August 11, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The days are getting warmer, and spring is almost here ...  but the nights are still cold! My roommate leaves to go home August 17, I will surely miss Monica.  Please keep me in your prayers, I am not scared to stay by myself in the valley but I am I concerned about being lonely.

There were some pretty happy Gogos (grandmothers) this past week.  We were able to give out many brightly colored scarves ...thank you Laura for sending them again this year...it was like Christmas for them.  On Monday, I am meeting with about 20 more old Gogos who take care of their orphaned grandchildren...they will be thrilled when they receive a scarf... they are always such a hit. 
We also purchased some scissors for them, they are working on a sewing project and are using one kitchen knife to cut their scarps of material.   We take so much for granted.

Tuesday night - August 14, 2007

Today has been one of the most emotionally draining days since I arrived here. Not sure I have the words to properly describe it. The day started early this morning taking a young woman to our rural clinic, she is in her late twenties, very sickly; because of meningitis she no longer can see or hear and is experiencing some paralysis. She has two children and one of her children is also sickly. Both mother and child are HIV positive. We parked our truck on the side of the road and walked down a very steep hill with no defined path to her home. She was unable to walk, so Mildred and I carried her to the vehicle. We left her at the clinic with her mother and told her we would be back later to get her and bring her back home. We still had another home visit to make.

This other home was even further out; again we parked on a dirt path and walked in. This woman was living with her sister in a run down mud hut that was falling apart; they had seven children between the two of them! No food in the house. She was also not able to walk on her own, we offered to carry her down the hill but her sister said she would carry her sister on her back to the truck. Her young son was home and we noticed he had oozing sores on his legs, we offered to take him to the clinic with us. We later learned that both sisters were HIV positive. I have never witnessed such "sisterly love" - what will happen to all those children?

It took all I had to not get all teary eyed in front of them. After dropping them off at the clinic we made a fast trip home to empty our cupboards and gathered food and clothing to take back with us. By late afternoon we were able to return everyone back home. Had it not been for Mildred, there was no way possible for these people to get to the clinic. We still had one more home visit to make before dark, when we arrived at the home we were told the woman was not home, she was making funeral arrangements for her daughter that had just died of AIDS. It will be a long time before sleep will come to me tonight, I wish I had a magic wand and could make all the sadness go away for these wonderful people.
Love,
Maureen

How You Can Help:

To contribute to this work, please send a tax deductible donation to:

Our Journey, Inc.
Fred Mills, CPA, LLC
Route 4, Box 3133
Townsend, Georgia 31331

  www.ourjourneyinc.org

August 30, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The past two weeks have been pretty hectic. My roommate Monica and another good friend Libby has left to go back home. I will certainly miss them, although I am not afraid to live here by myself, I do worry about being lonely. Last week I mentioned to Mildred that I would like to teach English to the 4 young girls that play in front of my house every day after school. English is spoken every place in South Africa except the Zulu valleys. If they are ever to have a job they must know some English. She readily agreed and said that it was a great idea and she would handle telling the four children in Zulu about it. WELL, something got lost in the translation, over 50 children from 1st to 8th grade showed up at my house! Mildred just smiled and said, "It will be fine." I am hoping to learn some Zulu in the process, I will keep you updated on how it goes. Check out the picture of them all leaving my house - you have to smile, I am!

Last week Thulile, one of the local community helpers I work with asked me if she could come to my house early evenings to learn how to use my computer. She is incredibly smart, we are now into to the second week and she is doing great.

On a sadder note, we have been involved in two rape cases the past two weeks, one, a four year old girl was raped by a 15 year old boy. Police were involved in taking the child to the hospital where it was confirmed she had been raped many times. The police told the mother that the case is closed; the child is too withdrawn to testify against the 15 year old boy. Can you imagine that it was left that way, the mother asked would we please help her. Last week we took her to see a child advocate and we were advised to take her to a counselor for therapy. We took her on Monday and were told the case had been referred to them at the time she was first seen at the hospital. No one, including the hospital or the police told the mother this.

This is not one isolated case, there are so many more, even if the mother had been told this information before she would not have had the money for a Combi (local taxi) to take her child to the city to see a counselor. I find it so hard to accept that even when you have the answers that you think will and should work, they don't always work here. Combis carry about 20 people at a time all squashed in together. They are not always the safest way to travel. They only operate on the main road in the valley and never at a specified time, you just stand in the road and wait. Coming home you have to wait at a taxi stand in the city (which is very unsafe) until it is full and going your way. Most trips to the nearest city require you to take two different taxis. It is usually an all day affair and very very tiring. At the end of the day they get dropped off on the main road and usually have many miles to walk on a dirt road to their home. Nothing is easy here. Thankfully, she will continue to see the counselor and Our Journey will take care of the transportation cost.

Check out the pictures of children at school. Notice they do not all have the same color uniforms on. This is highly unusual in South Africa and shows just how poor this school is. Today, Our Journey dropped off some clothing for their families. These children are precious and have captured my heart. I am thankful to be here!

Maureen

How You Can Help:

To contribute to this work, please send a tax deductible donation to:

Our Journey, Inc.
Fred Mills, CPA, LLC
Route 4, Box 3133
Townsend, Georgia 31331

  www.ourjourneyinc.org