Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Showers of support


Well this weekend has been crazy.  And as depressing as my last blog was, I have a few truly remarkable things to report.

The day after I had my vent session last, a few things happened which have reinforced for me how incredible of a community I am blessed to be a part of.

First of all, I work in a parish office, and this particular morning a bride came in and expressed her desire to donate her wedding gifts.  Now this is a young girl, just starting out.  It isn’t as if she has all the mixers and toasters that she needs; it was she wanted to shower people who aren’t as fortunate as she. So what she did was ask her guests to donate nonperishable food items, rather than a more traditional gift.  And wow, did her guest rise to the challenge.  She delivered several boots-full (trunk loads) of food for Masinyusane.  I was able to help deliver the food to the students whose families really did need it.  Now how selfless is this chick!  She was probably my age, choosing to put others before herself on a day that should be all about her.  Makes me renege some of the things I said last week :/
Here is Fiks and Jim showing off the wedding donations.

The other event that I have been busy with this week is twofold, and quite devastating.  A pair of twin girls from Lwandlekazi, my school, suffered a huge loss this weekend as their shack burned down.  Shack fires happen relatively often, as they are often made out of wood, and they are so close to each other.  One goes up, several go up.  Anyway, these girls were already orphaned and living BY THEMSELVES, trying to make it through school, and now absolutely everything is lost.  I mean everything they had, ablaze. Devastating.

We made a plea for support at church on Sunday, and literally I am blown away by the support.  Generosity beyond what I could have imagined.  Clothes, shoes, mattresses, building supplies, wood, blankets, food, other household goods that one needs, and money; showered with support.  My phone has literally been blowing up with people asking what they can do! 
I have included a link to our fundraising site.  Any and all donations go straight to Zizo and Zizipho.  If anybody is able to help, these girls need it!

So yaahh, the APARTheid lingers, but I’m not the only one who notices.  And I am surly not the only person who wants to help.  Despite the terrible fire that these girls had to go through, it really has been a reassuring week for me.

No comments:

Post a Comment