Katlehong Update

Last week I had to write up reports for some of our sponsors about the families we are helping in Katlehong. I thought I would share some of them with you.

This is a family whose mother has died. The grandfather is raising the children but they have nothing. Its really sad. In South Africa, children have to wear uniforms to school. These children don't have the money to purchase them. This means that they get in trouble and are made fun of at school. The grandfather has been trying to get government grants for money but has been unable to get them because he does not have birth certificates for the children. He's been trying to get the birth certificates but has been getting the run around. Thats a very common issue here.

This is a family we are helping to feed and provide housing for. They are very sweet children and all have big dreams for their lives. Two want to be doctors and one wants to be a certified accountant. The sad part is that in reality those are probably impossible dreams. The education in the townships is not what it should be and in there is probably little chance that they could come up with the money to pay for any kind of higher education. I asked the one girl what made her life different then other peoples. She responded that others live in nice homes while there's is small and in her words 'not so nice'. She said the most difficult thing was when her mom didn't have enough money to send her lunch and she had to go into the kitchen at school and ask for food. Its hard for us to imagine not having enough money to give our kids a lunch to take to school.

These children are being raised by their grandmother. She is a very old woman. All of her children have died and she is the only one left to care for the children. This is a very common thing in South Africa. The issue becomes what happens to them when the grandmother dies? Many of these children are left to raise themselves.

Sobering Statistics About AIDs

1. Worst Epidemic in History: In the fourteenth century, the Black Death struck Europe, wiping out a third of the population. Early in the twentieth century, influenza killed 30 million people in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Today, a new and terrible epidemic is ravaging Africa. If nothing is done, an estimated 55 million Africans will die an early death from AIDS by 2020”.
2. Worst Health Problem in the World: “HIV/AIDS is arguably the worst health problem facing the world UNAIDS/WHO estimated in December 2003 that 34-46 million people were living with the virus. Of these, 4.2-5.8 million had been infected in the previous year. Approximately 10 men, women and children were infected with HIV every minute in 2003. More than 23 million people have lost their lives to the virus, an estimated 2.5-3.5 million in the last year alone” (p.12).
3. One of the Seven top diseases in Africa and Southeast Asia: “In 2001, nearly two-thirds of all deaths among children and young adults (0-44 years) in Africa and Southeast Asia were due to seven diseases: AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea diseases, measles, acute respiratory infections, and maternal/prenatal conditions. The combined death toll from AIDS, TB, and malaria alone was roughly 6 million for the year, including infants, young children, mothers, and fathers in their productive years of life”.
4. 40,000,000 AIDS Orphans by 2010: “Current estimates indicate that there could be as many as 40 million orphans due to HIV/AIDS by the year 2010. This number does not include those who are caring for parents who are chronically ill due to HIV/AIDS”.
5. Widows and Orphans: “…the AIDS epidemic, a scourge that already has killed 25 million people, robbed 14 million children of parents, and turned 10 million wives into widows-many of them sick and desperate to find someone to care for their children when they die, too” (p.247).
   

Source:
The Hope Factor: Engaging the Church in the HIV/AIDS Crisis. Ed: Yamamori, Tetsunao, David Dageforde, and Tina Bruner. Federal Way, WA: Authentic Media/World Vision (A division of OM), 2003.

So I am officially old :) I went to a concert Friday night (Tree63) and kept thinking all night, "Does it need to be this loud?" Tree63 was great but why are warm up bands so bad?