Welkom: Steunen op school

Welkom: Steunen op school
lizzinafrica:http://lizzinafrika.blogspot.com/

Welkom: Steunen op school

Welkom: Steunen op school

Support at school

As a result of the murder Friday last week (see posting: An unknown victim), we were invited by the director of the school where the boys go to.

The director asked if I was willing to speak to the students about what had happened.

So last Monday we went into the class room (grade 11) where the boy would normally have been.

All depressed faces of students who had just heard the news that their class mate had been stabbed.

After a short speech about the event and a question round, we tried to make clear that such act is completely senseless and that there can’t be any reason why someone would draw a knife to kill someone.

We hope and wish that the students have learnt something of the message.

Gunter

What a succes

Whitesunday... Mothering Sunday in the Netherlands... what to do on such a day?

Well, a few tremendous people, amongst whom Lizzy’s parents, two young men and a very nice lady who runs a café, decided to organize a 24 hours marathon in darts for the benefit of the crisis centre of Incognito Khulani Simunye.

The two men, Bart and Bart, would play during 24 hours against people who pass by in the café.

The marathon started on Sunday, May 11 at 2 p.m. and ended on Monday, May 12 at 2 p.m.

Success? Enormously ! A nice amount was gathered. Each participant paid €10 to play against one of the boys.

At the same time there was a tombola for which people could buy lottery-tickets.

If there was any enthusiasm and animation ? Sure there was! My dear mother and Veerle were also present and they would not have been good Belgians if they hadn’t poked fun on Dutch ground ! The picture shows it clearly enough.

Via this way I want to thank Bart & Bart and the dear lady of the café extra for what they did.

Also Lizzy’s parents who recommended our organization for the marathon.

We will certainly keep you updated.

Gunter

What to do with too many lemons?

Indeed !!! Deal out.

A few days ago we decided to deal out the surplus of lemons from the trees in our garden.

Lemon is a very welcome product for people in the townships. Especially children like it.

They eat Maize-pap every morning but it does not have much taste. It is very healthy but the white porridge causes disgust after a while when no extra taste is added.

So we can’t leave the kilo’s of lemons from our trees rot and we like to make people happy with them.

We drove out with a couple of friends and dealt the lemons out everywhere we met people.

The photo’s are self-explaining.

Gunter

An unknown victim

At 4 p.m. I got a phone call from a boy of the township, crying out for help. His friend had been attacked and stabbed with a knife and lied bleeding on the street.

At that moment we had just left the airport where we waved Lizzy’s parents out, and were at about 40 minutes from where the boy was lying.

We drove straight to the place and during the drive I made several phone calls to get a clearer idea of what had happened. I also told them to call the police and an ambulance, which they had done.

When we arrived after half an hour, three quarters of an hour, it was already too late: the boy had died meanwhile …

I called the police again while we were on our way …. 3 hours after the first phone call !!! – and the ambulance never showed up.

We looked after the boys and waited together with them for another 2, 5 hours before the inspector and a photographer arrived.

While we stood/sat waiting, the ideas in our head started to tumble. How is it possible that we are sooner on the spot than the police who have their base at a distance of only 15 minutes… Why doesn’t the ambulance arrive… What moves these boys to stab somebody cold-blooded… yes, it does happen, and mostly during the weekends we were told by the kind police officer… Especially alcohol is the evil-doer; the offenders would have been drunk according to witnesses…

A telephone rang and was handed over to the police inspector who on his turn handed it over to the boy that was being interviewed by another police man… it seemed to be the mother of the deceased boy… She was in Johannesburg… Imagine you get such news to hear as mother… tears come into my eyes.

A young life …17-18 years of age, a little heap on the asphalt road, lies peacefully with his arms crossed, eyes closed. It looked as if he could wake up every moment. I saw no wound, only a little rip in his T-shirt.

In the name of God, how is this possible?

A flash back to my own youth… have I ever known the feeling that I wanted to kill someone? Answer: ‘NO’, been angry, yes, wanted to smack someone’s head, yes… but to take someone’s life? I have never known that feeling.

After the officials had left, we took the boys to their home and remained talking with them for a while.

Gunter

Our thanks to an Incognito friend

A little boy of 9, physically and mentally disabled, lives with his grandmother on the flank of a mountain in a very small house. Someone of the community called me and told that there is “a problem” with the disabled little boy.

During my first visit I soon noticed that the life circumstances are not the best for this little kid. Something had to change here but I was happy to see that the family is really concerned about the boy and wants to treat him well.

The boy looked well cared for and the grandmother told me that she scrapes her last pennies together to buy neat diapers for the boy. What I did notice was that the boy had a rash on head and skin but the grandmother told me not to have enough money for a taxi to drive them to the nearest hospital.

The question was if we could do something. The boy needs special care and attention. A boarding school for disabled children would be ideal for this boy. There he would get the attention he needs and all medical care.

A visitor of Incognito Khulani Simunye accompanied us on a day we went to visit the boy and her heart was immediately stolen. She saw the needs and also the piteous life circumstances of the family.

After the visit she told me she had been so touched because she herself has experience with a son who is lightly autistic. She said she would like to help to find a solution for this boy.

We immediately got into action and made a first appointment with a doctor to examine the boy. This examination – assessment - has to take place before we can address schools.

Each school for disabled children asks for an ‘assessment’. This determines partly how big the handicap is so that an adapted programme can be made up.

The search took a while. It was more difficult than expected to find the right place for an examination. But we found it.

We also received the good news that part of the costs for the school will be born by a Dutch Incognito-friend.

Again a child that can look forward to a better future.

Gunter

Indeed a cow on visite

Apparently the cow had found an opening somewhere around the garden and smelled the fresh grass. There she stood, enjoying her meal in the burning sun.

I send you some pictures to illustrate it.

Gunter

Our first meeting

Weeks of thinking, weeks of consideration, weeks of arguing, weeks of strategy, planning, etc.

But at last it was up to that point! Our first official meeting to give our very first presentation on Incognito Kulani Simunye.

It didn’t take long before we chose the right people to come on board of the new organization. All people we invited are people that work with heart and soul for others in need.

And these are the people we need; they know and feel what is going on in the surroundings in which Incognito Khulani Simuyne works.

The presentation on Incognito was projected and we got full attention.

A short, clear presentation showed in a few minutes what Incognito stands for.

There was not much to add.

Simplicity. That’s what we like. Simple words and a clear picture. That is what works.

The people were quickly convinced and promised all to come in the governing board.

YES ! We are now really on our way. Papers will be signed during a next meeting; still a few formalities have to be handled and we exist officially and can from then on work under a registered name.

It feels so unreal. We are really achieving something. We have people who believe in our vision and think with us. I cannot describe the feeling. A “little idea” that I had is getting great and real: “Support and aid for communities”.

I am so thrilled that I wanted to post this immediately on my blog.

If you want to see the presentation, just send me a mail at uthando@telkomsa.net and I will send you the file.

A big warm hug !

Gunter

Let’s stop the time for a while

Once you reach a place where you are completely at ease and experience that the things you do are of essential human interest, then the feeling for time disappears entirely.
Regularly I hear myself say: “I should update my weblog, I must keep in contact with friends and family …” and each time “I make a plan” to start writing.
At last I can stop the time for a while and concentrate on writing out my experiences.

Today we are Sunday, 13 januarie 2008 (as my computer indicates in African). Summer here and winter at the other side of the earth.
Strange to hear that friends are going skiing or that people let you know they had to scratch the ice of their car window.
Temperature here is climbing above 32 degrees and we all walk around with as little cloths as decently possible.
A plunge in the water is welcome at every moment of the day.
Christmas period was very special. With temperatures of 25 degrees, Father(s) Christmas walk(s) around in terribly warm costumes to welcome the kids in their bathing cloths.
Through the corridors of shopping centres sounded “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” .. weird … very weird.
I have tried to create a Christmas feeling at home, a Christmas-tree with Christmas-balls and small lights … cosy but still no real Christmas sphere … on Christmas-day we sat with our feet in the swimming pool and the Christmas-tree stood lonely in the house.

While the festive period passes unnoticed, we are confronted with things that happen outside this Christmas-sphere:
again a rape
again a child disappeared
again a funeral
again a family ripped apart
again a maltreatment
again an infection
again a …

One could say that life goes on smoothly, again another …
This HAS TO stop, we cannot accept that people are abandoned to their fate and disappear in anonymity.
We have to use our energy in a different way, we must be woken up and realize what is all going on.
Het leven gaat weer gewoon zijn gangetje zou je kunnen zeggen, weer een zoveelste...

Fortunately I experienced over the last year that more and more people put their shoulder to the wheel to support their fellow-people.
Daily I meet people that take action to help other people.
Generally, these actions are small-scale and people keep control over their activities.
These people meet regularly to share their experiences.
This trend, i.e. that organisations and individuals meet and build links, is rather new.

It has meanwhile been proven that smaller aid organisations or even individuals work much more efficient than large groupings.
The involvement is much more intense and help is sooner offered thanks to this involvement. During these meetings, the various smaller workgroups get an idea of who they can contact when they encounter a problem that is not immediately part of their knowledge area.
From my own experience I learnt that one does not have to gather all knowledge within 1 organisation; you simply share the knowledge of all organisations.
This way, assistance is given much faster and more smoothly.
The last two months were pretty heavy with a lot to think about and give a place. A few people that came into my life with a request for help, died of the main disease AIDS/HIV.
Since I was so involved in the families, I helped them with the preparations for the funerals; a completely new experience to me: to discover how difficult the procedure is to organise a worthy funeral, the coldness with which people are treated though they just heard that their daughter/son/father/mother … has died; of course with a daily average of 10 patients dying, well … it gets a habit.

To lose people is always painful but the reason why they disappear can help to accept it but for me it is unacceptable to accept this reason. People do not have to die of AIDS/HIV, and we, all, point at the government. It is frustrating to hear that the ANC still (JANUARY 2008) denies that AIDS/HIV is a main problem in South Africa while every day thousands of people die of it.


But we may not give up. The individual needs our support, our understanding, our compassion, our help very hard.
Because we tell our stories, share our experiences, people get more conscious of the reality.
When I hear the stories of the volunteers I become very quiet, each time, but also happy that these stories will in the end reach people that are also willing to help.
I am convinced that more and more people are concerned about the situations in poorer parts of the world. The more this is known, the more help will be offered.
I also believe that governments are waking up and meet more and more with opposition because they want to smother up certain situations. More and more people in “high” positions are willing to make known what happens “behind the scenes”.
I don’t want to talk politics, but just want to inform that indeed things are changing.
And in order not to stop this improvement, we have to keep everyone alert.
Still much has to happen and there is still a lot of work to do to make the gap smaller.

When we all do what we feel we should do, then I am sure that a lot of problems will be solved in the near future.

Gunter