Class of 2016

As proud as Punch! Carryou Ministries founder, Sr. Pam Jamison and General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso with Samuel Masebe (23) who last year, with the help of Carryou, successfully completed the first year of his degree at Wits University.

 At Carryou Ministries we are committed to uplifting and helping children become the best they can be. It is our goal to help kids realise their full potential and grow up to lead successful lives.
 Every day, at our Drop-in Centres in Toekomsrus and Elandsvlei, youngsters are given a healthy cooked meal, and trained Carryou Ministries staff members are available to help kids with homework, and other problems that may arise at school.
 So it was with great joy that we met with some of the youngsters who wrote and passed their matric exams last year. The purpose of the meeting was to see what the kids planned to do with their lives, and how Carryou could further help them, if possible.

Degrees

 Over the years, mostly with the help of financial aid from generous US sponsors, co-ordinated by Sue Heywood, some youngsters have successfully completed university degrees and are now productive members of society and giving back to the community.
 "We are extremely grateful to our donors and proud of the youngsters who grasped the opportunities given them," says Carryou General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso.
 Lawrence took time to brief the matriculants on the power of vision and planning, in order to become successful.
 "You must first have a firm vision what you want to do in life, and how you can serve people," he said. "Then formulate a plan of exactly what steps you need to take, and set time-related goals to achieve those steps.
 "You must know what is required, and map out exactly what must be done to get there," he told the matriculants. "Carryou will do what we can to help you, but in the end it is your life, your responsibility, and you will have to knuckle down and put in effort."

Example

 He pointed to Samuel Masebe (23), a young man who grew up in a shack in Elandsvlei, who last year successfully completed the first year of his degree at Wits University.
 "He is an example to all of us," said Lawrence.
 Samuel paid tribute to the help he got from Carryou.
 "I couldn't have achieved what I have without them," he says. "They kept encouraging me and provided financial assistance while I waited for a bursary to be approved. When the bursary came through there was still a shortfall,v and Carryou's American donors stepped up and helped.
 "I can hardly describe how grateful I am!"
 The class of 2016 has high hopes and lofty goals. They want to eventually become medical technologists, public administrators, Correctional Services officials and nurses.

Rev. Mabaso addresses successful matriculants and staff members on the importance of vision and setting goals.

Official opening of the creche and safe park

Carryou Ministry Chairperson, Mrs Pat Semeno cuts the ribbon and declares the facility open.

Carryou Ministry's Annual General Meeting was held at the site of the new creche and children's safe park in Elandsvlei, on the outskirts of Randfontein last week.
 It was an opportunity to report back on the work done and achievements of the previous year, and also the chance to expose the community of Elandsvlei to the activities and workings of the organisation.
 In addition, it was the ideal time to celebrate Carryou Ministry's 16th birthday and to officially open the creche and safe park.

Members of the community and guests were eager to see what was built

Carryou Ministry founder, Sister Pam Jamison and some of the kids at the creche

The was much to celebrate!

If it's a birthday, there must be cake. (l - r) Co-founder, Tony Jamison, Founder, Sister Pam Jamison, General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mabaso, Chairperson, Pat Semeno

There was cake for everyone!

Pamela appointed Youth Ambassador

 Pamela Serage (27) is one of Carryou Ministry's greatest success stories.
 The former orphan, who raised her brother while they were both still at school, has just been appointed a Youth Ambassador by the Department of Social Development.
 "This year's theme is 'How South Africa's youth can participate in the economy'," says Pamela. "My personal goal is to inspire, particularly girls, and show they can achieve great things in their lives themselves. They don't need a 'sugar daddy' to get ahead, if they learn to love themselves and embrace education.
 "My desire is to get people to believe they do not have to be dependent on Government handouts but have the power to create their own futures."

Speaks from experience

 Pamela speaks from experience. When her parents died she was left to care for herself and her brother.
 "I came into contact with Carryou at the Drop-in Centre in Toekomsrus in 2004, when I was in grade 10 at school. Soon after, met its founder, Sister Pam Jamison and Sue Heywood, who was visiting from the US," she says. "Sue asked what I wanted to do with my life and I told her: to complete my schooling and go to university."
 Once back in the US, Sue organised monthly support for Pamela and her brother.
 "When I was in matric she said money was available for my university studies," Pamela says. "I wanted to study geology but God had other plans and, after many obstacles and a lot of help from people at Carryou, I was accepted at the University of Johannesburg, where I completed the three-year National Diploma in Environmental Health."
 She did so well that, before she'd completed her diploma, she was offered an internship as a Port Health Officer at Lanseria International Airport. In 2011 she joined the Department of Health as an Inspector of hospitals and clinics. There her primary function was to ensure patients received quality care and that medical facilities complied with the laws and prescribed standards.

Degree

 Not one to rest on her laurels, Pamela continued to study part-time at the University of Johannesburg and, in 2013, was awarded a bachelor's degree.
 She is currently employed by Merafong Municipality.
 "In May this year the Department of Social Development came for a routine monitoring inspection and I introduced Pamela," says Rev. Lawrence Mabaso, Carryou Ministry's General Manager.
 "They invited her to be a guest speaker at a conference, to talk about children and child-headed households. She obviously impressed them because they decided she could make a difference in the lives of young people and asked her to be their Youth Ambassador."
 "I want to convey the message that great things can happen, if you put your mind to it and surround yourself with the right kind of people," says Pamela. "If I'd taken the short-term view and the easy way out, I would not be here today."
 In addition to all her other commitments, Pamela also serves on the Board of Carryou Ministry, where she fills the role of Secretary.

Pam Jamison, Carryou Ministry Founder, reflects on the year that was

It is indeed wonderful to be able to report on another year of successful and fruitful ministry by Carryou and I wish to thank everyone for the strong support, especially our funders, Executive Committee, Management, including the general communities and everyone who is interested in this organisation and wishes to assist in some way.
 My experience at Carryou taught me there are many ways to help and teach children who have no adult guidance and supervision. This (past) financial year one of my initiatives focused more on reading and I had the great privilege to coach and mentor children in terms of reading the English language.
 Please allow me to reflect (for a moment) on other Carryou achievements during the year.

• Our orphaned and vulnerable children love to have a book read to them. They currently have access to a library of books from generous donors, however, there is still a need to have community caregivers properly trained to assist in the reading sessions.
• Most of our children arrive at our Drop-in Centres, every day, after school at around 13h00. It is a fact that while some enjoy reading and others enjoy other extramural activities, some still need help with school homework.
• Our community caregivers and some of our community members have started planting vegetables as a means to help cope with the high price of food for children. The produce will be organically-grown in a tunnel on our farm-holding in Vleikop.
• We have a container-creche at Elandsvlei that is attended by 30 learners. Two trained caregivers are taking care of this useful facility.
• All our 1153 orphaned and vulnerable children receive breakfast, a lunchbox and a balanced meal after school at Elandsvlei and at our main Drop-in Centre In Toekomsrus. Some meals are also still delivered and distributed at the feeding-points where children are unable to come to the DICs as a result of distance.
• Some businesses continue to grant us discounts when purchasing groceries for the centres and this really eases some of the pressures of trying to stay within the allocated budgets.
• Our bakery eventually became compliant with the local municipality health-inspection unit and started with operations. Loaves of bread were produced for the children to take home, while some were sold at an affordable price to different communities and NGOs.
• Several of our senior children passed well in Grade 12 and were accepted into various colleges, with the help and dedication of of our Social Auxillary Workers and Management team.
• Home nursing is still done by caregivers trained by the Health Department and concentrates on hygiene and rehab.
• People infected by HIV and those suffering from TB, became healthy quickly as they took their medicines regularly through treatment adherence support from caregivers and counselors.

May our Lord continue to bless all our workers and clients with His love.

Pam Jamison honoured

(L-R) Rev. Lawrence Mabaso, Tony Jamison and Pam Jamison

 Carryou Ministry founder, Pam Jamison was honoured by the West Rand District Municipality, Executive Mayor, Clr Mpho Nawa. The occasion was the glittering State of the District presentation.
 Pam and Carryou Ministry's contribution to the community of the area was recognised and acknowledged, and she and husband Tony were given a standing ovation by the guests and dignitaries.
  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.
 As usual, Pam was modest about her contributions, preferring to give credit to God and the team on the ground.
 "It is with grateful thanks to our Lord Jesus that I recognise the honour given us," she says, "for we are working hard every day to fulfill the vision and tasks He has given us and I have every confidence in the team we have developed under Rev. Lawrence Mabaso.

Honouring our Founders

Carryou Ministry Founders, Tony and Pam Jamison

 Friday 16 August was a joyous occasion at Carryou Ministry. Not only was it the time to celebrate 13 years of successfully improving the lives of thousands of people in Randfontein but it was also an opportunity to honour the organisation's founders, Pam and Tony Jamison, when a stone commemorating their achievements was unveiled.
 The celebrations took place at the Toekomsrus Drop-in Centre and was part of the Annual General Meeting programme.
 Carryou Ministry was founded in 2000, 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.

Just grew

 "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."
 Today Carryou Ministry distributes over 130 food parcels per month, cares for 253 patients and feeds almost 1 100 children per day.
 The organisation has 24 full-time staff members as well as 168 Caregivers, Extended Public Works Programme members, Counsellors and Social Auxiliary Workers.
 "We started this ministry 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."
 "Pam and Tony's contributions over the years are immeasurable," says Carryou Ministry General Manager, Rev. Lawrence Mbaso. "They have enriched the lives of so many and we are all deeply grateful."

More images from the occasion:

Charles Dickson, leads the Toekomsrus Senior Citizens Choir

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.