! She is working in Gauteng hospitals, putting an orphaned cousin through college and plans to support one of Carryou's orphans when she has finished paying for her cousin's education. Our sponsorship of her has really changed her life and she is now giving back.

***** still smiles but her teacher says she isn't doing well at school because she is frequently absent. She walks 5 kilometers to school across dirt roads and scrubland all by herself. No wonder she doesn't always come. I keep thinking about this little girl and wishing I could do more.

I admired the construction of this house. It even had a porch.

Rev Lawrence Mabaso was with me in Tshediso's house, a low cost government house left to him by his aunt. Tshediso was studying for his first year's law exams but Carryou told me that he can't afford the text books to study. I was able to help.

Setholele Primary School Several of our sponsored orphans attend this school. Behind me is ******, another young lady with some spunk and promise!

With Brenda Naholo, the orphan manager and coordinator, sorting out the bags of clothing I had brought and deciding who would get what.

If you would like to help Carryou Ministry please contact us.

South Africa is slowly starting to turn the tide

 There are signs that South Africa is starting to make gains and turn the tide in the battle against AIDS.
 The latest UNAIDS report shows, from 2009 to 2011, child infections dropped in South Africa by 49%, in Zimbabwe by 45% and in Botswana by 22% and the overall incidence of infection dropped from 2,9% to 1,8%.
 Government now has in place a number of policies that are starting to bear fruit but, while the necessary may be there, capacity to implement those policies remains a challenge.
 “South Africa has the necessary policies and resources to improve human resource indicators such as under-five mortality and maternal mortality. However, it lacks the implementation capacity to translate these policies into broad-based results. Decline in both measures of human welfare has been slow. Substantial progress, however, has been made in fighting malnutrition, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as increased immunization coverage and access to free health care. The national mother-to-child HIV transmission rate fell to 3.5% in 2010 from 8.5% in 2009.”
 These are among the key findings of the just published Africa Outlook report in its South Africa-specific section. The report was co-written by the African Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
 In a recent article in Leadership Magazine, Piet Coetzer wrote: "South Africa has effectively scaled up the implementation of national HIV and AIDS initiatives, providing voluntary counselling and testing in more than 95% of health facilities and an increase in the provision of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy as well as the introduction of a dual therapy policy, for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
 "However, although it has the largest ARV treatment programme in the world, the country has not achieved the goal of universal access to ARV treatment and it is unlikely to achieve the goal of halting and reversing the spread of HIV and tuberculosis by 2015."

Can't be fought in isolation

 But the scourge of AIDS cannot be fought in isolation and contributing factors such as poverty and a lack of education also need to be tackled. But the numbers show the South African government is also making headway in these areas.
 South Africa has achieved the goal of universal access to primary education for children up to the age of 13 who constitute nearly 30% of the country’s population. School attendance for those aged 7-13 reached 98.4% for boys and 98.8% for girls in 2009, while the functional literacy rate also rose from 88% in 1999 to 91% in 2009.
 And Government's anti-poverty strategy, that identifies the most vulnerable and poorest sections of society, has succeeded in reducing the proportion of people living on less than US$1 per day from 11.0% to 5.0% between 1994 and 2010. With this achievement, South Africa more than halved the population living in extreme poverty.
 In 2010 the no-fee school policy was extended from the poorest 40% of pupils to the poorest 60%. As a result, 8.1 million students in 20 000 schools gained access to free education.
 "While there is no doubt gains are being made there is still a long way to go and the simple fact is, Government cannot do everything," says Carryou General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso.
 "Everyone is going to have to help -- the private sector, individuals and organisations like Carryou. We are, after all, brothers and sisters together on this planet."

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The house that Carryou Ministry built

Carryou Ministry Programme Manager, Brenda Naholo, outside the shack they built for Daniel.

 Daniel and his nine year-old sister lived in the bush on the outskirts of Randfontein with their father, who was unemployed and severely ill, as his HIV-positive status progressed to full-blown AIDS.
 His body was covered in sores and he grew weaker every day, as his children struggled to care for him. When news of the family's plight reached the nearby community, a plan was made to get them into a shack where, at least they would have some protection from the elements. It was by no means Hollywood but was a rudimentary roof over their heads.
 But life was still no picnic for Daniel and his little sister, as they struggled to care for their dying father and had to rely on hand-outs to keep them alive. A little while later their father died and, like thousands of other AIDS orphans in South Africa at the time, the kids were left to fend for themselves.
 One day, while Daniel was away, a neighbour raped the little girl, leaving her traumatised and deeply emotionally-scarred.
 "We got to hear of their situation and immediately decided to do something," says Brenda Naholo, Programme Manager at Carryou Ministry. "The little girl was moved to a children's home and we bought everything needed to build a new shack for Daniel, in the Elandsvlei informal settlement near the Carryou Drop-in Centre.
 "That way he is able to get food every day, get help with school homework and receive the care that a 14 year-old boy needs.

Carryou Ministry staff members and the Elandsvlei community begin the building of Daniel's shack.

 "Just a few metres away is a woman who cares for five younger orphans and she keeps a watchful eye over him. I suppose you could say, both Carryou and the community has adopted him."

 There can be no doubt, Daniel is far better off than he's ever been in his young life but he's been left scarred and hurt and is struggling to adjust.
 "He's not doing well at school and says he no longer wants to attend school," says Brenda. "Though we make sure he sees his sister regularly, he is battling to come to terms with being separated from her. But we are going to make sure he doesn't fall through the cracks."

 Because Daniel is a minor, we are prohibited by South African law from identifying him or showing him in photographs. This story is however, 100% true! No one really knows for sure how many child-headed households there are in South Africa. Some studies have put the number in the tens of thousands. But, according to Brenda, since the government introduced a monthly cash grant for families that take care of orphans, the situation has improved significantly.

Five orphans are cared for in this shack.

If you would like to help the work of Carryou Ministry or would like more information please contact us.

Personal development is a side-benefit

 While the main objective of Carryou Ministry is to provide care and assistance to vulnerable people, especially children, there have also been valuable spin-offs.
 One of the most significant, is the way people have been able to develop new skills and progress into areas they previously would never have dreamed possible.
 A few examples:

• One of the Home-based Caregivers has been promoted to Coordinator, as a result of the experience she gained while caring for patients in their homes.
• As a result of skills developed, the Department of Health entrusted Carryou with a major, new health project.
• A Home-based Care community worker recently graduated and is now working as a nursing sister at the ML Pessen Clinic, a local healthcare facility.
• Four Community Health workers are currently studing at the Anne Lasky Nursing College.
• At the Elandsvlei and Toekomsrus Drop-in Centres, new skills were learned and, as a result, many jobs have been created and school-leavers were absorbed into a local government work-program.
• The Carryou Staff Development Program's main function is to source learnerships and bursaries. This includes providing transport and the accompanying of individuals to tertiary institutions to assist them when registering for courses. 
• Government placed 18 National Youth Service volunteers with Carryou so they could be trained and receive hands-on field experience. One of these youngsters is currently completing her first year at the North West University where she is majoring in social work.
• A number of other Carryou workers and volunteers are busy with study programs at colleges in the area.
• In the near future Carryou Ministry will be opening a bakery -- the equipment required is already in place and they are just waiting for approval from the local health authorities. Staff members have been sent for training with large commercial baking operations in the area.

 "As we continue to develop the skills of our people we are contibuting to the future of Carryou as well as the country as a whole," says Carryou General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso.

One person can make a huge difference!

Sue Heywood, an angel of hope.

 It is sometimes said that a single person can't really make a difference in the lives of many but Sue Heywood, an American citizen smashes that myth!

With two kids she helped supply school uniforms

 In the past eight years, her efforts have been directly responsible for providing food to hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children, providing an education for others and enabling many terminally ill people to receive comfort and die with dignity. She has raised over $365 000 in the US to help Carryou Ministry's work.

 “I became involved with Carryou in 2001 when I asked Mark, our son, to introduce me to a grass roots organization that dealt directly with the effects of HIV/AIDS in an area of poverty and had a Christian mission as its driving force,” says Sue. 

 “I wanted to be able to make a big difference to a small organization where what money I could raise, would go directly to the people it was intended for. I also wanted to develop a personal

relationship with the staff.

  “I was taken to Randfontein where I met Tony (Jamison), husband of the founder, Pam. He took me around and showed me what they were doing and hoping to achieve and I went back to the US, determined to help.”

The start!

Sue and Pamela Serage. Pamela was an orphan who received

support from Sue that allowed her to attend university. She has

subsequently graduated with a bachelor's degree.

 At the time, Sue and her family were members of St John's Church in Ramsey, NJ. Where Sue was in charge of the Church School and a member of the Vestry.

 “We made a donation of $1000...and that was the start!” she says.

 “Later we moved to Tuxedo Park NY and to St Mary's Church, Tuxedo. In fund raising I also

wanted to raise the awareness of people in the US, particularly children, of what it is like to be really poor, be affected by HIV/AIDs, and to have to rely on people like the Carryou caregivers to survive. I want children who have so much, too much in many cases, to be aware that they can help others who, in many ways are like them but living in circumstances that are very different.

 “In the US, to raise money, I have given slide show presentations in schools and organized walkathons and tee shirt sales for the students, similarly in churches which have developed into annual fund raising, Mardi Gras breakfasts, garden parties, yard sales and musical concerts,” says Sue.

Sue visits one of the child-headed households that Carryou supports

 “And by identifying individual orphans and vulnerable children I have found sponsors who take a direct interest in the welfare of these children and donate regularly. Their contributions provide food and school uniforms for the children. We have also sent donations to assist in specific building projects like the Drop-in Centre in Toekomsrus. 

 “In the last two weeks Episcopal Response to Aids sent $150, the National Honor Society of Baker High School donated $500, specifically to help a high school graduate being cared

for by Carryou and we had a Yard Sale that raised $700,” she says.

 “The truth is, without Sue, her family and friends, we simply would not be able to do much of the work that we do and many people would suffer,” says Carryou Ministry, General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso.

 If you live in the United States and would like to make a tax-deductible donation to Carryou Ministry, you can do so via Sue Heywood.  Her email address is sueheywood@optonline.net. 

“Our donors make cheques to St Mary's in Tuxedo (www.stmarysintuxedo.org) with the memo indicating payment to Carryou. The money then goes into our outreach account and when we have enough we wire it direct to the Carryou account. St Mary's sends the donors a letter so they can get a tax deduction for their charitable gift,” she says.

More than just a feeding scheme: a vital community hub

 Today, standing in the dry, dusty, OR Tambo informal settlement some ten kilometres outside the town centre of Randfontein, it's hard to believe, or even imagine that last year this was the site of fierce flash flooding that saw some families’ homes and possessions washed away.

  But, at 3am on 20 February, that is exactly what happened when the heavens opened causing some shacks to collapse and washed away furniture and belongings.

  Carryou Ministry, who operate a creche and feeding program in the settlement, together with the West Rand Disaster Management team was called in to help. All in all, 37 families were affected.

 “Carryou Ministry undertook to accommodate the women and children of the affected families in the Carryou Drop-in Centre (DIC) while the men decided to stay with their belongings and re-build their shacks,” says Brenda Naholo, Programme Manager for the DIC.
 “For the next week the women and children had a roof over their heads and running water and each day the families, including the men, received two cooked meals. The local municipality donated blankets.

 “We prepared breakfast and lunch and Pillar of Strength, an organisation doing home-based care in the area made supper,” she says.

 “Women and children slept in the DIC centre at night but the men chose to take care of their belongings and returned to their shacks after having their meals.

 “Since then we have also assisted families to apply for and obtain important documents lost in the floods such as identification documents and birth certificates.”

Vital Hub

 

  The Carryou DIC was established as a feeding point for orphaned and vulnerable children but it is much more than that. It is a vital hub and beacon of hope for the impoverished community.

  Kids are not only fed but receive assistance with homework and schoolwork, some of it given by unemployed men in the settlement.

  But conditions are not ideal. Children do their homework in one of the containers but must sit on the floor as there are no chairs or tables yet. It is a challenge but still better than that experienced by many other kids in other parts of the country.

  The DIC also offers, counseling services, life-skills programs that cover issues like HIV/AIDS prevention, TB awareness and teenage pregnancies and help given to community members who need to obtain birth certificates and identity documents.

  In the past year the following Community Involvement and Education Programmes were run at the centre:

• Teenage pregnancy awareness campaign
• Community mobilisation on vaccination
• Pap smear awareness
• Mobilisation on child  negligence and their rights
• Candle light event
• HIV AIDS Awareness
• Awareness on Foster Care for foster parents

Many other activities also take place at the DIC including:

• Caregivers support group once a month
• Boys and girls support groups separately  once a month
• Youth support group
• Child care forums
• Teenage support groups
• Community leaders support group  to discuss issues affecting the community

  It’s a huge task that must somehow be done with limited financial resources.

 “We get many referrals and requests for assistance from surrounding schools and communities, “ says Brenda.

 “It is a great challenge that we face as increasing numbers of kids are being orphaned as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In just the past year, the number of people receiving assistance at the OR Tambo DIC has increased by 25%!

 “But we receive assistance from many quarters, even internationally, For example, at least 22 food parcels are distributed to child/granny/sick parent households every month as a result of the fund-raising efforts of Sue Heywood and her supporters in the USA.”

If you would like to know more about the work of Carryou Ministry or would like to offer assistance, please click on the “How you can help” link on the right of this page.

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Providing hope in a bleak place

O.R. Tambo Informal Settlement is a squatter camp at Elandsvlei, about 10 kilometres outside the Randfontein town centre.
 It is a grim place, of that there is no doubt. Residents live in shacks that they construct themselves, made from whatever materials they are able to scrounge. In summer it is like living in the bowels of hell and winter is a thoroughly miserable experience. In some years, shacks are washed away by heavy rains.
 Water must be collected from large plastic tanks set up at the entrance to the camp that are filled every few days by the Randfontein Town Council. Sewage is rudimentary.

 The people who live in O.R. Tambo are desperately poor. Some are orphaned children who have no choice but to fend for themselves. Without help, the community, especially the children, would have little hope of knowing anything else and would simply slip into the abyss made up of the millions of the unknown, desperate, poor in South Africa.
 But there is hope for these vulnerable people.
 At the end of March 2012 Carryou Ministry opened a Drop-in Centre at Elandsvlei. The facility provides a nutritious, cooked meal to around 600 children, six days a week. It also supplies daily meals to kids at a nearby school.
 There is also a nursery school that operates at the Carryou Drop-in Centre where, currently, 22 pre-school kids are fed, cared for and prepared for school.
 In the afternoons, trained care-givers are on hand to help both primary and high-school children complete their school homework and prepare them for their exams.
 In addition, counseling services are made available, life-skills programs that cover issues like HIV/AIDS prevention, TB awareness and teenage preganancies, are run and help is given in obtaining birth certificates and identity documents.
 "As a society it is our God-given duty to give these kids a hand-up in life," says Rev Lawrence Mabaso, General Manager of Carryou Ministry. "Who knows what potential lies amongst them and just needs a little help, to be realized?"

 

 

 

From little acorns great oaks grow!

Sister Pam Jamison, Carryou Ministry Founder

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." - Mother Theresa of Calcutta.

 There can be little doubt HIV and AIDS is one the greatest challenges this world faces, with millions of people dying or  becoming infected every year.
 One of the areas hardest hit, is Africa and the impact in South Africa is enormous. Every day, families are left devastated and children, of all ages, are left without parents and must fend for themselves.
 It is an enormous problem. In a study conducted in 2006, an estimated 122 000 -- almost 1% of the population -- lived in child-headed households.
 The sheer magnitude of the deadly pandemic meant that the South African Government, even with the best of intentions,  struggled to provide adequate care and support and ordinary South Africans, of all persuasions, knew they could not simply sit on their hands and do nothing.

Randfontein

 In Randfontein, a former mining-town some 40 kilometres west of Johannesburg the situation was no different but it was to be the site of the start of something amazing in 2000.
 It all started when the Anglican Church, St. John the Divine, asked Pam Jamison, member of the congregation and a nursing sister to attend an AIDS 'trainer of trainers' course. This was because increasing numbers of people were turning to the church for assistance in dealing with the trauma of HIV and AIDS.
 Pam completed the course and soon began to care for patients in Toekomsrus, a township bordering Randfontein. Word quickly spread however, and she was asked to train others so they too, could care for the sick.
 And it wasn't long before care-givers in other townships and rural areas got to hear of Pam's training and came flocking to her for help and so, Carryou Ministry was born.
 "It just grew," says Pam. "Carryou Ministry is a non-profit organization involved in home-based care for the sick and elderly, as well as people affected by HIV/AIDS.
 "As a result of the devastating disease our biggest challenge now, is caring for the children left behind."

Inspired

 Carryou Ministry's work is inspired by the Bible reading from Matthew 25:35.
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me."
 "We started this ministry in with no resources - just sick people and a strong faith," says Pam. "We prayed to God to lead us according to His purposes, which He always has done.
 "The name Carryou can be found in Isaiah 46:4, where God says: 'I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.'"
 And God has been true to his promise.
 Today Carryou Ministry feeds around 1 000 people (mainly children) six days of the week, provides home-based care to over 200 terminally-ill patients, helps hundreds of kids with their school homework every day and provides a variety of other  counseling and support-services.