sibongile

I'll start the introduction to our ministries with Sibongile - a day & night care center for children with cerebral palsy. It is located in one of the nearby townships, Khayelitsha. There are townships all over South Africa - they are informal settlements, people would call them "shanty towns" in the US - some parts of the townships have proper houses while other parts have shacks made of corrugated metal. They are generally known to be very dangerous (we had to have an escort with us the first time we went in), but it's where the majority of people live here and there aren't very many other options for the inhabitants. Khayelitsha is one of the largest townships in South Africa with a population of over 500,000 with 80% unemployment and it stretches as far as your eye can see.

So, that's just to give you an idea of the setting. But now some information about Sibongile:

-It was started by a local woman named Nomasango Xabanisa. She had a daughter named Sibongile (which in Xhosa means "thanks") who had CP, and in the Xhosa culture they see disability as a really negative thing, so when children are born with disabilities they are cast out and forgotten. But Nomasango believed in something different - - she knew that we are all created in God's image and deserve to be loved and cared for. So she started taking children in from the community little by little. Over time, this grew into the organization that we are now volunteering for that employs 12 full time "mamas" that care for the children, and houses about 30 children currently. Although Nomasango lost her little girl, she is now doing SO much for the children in Khayelitsha who have no other option. So that's why we go - - to help the mamas and to play with the children who don't get much affection or attention (the mamas are very busy).

Sibongile started out in a "container", literally, a shipping container - here's something to give you an idea:

But after much-needed funding, they now have 2 proper houses in the township. So our team has split up - 4 of us go to Sibongile II and 4 to Sibongile III, 2 times per week. When we go, we play with the children who live in each house. In the US, children with cerebral palsy usually see doctors often and do physical therapy daily. However, here in South Africa, with limited resources and less than ideal medical coverage, these children see a doctor maybe once per month, and the caregivers aren't trained to do any sort of physical therapy. So we have struggled to really know what to do, and to feel like we are helping. That was really difficult in the beginning, just feeling like, okay, we're playing with these kids, but we're not totally sure if they're even enjoying it because they don't respond a whole lot. But it has gotten better because the kids have gotten to know us more and we've gotten to know their likes/dislikes as well. It was also a struggle in the beginning because the mamas were a bit wary of us, but they too have warmed up to our group. One of the mamas, Dudu, is especially fond of us now and she called me "baby" multiple times today (so sweet!). She also tried to find me a boyfriend, but don't worry I informed her I am a kept woman.

When we went today, we met the physiotherapist who is here for a 6 week stint. We told her we'd like to learn some more about how to help the kids with exercises, etc. So she told us a little bit and said she would make us a list of simple exercises, maybe with some pictures, so we can know what to do in the future. Most of the things she told us today were very easy though. For instance, Liyabona, one of the boys that I play with often, has no head control. So she said we should lay him down, and when his head falls to one side, put my face in front of his and move slowly to try to get him to follow me. So yes, everything is continuing to get better each time we visit.

Other than that, there are some really sweet moments that we get to have when hanging out with these kids. One of my favorite things has been holding Choumani, one of the little boys who actually can talk, letting him playing this little toy drum and making up songs together. Mostly we just repeat "alleluia" over and over with different notes each time, and it's so much fun watching him smile and sing. Just anytime we can make the kids smile is so rewarding. One day I learned that Liyabona will just smile automatically when I make kiss noises, so I spent about half an hour just doing that. It's the simple but sweet things that make the difference.