Robert and the girl at the gate

I went to the post office on the 31st to pick up the office mail. There was this poor man standing there holding a certificate that he had gotten for doing a gardening course at a local nursery here. He had it wrapped in plastic so it wouldn’t get wet. The certificate was wrinkled and from 2007. He said he is desperately looking for work, his kids are hungry and he would do any kind of handy work around the house. I felt so bad for him. The girls were with me. It is not the first time I have seen him there at the post office. Sometimes he is selling homemade brooms. I feel so bad for people like him. His name is Robert. I gave him about 4 dollars and he was so happy. The thought of him standing there with his little certificate really bothered me.

Then later that day as we were moving the furniture in the house, two young girls came to the gate and said they were hungry. Lunghi was outside and I told him to please ask them to leave. He spoke to them in Zulu. I came out a few minutes later and he asked if I could please give them a dollar or so because they were in need. I went back in and got the equivalent of 3 dollars and Sofia wanted to give it to the girls. So, she walked out with the money in her hand and handed it through the gate to them. Both her and Sienna ask so many questions about the poor people they see here. They are so smart and very caring.

It is very sad. The poverty doesn’t seem as bad as what you would see in Uganda or Rwanda but it is still rampant. And what makes it worse is that you have the white middle and upper class with big houses and right down the road are people with no work, no food, no electricity or running water. I am glad that I will be here in SA for a while to help make a difference- even if it is just a small drop of water in the great ocean of poverty. Just making giving a few people hope is better than not doing anything at all.