We happened to stop by a lunch place in a market place in Matata that has good internet service. So I will share with everyone a picture or two from two carepoints we visited this morning.
We were able to visit a “Mountain carepoint” this morning. It is not one of the two we heard about that are in really bad shape, but this is a small carepoint down a muddy road that exists somewhere in between the main road and the Mountains. It is within walking distance of the South African border on the South Eastern border of Swaziland. The kids here are young, and the parents leave them at home by themselves while they work from 5am to 5pm. Keep in mind 1 to 2 hours time one way added in for walking to and fro. Because the homes are so spread out in this part of the country, the children are literally by themselves when their mother leaves for work. Pastor Gift who started this carepoint recently found some Go-gos to get this carepoint running again, and currently support about 60 children with one meal per day. The children here are very quiet and shy. The lack of nurturing is quite evident. But a group of girls on an AIM mission trip for 3 months have been visiting this place regularly for eight weeks, and it is starting to make a difference. A little girl let me hold her, but her responsiveness was very very minimal for understandable reasons. This carepoint is available for a community partner.
Shy Sweet Sweet Little Girl from KnownToMe on Vimeo.
The members of the team had a great meeting last night to discuss each persons feelings and potential carepoint selections. Everyone wants to finish the trip before making a final choice. The target date for final selections is November 30th, but I have mentioned that our group will likely be ready to select a carepoint and get started as soon as possible on the paperwork. The initial step is to gather profile information on each child coming to the carepoint for meals on a regular basis. It can take a month or two to get this done. Once completed, we can get started on capital projects. For most of the carepoints, we need to start with a fence, kitchen and well. You don’t do anything without a fence in Africa. A kitchen helps with storage and feeding especially on rainy days. Based on economics of drilling wells here, they are drilled three at a time. When a well gets completed depends on when three wells are funded on the list.
Quick fact. They did AIDS testing at the clinic at an Nsoko care point and found 90% infection rate.
This afternoon we are planning to split into three groups and do home visits with people who live near Pastor Gift in Nsoko.
