Happy New Year!
I know I promised to give you an update on my visit to Nyasha's home to speak to her grandmother. Well here is what happened. The first day i followed Nyasha's directions and caught a combi (taxi) to the township of Epworth, I disembarked where she had told me and followed the directions until i had reached the '' pink tuckshop'. This is where I now got confused with her directions. After speaking to the sales lady at the tuckshop I followed a dust road but the house number she had given me 2037 was nowhere in sight, infact the house numbers here were all in the six hundreds which was a far cry off.
I then made a u-turn and followed a tarred road, I must add that the sun was beating down on me. Thank goodness i had an umbrella which I promptly put up to shield me from the heat. Unfortunatly I could not find the house and decided to go back home.. I would just have to wait for Nyasha to come round another day. Of course i was disappointed but what could i do.
Days passed and no sign of Nyasha or her siblings and then on the fifth of January she turned up at my gate again with a friend. She had her signature smile and a new red dress that someone must have given her for christmas. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see her.
I told her that I had come looking for her house but had gotten lost. She gave me the directions again and this time told me that she would wait for me by the pink tuckshop. Unfortunatly Nyasha was not at the tuckshop but I followed the dust road once again. This time i got to the banks of a river, I had to take my shoes of and roll up my trousers and wade through the river to get to the other side.
Low and behold on the other side I found the houses in the number 2000 region. After much searching I found number 2037. How excited I was, until of course I was told that this was not where Nyasha lived and that the number 2037 was also in two other regions of epworth. I was now exhausted. Fortumatly the lady I was talking to was very helpful and told me story's of other children who were in the same predicament as Nyasha and her family. Two young boys the oldest who was perhaps ten whose parents had died. They go begging daily to survive and do not attend school.
I then visited another family, grandparents who are taking care of grandchildren. One of their daughters died the other daughter went to South Africa seven years ago and never returned leaving two children in the care of her parents. The couple both don't work, The husband having retired some years before. All the children have not attended school for the last two years.
I took all the details to see how we could help. Unfortunatly not even one of the children has a birth certificate which is another challenge.
The situation indeed seems desperate but not insummountable, the number of children in need is incredible. We will overcome one step at a time.
And Nyasha? I will just have to wait for her to come round one more time.. This time i will have to go with her and hopefully in the end get her and her siblings into school.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Thursday, 10 December 2009
The day I met a young girl called Nyasha
As I was sitting in my office I heard rufus our dog barking loudly at the gate. I knew that that meant that someone had come but was too afraid to enter. I got up and went to see what the racket was about.
At the gate was a young girl of ten years, I later learned that her name is Nyasha which means grace. I remember having seen Nyasha months before, she and her siblings walk from gate to gate asking for food or clothes or even if they can do any work around the house for a few dollars.
I knew that I had seen Nyasha before beacuse she was wearing a Jersey that had once belonged to my daughter Panashe who is also ten years old. The jersey was now coming apart perhaps due to being worn daily. I had not asked Nyasha the first time I met her anything about herself but this time I did and the story she told cut me to the heart!
Nyasha and her three siblings Jane 11, Takunda 13 (a boy), Gamu 14 (a girl) & her cousin Chiedza 11 (a girl) are all orphans who live with their elderly grandmother in the township of Epworth. They stay in a one room shack and their grandmother does not work. She cannot feed these children and at the same time she cannot throw her own blood out onto the street.
Jane, nyasha's sister joined us and also narrated their ordeal. She told me that only Takunda her brother goes to school, he has been able to find a sponsor but she, her other siblings and her cousins do not attend school. Instead, to put food on the table she and her siblings go from door to door begging and asking for work. They do this everyday of their lives in different suburbs.
I looked at these children, they seemed bright and really well mannnered. I dreaded to think what would happen to them should they loose their grandmother. I thought of this strong woman who has managed to keep this family together even through the hardest times. Sometimes people need help, some relief, this can get too much for anybody. I thought of the children and what their future holds.
I made a decision there and then that by January 2010 the beggining of the School year Nyasha, her siblings and her cousin need to be enrolloed in school. The grandmother needs help with food and also help with starting some income generating project as the kids will no longer be going door to door.
I am going to visit the childrens grandmother... Will keep you updated!
At the gate was a young girl of ten years, I later learned that her name is Nyasha which means grace. I remember having seen Nyasha months before, she and her siblings walk from gate to gate asking for food or clothes or even if they can do any work around the house for a few dollars.
I knew that I had seen Nyasha before beacuse she was wearing a Jersey that had once belonged to my daughter Panashe who is also ten years old. The jersey was now coming apart perhaps due to being worn daily. I had not asked Nyasha the first time I met her anything about herself but this time I did and the story she told cut me to the heart!
Nyasha and her three siblings Jane 11, Takunda 13 (a boy), Gamu 14 (a girl) & her cousin Chiedza 11 (a girl) are all orphans who live with their elderly grandmother in the township of Epworth. They stay in a one room shack and their grandmother does not work. She cannot feed these children and at the same time she cannot throw her own blood out onto the street.
Jane, nyasha's sister joined us and also narrated their ordeal. She told me that only Takunda her brother goes to school, he has been able to find a sponsor but she, her other siblings and her cousins do not attend school. Instead, to put food on the table she and her siblings go from door to door begging and asking for work. They do this everyday of their lives in different suburbs.
I looked at these children, they seemed bright and really well mannnered. I dreaded to think what would happen to them should they loose their grandmother. I thought of this strong woman who has managed to keep this family together even through the hardest times. Sometimes people need help, some relief, this can get too much for anybody. I thought of the children and what their future holds.
I made a decision there and then that by January 2010 the beggining of the School year Nyasha, her siblings and her cousin need to be enrolloed in school. The grandmother needs help with food and also help with starting some income generating project as the kids will no longer be going door to door.
I am going to visit the childrens grandmother... Will keep you updated!
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
