Letters from Randfontein

 

Benjamin

 The love of reading can open many doors and establish relationships that stretch across oceans. That is  precisely what has happened between children at a rural school in Randfontein and kids at Tuxedo Park School in New York.
 The US kids recently put together a project to raise funds to buy books for children at Mamblomong School and the nearby Elandsvlei Drop-in Centre. (Read the story here.)
 Almost 250 books were delivered and already they are opening new worlds to the local kids.
 In this post we publish some of the letters written to the children at Tuxedo Park School by the youngsters from Randfontein.

Boy

Elias

Johannes

Kelebogile

Lerato

Lizzy

Moipone

Passie

Piet

Refilwe

Smiles and joy at the Carryou kids' Christmas parties

There were plenty of smiles, much laughter and a lot of joy at the annual Carryou Ministry Christmas parties held at the Elandsvlei and Toekomsrus drop-in centres on Friday, 7 December.

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Providing health and dignity right to the last breath

Africa can be a tough place and, although the South African government has made progress in setting up clinics and primary healthcare facilities in many rural communities, the simple fact is, sometimes patients are just too ill to get to one of those facilities.

It is for this reason that Carryou Ministry operates an extensive home-based care program.

“Teams of workers walk from home to home, caring for people who need physical and emotional support during their illness,” says Mzi Tshikitsha, Home-based care Programme Manager.

“Part of the service we also provide is to be with patients during their final hours.”

Mzi Tshikitsha

It's an emotionally difficult job but it is both vital and rewarding.

“The Home-Based Care program strives to achieve and maintain a high standard of palliative care that is both empathetic and offers dignity to all patients unable to access alternative medical care,” says Mzi.

“We do this by carrying out basic but essential tasks like washing and feeding the patient, moving them to help prevent bed sores and ensuring he or she takes medication as prescribed.

“In addition, Care workers also assist the patients' families by feeding the family, cleaning their houses, washing clothes and collecting water from community taps.

“The Care workers are also trained to counsel children and adults, and as such, can offer emotional and spiritual counseling to patients and their families. They also ensure children are not exposed to traumatic situations,” he says.

But, as always, money needed to do the important work, is in short supply.

“We do our best to provide food parcels for destitute families and orphans,” says Mzi.

“Parcels include maize-based porridge, soup, sugar, salt, oil, beans, peanuts, matches and washing powder. Fortified nutritional meals are provided free of charge for individuals infected with HIV and those with compromised immune systems.

“But, in truth, without the financial support we get from US-based, Sue Heywood and her supporters in the USA, we would not be able to supply many of these essential items.”

Yet, despite the difficulties, Carryou Ministry's Home-Based Care program still manages to make life easier for more than 250 people every month.

Their work has seen some Tuberculosis sufferers and patients on anti-retroviral drug programmes, recover enough to be able to return to work.

In addition, door to door awareness campaigns were conducted at 15 informal settlements where 200 000 male condoms and 16000 female condoms were distributed in an effort to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

“We are starting to see the message get out there,” says Mzi “and now people are starting to voluntarily disclose their HIV status – something that did not happen in the past.”

If you would like to help with this vitally important work please click the “How you can help” link on the right or contact us.

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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