The Journey - Final Day

Today is our last day of the journey. We started and ended our day by delivering food parcels to the senior center. We had the opportunity to listen to Linda Kelsey read a story to the seniors and then proceeded to serve them lunch. Immediately after lunch we handed out food parcels, as they also have been hit hard with the hardships of HIV. Many of their kids have died and have left behind their kids to be cared for.

This is the last day of our blog. Our hearts will always be here in spirit to the many people that we have met in South Africa. It will take several days to comprehend all that we have seen, heard and experience. And since we now own what we have seen, heard and experienced, we can only continue helping one day at a time!

The Journey - Day 7

We started out with a visit to the home of one first Monkey Biz creators. It was nice to see so many people bringing in their personal pieces of work in order to create a better life for them and their families. This is the premises of Monkey Biz.

This also gave us the opportunity to walk around the township and visit some of the residences of the people that sell their work to Monkey Biz. It was great to see that many of these people have been able to improve their financial status.

Then we went on to Philani Employment - another business opportunity for people to create and sell textiles, such as, placemats, bags and rugs. We then went over to TAC (Treatment Action Campaign) to learn about their opportunities & challenges with the people of Khayelitsha that are living with HIV, TB or other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Journey - Day 6

Today was the day for food parcels at the Zawanie Center. We started at the Makro's (Costco) to buy all the supplies for the buckets that were going to be delivered. It took 2 trucks to haul all the supplies to the center in Gugeletu.

We then separated all the supplies into the buckets, which included some of these items; flour, sugar, rice, beans, cornmeal, chicken and sweets for the children. It took awhile, but was amazing how we all worked in harmony...It was rewarding to hear the HIV support group do a play and sing for us as a token of appreciation.


Then we were off to a local restaurant in Gugeletu that was out of this world - we actually had the restaurant to ourselves at 6 o'clock at night. Pretty cool...and this will be a day that will require us to mentally process over time.

The Journey - Day 5

Today was another day that was focused on learning about the South African culture. We hiked up to Monkey Biz and Street Wire which are two organizations that help with HIV infected people. Monkey Biz is a non-profit that sustains people in the townships with HIV for gainful employment (buys their personal work) and Street Wire, actually employs people from the townships.

We then moved on to Robin Island. It is so hard to even imagine the hardships that these political prisoners encounter during their stay at the island. We had the pleasure of having the tour with two of the 11 prisoners still living and working on the island. As we all can imagine, it must be hard to be working on an island that kept you prisoner for so long, but they simply view it as a way to give back to make sure that this does not happen again in our lifetime. As they put it, you know that you can leave...

Tomorrow, we are off to Guguletu to pack and deliver the food parcels.

The Journey - Day 4

The day started out with a lovely breakfast and then we were off to Sunday service at the Zwanie Center in Guguletu. This is one of those experience that can only be told if you are in there in person, both spiritually and physically. It was truly amazing to see people that have so many hardships still have so much faith, love and happiness.

Just seeing the kids enjoying the service, eating their chips, yogurt and a few lollipops. Here, kids were being kids, parents were being parents that loved their kids and all enjoyed seeing the photographs of the ones they love.
We then left and continued our day by visiting the open air markets to help support the local economy and to Larry's delight, he was not referred to as my father...

Today is a rather emotional day as it is hard to truly put a perspective on the lives of the people that are affected by HIV and extreme poverty. You just do not know where to even begin; financially, emotionally, spiritually or even simply trying to roll up your sleeves to help...