Author: Pat Mdluli

Masoyi Home Based care has been selected to serve as a Sub-Recipient to implement the CSS (Community Systems Strengthening) interventions with religious leadership structures/platforms (i.e. Christians, Muslims, Rastafarian, etc.), as well as Traditional Leaders, to conduct community outreach work with vulnerable populations, in the Ehlanzeni and Nkangala District within the Mpumalanga Province, for the next three years, starting from July 2016 to March 2019.
Masoyi Home Based Care will be responsible for conducting dialogues with religious & traditional leadership structures/platforms, to discuss/address the drivers that influence the patriarchal underpinning of discrimination & GBV , and Conduct community outreach work with vulnerable populations (residents of informal settlements, the unemployed, refugees) – to provide a HIV, TB prevention education.
Community workers under Masoyi Home Based Care will conduct awareness campaigns and door to door visits with residents of informal settlements, the unemployed and refugees. The Community workers will be working in two districts and chooses municipalities with high prevalence and also saturate wards.

Senzo Sibiya is a 24 years old young man.  Who was one of Masoyi Home Based Care clients; Senzo was one of the children who stayed at the Khayalethu 3 center when it was still an orphanage, after his mother passed away back in 2002. He spent his childhood days and nearly most of his teenage years at the center, until the day the center was closed.

Since the closing of the center, he has been switching locations, but God have seen him through, even though he has been through hard times in his life. He has however managed to pass his grade 12. After completing his grade 12, there was nothing much he can do than to just stay at home and roam around the streets, since he had no one to help him further his studies, and there is nothing much he can do.

By the grace of God, his life just turned around when someone offered to help him further his studies. On one Sunday, he received a call from one of his late Mother’s friends to come to her house. She asked him what is it that he wants to study for, and told her he wanted to study Media. After a long conversation with her; fortunate enough, she offered to help him with his studies. To which; he went and enrolled on a college (Boston City Campus, Arcadia campus in Pretoria). The course was supposed to be for three years.

He did his first and second year. However, on his third and last year of studying, he was not able to continue, due to financial problems. The reason of the problem be, that the woman who was helping him, was now no longer affording to pay for his tuition fees, since she had recently retired (She was working as a school teacher). So it was now quite expensive for her, since she also has her own child who is still at school.

Since Senzo was already staying at Pretoria, now has to come back home, since he had no one to help on his studies and pay the rent where he was staying.

Since January 2016, he has been home, “jobless and hopeless about his future” he said.  He added “It’s a terrifying feeling for me because it seems as if my past life is coming back to haunt me. I only pray to God that he hears my prayers and touch someone to help me complete my studies, so I can able get a job and assist at home.”

His tuition fee is estimated to US$3,000; and his rent is estimated to US$1,000; for the whole year.

If you are willing to assist Senzo complete his studies, please do contact us at masoyi.hbc@gmail.com or call (+27) 13 798 3596 / (+27) 71 549 6223

Your help with be much appreciated.

Today I had a chance to go and have a look on the house that is being built for the Sibiya family at Mphatseni, on the Mahushu trust. It is almost complete, just need some painting and some work on the floor. It is a 3 room house.

On this family, there is a single Mother staying with her children and grandchildren. They have no source of income, whatsoever. Even worse, they all do not have identity documents.

The family is currently sleeping on a ‘shack house’, which is not in a good condition, and they are struggling during rainy days.

Masoyi Home Based Care Project, with the help of The Cove church, from the USA; is building this house for them, as well as a toilet, since they do not have a toilet (See pictures).

And as I have mentioned above that they have no source of income, that means it is not easy for them to have food, hence they often rely on neighbours for such. We then, from last year December started providing them with a food parcel, from St Luke’s and St Paul’s church, from UK (England).

Masoyi Home Based Care Project, will offially resume work for 2016 on the 6th of January.

We wish you a very blessed New Year. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and trust you are having yourself a wonderful New Year as well.

We are looking forward on working together to uplift the Masoyi community.

World AIDS Day is an opportunity for you to learn the facts about HIV and put your knowledge into action. If you understand how HIV is transmitted, how it can be prevented, and the reality of living with HIV today, you can use this knowledge to take care of your own health and the health of others, and ensure you treat everyone living with HIV fairly, and with respect and understanding without discriminating those who are living with the HIV virus.
We believe that as we celebrate this day today; World Aids Day, it will of course give the opportunity to increase awareness and an easy access of treatment along with various preventive measures.