Home Run! A New Home Built for Masoyi Orphans

Today I went into the Masoyi community. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and walk the ground again. At the beginning of the day the volunteers let us know who needs to be seen by a nurse, a childcare worker (social worker) or for specific prayer. They then devide up into teams so the volunteers from the community see their patients with the trained staff.

Emily is a nurse from Zembawa who has been working in Masoyi for 2 years. I have much to learn from her. In the morning, we were in a team with 2 volunteers to visit 6 patients. It is painful to be reminded of the great need in the community. As we left each home, Emily reviewed the situation and how we can respond with the available resourses. One such resource that she calls on often is the ACTS clinic. Patients who are HIV positive have access to excellent medical care including HIV medication through the ACTS clinic. As you can imagine the need is great, so there is a high demand on this small clinic.

In the afternoon visited patients with a childcare worker Jebs and 3 volunteers. We visited one child headed home and she was able to sign them up with a program to supply them with clothes, food and blankets (it is COOL at night especially).

After we visited her new referral, we went to a home that Masoyi Home Based Care built for a family. Their home had burned to the ground late one night in 2005. The neighbors were able to help 5 of the 6 children out of the house, but one 16 year old boy was left trapped inside. Masoyi HBC organized a fund raiser to enable them to purchase building supplies, then the Masoyi Building team built a new home for them.

Now Vusi age 20, Agnus age 18 (and her daughter Angel 9 months old), Tandeka age 12, Sharon age 9 and Charlotte age 7 have a new home with a garden. The government provided aide to purchase modest furniture as well. THIS is Masoyi HBC at work. I was so proud of them when I heard this story and saw this fammily's new home.