The faith of an empty hand

Here are some of the stories of the people I have met and grown to love. They are mostly sad stories, but they are all recieving help, so please keep that in mind.

Beacuse this is a public site, I have changed the names out of respect for privacy.

Thato

Thato is one of my colleagues at Bokoro High School, and is a a very quiet and hardworking teacher. He approached me about a month after my arrival and told me part of his story. He is 30 years old and is married and has 2 children. After graduating from high school he looked for work for 6 years before taking a 3 year course in business studies. While he was in school, his wife, who was supporting them, became ill and he had to drop out of school to find work. He volunteered at a primary school for 2 years before being hired as a private teacher at Bokoro. Because he is not a qualified teacher, he has no job security and could lose his job at any time. He and his wife live together in the village where she attends grade 11. Their children are cared for by his wife's mother and they visit them when they can, but his mother has breast cancer, so he is often going to check on her in his home village. As we talked he shook his head, "Everything is Lesotho is hard," he said softly. He worries constantly about money and employment as is children are approaching school age and he will only have money to send one to school. He isn't eligible for any post secondary scholarships as they are only given to full time students, and needs to continue working to support his family. In our culture, in Canada, hard work is usually rewarded. Here, unemployment is so widespread that a person can spend years and years trying to find a job, to no avail. I wrote home and my friends in Canada, young professionals who are also married with children, have pooled enough money to pay for a correspondance course for Thato. Thanks to them, he will be able to study from home in the evenings and do a business diploma that he hopes will provided more opportunities for him. When I told him that there was money for his course he gave me a wide smile. "I am so happy, "he said. "Thank you."


Mpho

Mpho is in Form A ( grade 8). She is a slight little thing and I first met her when I took her picture for Help Lesotho because she was going to reacive a new uniform through the Grannies Fund. She was very embarassed to have her photo taken and took time to try and adjust the torn seams on her dress. Mpho is also a talented athlete and runs in that track meets. One day as we were practising the 200m, she took a bad fall and scraped herself up quite badly. This provided time for us to get to know one another as I changed her bandages for three days. She is one of 6 children (the eldest) and they are very poor. Both her school fees and her uniform were made possible through the Grannies Fund. Her father works contracts, so money is not always available and at the time he had been sick and in hospital. I began to notice that she was frequently absent, and when I asked, she said that she had TB, but was on meds and was feeling better. One day, before a track meet, she came to my door to ask for money to pay the fee for the track meet. She promised to pay it back by the end of the month. I am not permitted to give out money (it leads to many problems), but was able to arrange her fee through the school. When I asked her why she didn't tell the school about her problem she became very embarrassed and said, "No Madam, please don't tell them. You know me, and so I don't mind asking you. But they don't know me." I assured her that it was ok to tell the school, but she was still very embarrassed, so I told her I wouldn't tell them her name. Since that day I tried to arrange for her to eat breakfast at the school, but again, she was too embarrassed to come. She later told me that she would like to come to Canada with me to learn English and to be a good athlete. This kid has totally broken my heart as she is everything you want a student to be. She participates, she works hard, she laughs and has friends. I hope that we will stay in touch.

Morobe

I noticed Morobe at the very beginning of my time at Bokoro because he had a problem with one of his eyes. Most kids, outwardly, look very healthy. So I was drawn to him beacause he seemed uncomfortable. I spoke with the orphan lead at the school and she told me that he lived with his mother and so we she talk to her about his eyes. Upon further investigation we learned that in fact his mother had gone to Soweto in South Africa to work in the kitchens, and so he was living with his grandparents. We arranged a meeting with the grandmother, but she was too ill to attend, so an aunt was sent. Through Help Lesotho, and the permisson of the family, I arranged for him to see an eye doctor, then an eye specialist, and then, yesterday we went to the hopital and he had the growth on his eye removed, as there was a possibility that it could become cancerous. This was my first experience with children who live with grandparents because their parents are woking elsewhere. I dragged this poor aunt to the hospital with us beacuse I thought that a relative would have to sign the papers for a minor to have surgery. It turns out that it doesn't matter as the nurse tried to get me to sign the papers before I explained that I had brought his aunt. The surgery went well!

Puleng

Puleng is also in Form A and is an example of the vulnerablity of girls. She is only 14. Her mother had her when she was very young and later married and had two more children. She left the family in the care of the husband who frequently beat the children for minor mistakes. Puleng has scars on her face from being whipped for spilling the milk. The step father decided that he didn't want to pay for the care of a child who was not his and kicked her out. She went to live with her grandmother, but she is an alchoholic. She was then taken in by another grandmother (not her own) who cares for her and buys her clothes. While this grandmother was away, there was some sort of incident involving a boy who lived nearby, and it was at this point that the school became involved and has met with the lady who cares for Puleng. Unfotunately, Puleng has left this place to live with other relatives, against the advice of the grandmother and the school, as we are worried that if she is kicked out of her aunt's place, there will be nowhere for her to go. The school remains involved with her and hopefully she will find a place where she feels secure and loved. If you pray, please pray for her, as it seems that noone can reach her right now.

Lineo

Lineo is in my Form A Bible class, and is also a border at the school. I only recently became aware of her story and am hoping to help her with some of her needs. Lineo's parents are both dead, and her relatives did not want her to attend school. Her teahers intervened and she was sent to Bokoro this year. She is very quiet and seems happy, but often goes without things like soap and shoe polish because she is too shy to ask. On our very very cold days she built a small fire in the corner of the dorm (outside) and crouched over it to keep warm. 'M'e Mapelesa and I talked with her and found out some of the things that she needs and were able to provide them for her.