In Focus this month:

Edeliwe Nyamadzawo’s Family

We first became aware of Edeliwe Nyamadzawo and her family through a local Pastor’s wife who raised her situation with us.

Edeliwe is 56, she struggles with back and leg problems which makes it hard for her to earn income to support her family. She looks after her 25 year old son, who is living with disabilities – growth disorder and can’t speak, her 4 grandchildren, Tadiwa 11 years old, Beauty 8 years old, Tatenda 6 years old and Pardon 3 years old. The grandchildren’s parents are all deceased except Pardon’s father who’s not around.

Their home consists of just two small huts, one used for cooking and the other for sleeping and living in. All six of them sleep together in an area no bigger than most of our back garden sheds. They have nothing, apart from odd pots & pans, cups, plates and a few tatty clothes.

The children often go to school hungry with nothing to eat for breakfast and can go all day without any food. Tadiwa the eldest granddaughter is funded through schooling by another charity. Beauty who seems a bright, happy girl with a wonderful smile is attending Sanyati Baptist Primary School, as is her younger cousin Tatenda. However, Edeliwe struggles to pay their school fees, let alone pay for uniform, pens and books. Pardon is not yet at school age but should be starting in 2017.

We were happy to be able to take a small food package to them, (thanks to Edline’s mum) which will give them enough food for a few weeks but this is not an answer to their problems.

This is where our community projects come in, working with them to enable them to improve their circumstances.

It’s difficult to understand why and how there are people living like this in this day and age, but this, sadly is not an isolated case.

Edeliwe and her family need our help and with your support we can really make a difference in their lives and take away the burden of school fees from her and give the children a real chance in life.