Looking Forward
In April of this year, a missionary named Kyle Quarterson asked Ten Thousand Homes to get involved in a local community called Dwaleni. Kyle has been building relationships in Dwaleni with an organization called Sizanani Home Based Care. Sizanani Home Based Care started in 1999 and currently consists of fifteen dedicated female volunteers. Earlier this year, Kyle helped Sizanani HBC purchase a house in Dwaleni. The volunteers have a vision for the house to some day be a hospice center.
Jeremy, Michael, Carla, and myself went to Dwaleni a few times to build relationships with the volunteers. We asked them to draw a map of Dwaleni and give us an assessment/insight into their community. They told us the biggest challenges they face as caregivers center around poverty, HIV/AIDS, alcohol abuse, unemployment, and sexual abuse of children. We learned there aren’t any other organizations working with orphans and vulnerable children in Dwaleni. They ladies told us they’d like to start a feeding program every Thursday afternoon for the orphans and vulnerable children.
The past few months we’ve sent visiting teams to help fix up the house recently purchased in Dwaleni. Currently, Kyle and the volunteers want the house to be a youth center. In June, we met with Kyle again to inform him Ten Thousand Homes would help Sizanani HBC establish a feeding program at the new house every Thursday. The feeding program began on July 16th and about 40 children attended. Since then the number of children coming keeps growing. This past week 193 children were present!
A local pastor named Augustine comes every week to teach the children a bible lesson during the feeding program. We are excited about working in Dwaleni and the new relationships we are building.
By Keri Dodge
Photos by Jen Price
