Background: Mandisa is an older orphan (19) who has been cared for by the Prestbury Methodist church’s social ministry, called Matthew 25. Recently some of the funding ttt4c provides to Matthew 25 was used to send Mandisa on an HIV & AIDS counselling course.
This is her letter of thanks to ttt4c…
I write to thank you for the opportunity and support you have given me. This chance does not come to just anyone and I’m so grateful that I was given an opportunity to be part of the course.
For me the course was an eye opener and interesting. I now look at things different than I used to back then. Before I did the course I did not have much knowledge about HIV and AIDS – all I had was all these stereotypes about the disease and fearness, but as I came to the course I learned so much and the reality about AIDS; how its formed/transmitted and exactly what it is, so basically I studied it on a full basis.
I also learned about myself, how people look at me and how I react on certain situations, because we did a personal self growth at the Centre in the first week of the programme, which helped me to personally develop. Sometimes things were difficult because most of the things we talked about brought back past memories and grief but with the support and help of other members I learned to overcome them. This was such an interesting course, not only did I benefit for myself but with these skills I have hope to use it for the best of my community, because I come from a very disadvantaged community and people don’t have much knowledge and information about the disease so I hope to break all the stereotypes they have about AIDS.
This was the first step to my future career as a social worker and hope will be of benefit in the future.
Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity. May God help you and give you strength to continue the good work. I promise not to let you down.
Thank you so much!
Mandisa Gwala