Annie* goes home

 Annie* left her home in the Transkei and came to Randfontein early in the new millenium to join her husband.
 For a short while things were fine but then she suddenly became ill and became paralysed from the neck down. Unable to cope with his wife's sudden disability, her husband abandoned her and left her to fend for herself.
 "We found her living in a shack in Bekkersdal in 2003," says Mzi Tshikitsha, Carry Ministry, Programme Manager. "She became one of our Home-based Care patients but, whenever we visited her, we'd either find her alone or one of her daughters had bunked school to care for her.
 "All Annie wanted was go back home so she could be with her family and we set the wheels in motion to make that possible," says Mzi.
 "We contacted her family in the Transkei, who couldn't believe she was still alive but were eager to have her back but, as is often the case, finding the money needed to get her home, was a problem. Her family are not wealthy people and could not help, so we decided to approach her husband to see if he would contribute, which he did.
 "We gathered all her possessions, and loaded her and them into a car, and, on a Sunday morning, four of us accompanied Annie on the 1 400km (approx 860 mile) journey. Because we had to take it slow and easy, we only reached her village the following day at about 15h00," he says.
 "It was a day no-one will ever forget. News had spread and the entire village was waiting to greet and welcome Annie. People were crying and singing and then they all gathered and prayed for her.
 "It was incredibly moving and emotional," says Mzi. "We've kept in contact and, although she is still disabled, she is happy."

* Not her real name.

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Meet our people: Lawrence Mabaso -- a gentle man

 Reverend Lawrence Mabaso (59), is a gentle man. He speaks quietly and few people can remember an occasion when he raised his voice. But don't let that fool you -- he is a man on a mission to help South Africa's most vulnerable people and has dedicated 40 years of his life to achieving that goal.
 As Carryou Ministry General Manager, Mabaso is in charge of the day-to-day operations of an organisation on which hundreds of people rely for their very survival.
 Married for 26 years, with two grown up children, Lawrence was born in Sophiatown on the western side of Johannesburg and soon after, moved to Soweto.
 "My father enjoyed socialising and drinking which left my mother somewhat disorganised, so, in truth, in my formative years I did not have any adult role models," says Lawrence, "I had to find my own ways."
 Like so many other disaffected youngsters in South Africa, Mabaso could just as easily have fallen through the cracks, were it not for the fact he came into contact with Siza Molebatsi, leader of Youth Alive in Soweto, as well as anti-Apartheid activist, Rev. Frank Chikane.
 "Rev. Chikane became my mentor and role model," says Lawrence. "Every Friday he preached at Orlando High School, where I was a pupil. He lived nearby and I spent many hours talking to him and when I was 20, I became a Christian."

Full-time ministry

 In 1975 Mabaso was awarded a four-year scholarship to attend a theological college.
 "I looked forward to entering the full-time ministry when I completed the course," he says, "but life has a way of setting it's own direction. When I graduated my father was not working and I had no option but to find a job, so I could support my parents.
 "I started work as a Salaries Clerk with the country's largest bus operator and have never, in fact, been a full-time pastor."
 From there Mabaso moved into a clerical position with one of South Africa's largest life insurers but continued his work in the ministry as an Associate Pastor.
 "I became something of a thorn in my employer's flesh," he says, "as I got involved with the trade union and ended up recruiting around 140 staff members."
 But rather than fire him, the insurance company realised that a man with his ability to influence people, was wasted in an administrative position.
 "They figured I would be good at sales and I eventually became a Professional Consultant, selling pension schemes and insurance investments, to companies," says Lawrence.
 A few years later he was head-hunted by a large banking group and then later by another bank.
 "I never stopped working as an Associate Pastor," he says, "and still had an ever-increasing desire go into the ministry full-time. So, when the bank started a programme of retrenchments, I took a package and left."
 But being a full-time pastor was not to be. After a slight career deviation where he worked at a training college, Lawrence was offered the job at Carryou Ministry.
 "This is the best job I have ever had," he says. "Here I can make an enormous contribution to God's work.
 "When I see what we do in informal settlements, I know we are role models and could be changing kids lives in the same way Siza Molebatsi and Frank Chikane changed mine. And who knows what contribution those youngsters may make to our country in the future."

Realist

 But Mabaso is a realist. He knows it's an uphill battle and one that will not easily be won.
 "Education is the key," he says. "Not just academic education but life and skills education so people can work their way out of poverty. But, at the same time, South Africans in general, will need to be more disciplined and productive.
 "But I am confident, we at Carryou Ministry, can make an even greater contribution. I have a young, motivated, team behind me who are disciplined and flexible," he says.
 When not working -- which is not very often, as he is still an Associate Pastor at a church in the area and is involved in a leadership role with 80 other Non Profit Organisations -- Mabaso enjoys spending time with his family, listening to music and reading.
 "I am a voracious reader, particularly of management and business books," he says.

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Fresh bread every day

 All over the world charities face an uphill struggle to raise sufficient funds so they can continue to do their work. In South Africa charities and N.G.O.s are finding it increasingly tough as over 15 million people rely on Government for social grants in order to survive.
 There just isn't enough Government money to go around.
 It was this in mind that Carryou Ministry decided that they needed to find ways to become self-sustainable and the idea of opening and running a bakery was born.
 "It's a way of generating income and also supplying bread to our feeding projects," says Carryou General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso, "in addition it will create jobs for eight people and impart valuable skills."
 Late last year application for funding for the project was made to the National Development Agency for the cash needed to purchase the necessary equipment for a bakery to be set up at the Toekomsrus Drop-in Centre in Randfontein.

Bakery Manager, Anna Mogase

 R350 000 (approximately US$44 000) was made available and ovens and other necessary bits and pieces were purchased. A full time Bakery Manager was appointed and staff members were sent for training at a local, commercial baker.
 "We are busy with the final fittings and making the changes required by the Municipal Health Department and then it will be all systems go." says Bakery Manager, Anna Mogase. "We are looking forward to being able to supply our communities with freshly-baked bread every day.

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.