shock and awe

their simple table with all the crockery they own!

i am really sorry for those of you who might think i am blowing my own trumpet but this blog is a place where we are able to share our day to day experiences with the wider world and although i must say that i'm not proud of the photos that i am sharing with you today what i hope to do is to raise the plight of those that God has sent us to help here in grabouw.

two adult ladies were sharing this single bedstead
their life possessions were held on the table or
under the simple bed.

a famous american once used the words 'shock and awe' about military power, i hope that this post will provide a 'shock and awe' to the millions, if not billions, of us who think we have a hard life.

over the last couple of days we have been able to bless a few people, who have been highlighted by our thembacare team, with some of the tin (zinc) sheets which we have been able to collect from a local friend. that was until i visited the home that i found in our waterwerks informal settlement caused me to question how anyone could live in such poverty and squallier and by handing out a couple of sheets of tin would hardly do the house any favours.

the shack is a home to a mother and daughter who are known to our thembacare palliative home based care team and without going into too much detail it was one of the most shocking places that i have ever experienced.

we were able to help with support from another amazing NGO called siphle sonke and rallying the troops in the community around the ladies we provides her with some clean clothes, hot water and hygiene products which were received with open arms. we were then able placed her into the care of my good friend who provided her with some hot food and a roof for the night.

placing her in the care of my friend in the community

this weekend we hope that we will be able to provide the community with some poles, tin sheets and materials which will help them to tear down the existing structure and build the ladies a new home...it's hard not to want to do everything for people but to be able to help support those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS or TB in our community is what we are called to do and via thembacare and the village of hope we trust that we are doing that in a very practical way.