Youth For Christ

Life is very difficult for some women as they need to raise their children without the support of the children’s father. This young lady (21 years) came to our drop in centre with two children, a girl and a boy. They are very emaciated and I can say beyond doubt that they are suffering from kwashiorkor and this is attested by their swollen bellies. “I am afraid that they might die in front of me because I don’t have money to take care of them”, this is what the mother said. She told us that the father of the first child passed away and father of the second one is still alive, but she does not know his whereabouts. We decided to refer this case to Child Welfare and it was attended by a very competent Social Worker. He also noticed that both kids have never been immunized before. He decided to take them to a children’s place of safety and the court process with their mother is still pending.

Uncle, for how long am I going to be confined in this room? Will I be able to get a descent life like all my peers? Is there anything ingenious and lucrative I can do just to keep my self busy everyday? These are the questions that were asked by Paul, a young boy who was stabbed in the spinal cord after an incident which left him in a wheel chair. The hope this young man displayed when you talk to him is overwhelming. To partially answer these questions we decided to organise a mentor (beading mentor) who was going to teach him bead work. When we visited him to tell him the commencement date for his training, to our amazement he told us that he has eventually found the school where he will undergo training in hand work.
After three years of a difficult life, Paul did not loose hope. Deep down in his heart he knew that what happened to him happened for a reason. He knew that God has a purpose for his life and this is attested by the desire he has to develop personally irrespective of his condition. God will never forsake us if we have trust, hope and persevere in Him.

Confide in the right people, it will be kept confidential, and you will receive help

Some children suffer mentally, physically, spiritually and psychologically because they are
reluctant to disclose detrimental conditions they live under in their homes and in the community.
Most of the time children are afraid of people who inflict pain on them. Failure to tell other people
their adverse home conditions is due to the fact that the person they disclose it to, might tell the

perpetrator. Two young boys lost their parents and their parent’s documents. They were taken by a woman who promised to apply for the foster care grant for them, which she did. Initially things went well because she was supporting them with basic needs and paying for their education. However, she stopped to support them without an apparent reason. When they approached her she threatened them. This woman is known for doing terrible things to other people in the community and they were afraid of her. With a good approach and determination to assist, we managed to give these young people freedom (constructively convinced) to express their feeling thereby managing to find out how difficult their life really is. We have referred this case to local community development committee and they are working on it.

Sam is a 21 year old female with a difficult past that has turned into a bright future.

Sam grew up in an informal settlement in Northdale. Her mother attempted to support her and her four sisters in a crowed home without a proper job as their father was not known. She didn’t attend school very often as there was no money for the safety of necessary transport to school. Sam was losing hope, with a lacking education and a poor home situation the future was looking rather bleak.

In 2001 Khayalethu helped Sam by taking her into their girls shelter. This helped her in various ways. She learnt and was taught English, learnt how to look after and care for herself and it provided a consistent education. Sam really enjoyed her time at the Khayalethu girls shelter. In 2002, from a relationship that Sam built with an international volunteer in the Youth Development Centre Program whilst in the girls shelter, Sam was sponsored to go to boarding school. There she started attending church and got to further her education.

Sam is now currently in her 1st year at Edendale Nursing College studying a Diploma in nursing which is a 4 year diploma. She is hoping to focus in Midwifery. She is still living with her family and she is able to support them. As part of her studies Sam has applied for a government allowance which helps support her whilst she is studying and cover costs of things like expensive books.
Firstly, Sam is really grateful to Youth for Christ and Khayalethu for taking her into the girl’s shelter in 2001 where she really enjoyed her time there learning so much and receiving hope. She also wants to thank the international volunteer for continuing to support her through boarding school and encouraging her to be responsible for herself and her family now that she has completed school.

Sam has hopes of travelling overseas after working for a couple of years after her studies. fin.

Londi is a single mother raising two small children. Londi however, is struggling to feed her children. She has HIV and is unable to breastfeed her baby, and is struggling to buy formula for her baby. Things were not always this way though. Londi originally came from Matatiele, in the Eastern Cape. However in 2006 due to the unforeseen death of her mother who was providing for Londi’s family; Londi was forced to relocate to Pietermaritzburg where some of her relatives are living. Londi’s support grant for her children was cancelled as she moved provinces, leaving Londi and her family with no source of income and no means to provide the basic necessities for her children.
Londi tried to obtain a grant for her two children when she came to Pietermaritzburg, but was unsuccessful in her attempts. She visited the Civic Centre but she did not receive assistance until she came to the Swapo community centre, where Youth for Christ community workers were able to intervene on her. The Khayalethu staff promptly guided Londi to a principal social worker who was able to assist with Londi’s case.
Through the intervention of the Youth for Christ staff, Londi is now due to receive child grants for her two children at the end of August. This will enable her to provide adequate and more nutritious food for herself, to help fight off opportunistic infections and to provide food for her children. The grants will give her hope for a much brighter future.

The Khayalethu Community Program facilitated a very splendid family strengthening camp at L’Abri in July 10-11, 2009. This camp was attended by three parents, three children per community (eighteen campers) and three staff members. One of the expectations of the camp was to create a broad understanding of the rights and responsibilities for children and parents. The other expectation was to create an environment where the parents can interact with their children; therefore improve their ability to give and to receive love.
The facilitation of the camp by the L’Abri staff was just what was needed to get the children and parents participating actively during the camp.
At the end of the camp there was a sharing session with the campers. The feedback of what the campers had learnt was very positive. The feedback confirmed that the purpose /expectations of the camp had been achieved. One of the tasks that lie ahead for the community work team is to ensure that the lessons learnt at this camp are maintained and enhanced into the future.

Minenhle is an 11year old girl with a past that not many can imagine. She was staying with her mother (Nelli) at Swapo in Pietermaritzburg until her father took her to Inkandla on the North coast of KwaZulu Natal. As Minenhle’s mum was not working, she could not reclaim her child despite numerous attempts. The mother found it was difficult to report the matter to the police as she did not have an identity document at the time. She was told by the police that this was her only option to prove her parental status.

Whilst in Inkandla, Minenhle was repeated raped by her uncle. This abuse was ongoing and unnoticed for a number of years causing Minenhle massive psychological and physical damage. When the child worked up the courage to alert her grandmother about the situation, her grandmother attempted to protect her son (the uncle) and blame it on a man who had mental disabilities. In December 2008, Minenhle’s father brought her back to her mother.

Minenhle hid the horrors from her mother about the abuse that she had repeatedly suffered at the hands of her uncle. Thoughts of committing suicide had entered her mind. Minenhle’s mother was only alerted to the situation when she noticed discharge on her daughter’s underwear. This enabled the child to finally tell her mother the memories she was trying to suppress.

Nelli was very distraught and did not know who to talk to about Minenhle’s situation. Nelli took Minenhle to a social worker who in turn referred the case to Khayalethu. Khayalethu took the matter to Child Welfare and to Childline. Minenhle will now receive professional help from Childline social workers.
Due to this trauma, Minenhle had stopped attending school; however with the help of Khayalethu and social workers she has now begun the long journey of reclaiming her life and is looking towards a better future.

Last year the outreach team registered four young people from the streets to an adult centre to attend ABET (Adult Basic Education and Training).

One of these young people who was reported to be disciplined and doing very well; progressed so much that he was later registered for the security course. He passed that course and has recently been registered with the Security Regulatory Council. It has been a long road for this young person to move from the streets and be equipped with the skills for life. He has not just been given opportunities to find employment but opportunities to be able to live with people around him as an equal. The outreach team had been very committed to this boy’s development and he took the opportunities presented to him and ran with them. This is a step towards the right direction to a brighter future for this young person. fin.

The outreach team registered four young people from the streets with an adult education centre where they attend ABET (Adult Basic Education and Training). These young people’s standard of education is very low. They would need to improve their literacy and numeracy before they are able to attend any skills training course.

One of these young people is doing very well and is very disciplined. He is able to manage his time without much supervision and shows commitment to his school work. Since he started attending classes, he has deliberately avoided contact with most of his peers in order to stay focused. He is also no longer living on the streets. This is, hopefully, the first step towards the right direction to a better future. fin.

The community team intervened swiftly after getting the reports that two toddlers were locked up in the house day and night by their drunkard father. The community workers went to this house for a visit and found the house locked. On the second visit the father was there but refused to cooperate with them. The community workers pleaded with him to allow the children to be taken to a welfare agency where they can be given the care that they need since he was not able to look after them. This father is unemployed and spends most of his time drinking. After realising that the father was not going to agree the community workers went to the Community Marshals to report the matter. The Community Marshals helped the community workers to gain entrance into the house and removed the two year old boy and a four year old girl from the house. The children were taken to one of the child and youth care facilities and the social workers are dealing with their case. Their father came to the centre very angry with the community workers but eventually calmed down. He asked about his children’s whereabouts and the community workers gave him the information of who to speak to. He has since had a meeting with the social workers who are handling the case of his children. fin.

Four boys in the Khayalethu project received a privileged opportunity to participate in one of the soccer matches for the Vodacom Challenge Cup as mascots. Mascots are children that escort players as they enter the field of play before the actual game begins. This opportunity of a lifetime was made possible through the sponsorship of Nike South Africa who had been contacted by Khayalethu aftercare worker, Derrick Mabaso.

Derrick identified these children from the different programs that are facilitated by the Khayalethu project and one of the requirements was that the children must have a passion for football and be under the age of 10years old. Most of these children don’t even have access to watch a soccer game on TV. It is opportunities like this one that gets young people to dream and to be inspired; it also helps young people to know that their lives matters. fin.

Some of the children who are the clients in the aftercare program lost their family home through the fire. The aftercare program has been supporting this family with clothing donations and food parcels. We give thanks for the financial blessings from YDC (international volunteers) towards rebuilding the house. The staff and the volunteers in the aftercare program have also been actively involved in the rebuilding of the house. We are grateful for the tangible and practical ways in which the aftercare program can assist this family. fin.

The Khayalethu family experienced a very difficult time with the passing away of Mama Thandi late in April. Mama Thandi was a Child and Youth Care worker in Khayalethu and one of the most experienced staff in the project.

Her passing away has left a huge gap in the lives of the young people she worked closely with both in the shelter and her colleagues who looked up to her as the older sister and mother combined in one person.

Khayalethu staff have been very supportive to the shelter team during their time of loss. Most people have gone out of their way to take on extra tasks and responsibilities, which we are so grateful for. fin.

The Municipality has given the Khayalethu project the permission to use the old change rooms next to the sports grounds within the Masukwane community as the Drop-in-Centre.

The Khayalethu outreach team will now have a new venue to facilitate activities with the young people in and around the Masukwane community. This will assist in keeping the young people occupied with developmental and educational activities. It will also keep the young people away from the destructive behaviours on the streets. The outreach team will also be able to have a proper place to do assessments and counselling with the young people and therefore address issues before they become huge problems.

Khayalethu will be piloting a new intervention process with the older youth on the street this year. The population of the older youth on the street is on the rise and there are currently no programmes that address the needs of this specific group of young people. The Khayalethu project has received a lot of encouragement and support for this programme from most of the key stakeholders in the city.

A meeting was organised last year between Khayalethu and TPA school to address the issues of a young boy and his mother. The mother has no income and was struggling to support her son and her other baby. Also the environment where the family was staying was very bad and it was believed that it would adversely affect the boy and the whole family. Together with Khayalethu, the school was able to offer the mother a job working at the school a couple of times a week for a few hours. This provided her with some pocket money and milk for the baby. The boy will also bring supper home from school each afternoon so that both he and his mother will have something to eat. The mother also agreed to return back to family in Bulwer so that the environment was more stable and so the boy, with the help of Khayalethu, could register at his new school. The boy is now consistently attending school and he is very excited since the meeting with him and his mother.