When travelling through the nostalgic area of Prestbury in Pietermaritzburg, you sense the strong influence of the old English Colonial time. On the eastern side of the mountain you appreciate the modern suburb with its well cared for gardens and houses, but as you reach the top of the hill called ‘Place of the pipes’, a totally different escarpment awaits you.
Valley after valley, you see informal houses made from mud and wooden sticks. In between you spot some goats and sheep, some new building activities to upgrade local houses and schools.
Then the community worker awaits us along the road and she greets us all and accompanies us to the first house. We see a humble house, somewhat neater than the others around.
There is some green grass in front of the humble home, even some flower beds. The community worker enters the house first and asks permission for visitors. As we enter, we are humbled by their simple existence with very cramped and over-used space as well as their very old delapidated furniture. And then one makes the discovery – it’s the house and garden of a blind man!
We are introduced to his wife, and 6 month old baby girl – Paradise! For some reason, you suddenly look differently at the inside of the house. He shares with us that he loves the smell of flowers and the feel of ground between his fingers. He loves gardening and he has enough ground to have a vegetable garden, but the goats are a problem as they roam freely and destroy anything that looks green! We have a short Zulu prayer time and humbly greet the small, but content family.
The next stop is at a young girl, about 21years of age (but looks as if she is 16 years) with her brother of about 7 years of age. They are asked why the brother is not in school as it is a Monday and a school day – the response is simple, but yet it tells the sad reality of a system not friendly to the suffering of children like these. The weather did not permit them to wash the school shirts over the weekend as it was raining and the school would not allow him in without a clean shirt.
This was a family of 6 children – the youngest 5 years of age, and the oldest 26. Their parents passed away in December 2007 and the oldest one was the only one working and generating an income to buy food and basic supplies. They explained the state of their house as it was obvious that it was burned. They told the story of staying in the mud-hut of 4 m² as the house was burned downed by villains from the village. Child-headed families like these often get scorned at and excluded from the bigger community because of the myths of HIV and AIDS.
We then stopped by some more mud-huts where we met Nozipho and her young baby boy. She was coughing badly and the community worker shared with us that she was diagnosed with TB and HIV and she would be starting her ARV treatment the next Friday. She was actively involved in the sowing project initiated by the SEED church before she fell ill. We prayed with her and left. We received the sad news 4 weeks later that she had passed away. She did not start her ARV treatment as her CD4 count was too low by the time she was advised to start with it.
We drove a bit further down the valley and stopped once again to visit another family that was ministered to by the community worker and the SEED Church. We had to walk about 150 metres to the house and as we walked, we saw many graves in between the informal houses and we heard many more stories of people from this community that were assisted by community worker and the SEED Church initiatives. When we arrived at the house, we were informed that the family was still grieving after the funeral the previous Saturday of the father of the house.
Here we met Oluhle – a very friendly little boy struggling with cerebral palsy. With each click of the camera, we would just get a bigger and bigger smile. He and his family were assisted by a physiotherapist that visited them to guide them in exercises that would assist him in his development.
We were overwhelmed by what we saw in this community. Our hearts filled with great admiration for the work done by the SEED Church and their community worker, but also with a sense of humbleness as we realize that the work is huge, but by one hut at a time, day after day and with new mercies from the Lord everyday, the work gets done, and the community gets encouraged, uplifted and empowered.