Community Efforts Making a Difference

 Today we were introduced to a community of out-reach programs.  We began at  KwaNobuhle LoveLife Y-Centre.   I will go in more description of this youth center after tomorrow, our last day.  We are fortunate to spend three days with this group of people.   Our next stop was visiting South African National Council for the Blind.    This program is located in the community complex where they frequently hold boxing matches.  However, in the back, there is one cold dark room where Thandile Gladile and her "driver"  do their work.    Thandile explained that most of the time they are not in this office but out in the community working with the site impaired. Since she is blind, she truly believes that a blind person is capable of doing everything but drive.  She shared with us how she instructs a blind person to vote because voting is personal and one could not just tell someone who they want to vote for for fear that the person may mark the candidate they like instead.  She is also responsible for teaching them to do daily life skills and to be successful with other skills like knitting, making jewelry and leather belts.  We were able to to purchase some of the beautiful jewelry from her.  I think the greatest impact for me was the fact that they have a hard time getting walking sticks for the blind.  I will make a difference when I return to the states by raising money to purchase  white walking sticks for this community program.

Voting ballot for the blind from 2014

Our group with Thandile Gladile and friend in front of  complex

 We walked to our next location: Phaphamani Rape and Crisis Center for Women.  This center provides counseling and assistance  for women and children when domestic violence or rape or any other problems arrive that are endangering the family.  They often will have community "soup kitchens" to help feed the people and they make many visits into the homes to provide the counseling and proper training for those in need.

 Next we walked to Amadoda Okkwenene, a center for men.  Their purpose and programming include: Fatherhood program, Community Education (Domestic Violence & Alcohol/Drug Abuse), Facilitate life Skilss, Promotion of family life, Khala Ndoda (support groups) Xenxele Mngani (mentorship program for youth).  Two things that really stood out while Mandie was talking to us was, one, men can cry.  They do feel pain and hurt and they too deserve to know their rights. And two, What is better, to close the tap or just wipe up the water?  It is not useful to wipe up the water if the tap is still running.   They don't want to just  make things look better, they want to help fix the problems.  Today was again another humbling day.  I admire these groups of people that volunteer their time to make a difference in their community.  Their efforts are not going unnoticed.   My prayer is that they continue to seek and find support to keep their community out-reach programs up and running and that the people will seek their help when it is needed.

Leaving class and going back to our rooms for the day.  

To finish off our day, we traveled back to NMMU for another one of our Xhosa language lessons.  We are preparing for our work in Emafini Primary School this Friday.