Maria and Koketso (and their siblings/cousins) were among some of the children featured in my master’s thesis project HIV Stories in the story titled “Facing the Future”. They immediately captured my heart, and Rebecca’s as well. It’s been so much fun to see them growing up while we’re here, though I admit also a bit scary as they leave the age of innocence and start discovering the world of adolescence and adulthood.
When I first met them, Pastor Vincent took me to their house to see the living conditions there. Like a lot of houses in the township, there is a main house with lots of one-room shacks behind it that tenants rent from the owner. In this case, it’s pretty hard to tell there is an owner at all. There’s trash all over, kids running around and a general stench of poverty. We visit there occasionally during our Tuesday feeding scheme, and at other times just to visit the children, but it’s not enough. Part of the issue with reaching out to them is that it’s really hard to even figure out which kids have parents, which are orphans and if we give them food, who will even be the ones to consume it. But that’s how it goes here a lot of the time—messy and complicated. Maria and Koketso come to the Powerhouse almost every Sunday with their brother Thabang. I pray that God will lead them in their lives to avoid the pitfalls of poverty, and may use us to help in any way we can while we’re here.
The panoramic image below is shot from the back of their house where all the shacks are. Maria is in the photo along with a few others who live there and the rest are members of the outreach team. Koketso was not around when I shot this.
