Greetings friends,
The team at I AM Mbare asked a few recipients of the food parcels to share their personal stories, which we would now like to share with you. They are both a testament to the heartbreaking realities faced by many of these families, as well as their immense gratitude for your incredible generosity.
MEET SHINGIRAI, an Orphan.
My name is Shingirai, I’m 16 years old and I stay with my grandmother at Joburg lines (MAJUBEKI) here in Mbare. I lost my mom when I was 10 and my father passed away during my secondary school, ZJC level (form one), this is when I started living with my grandmother. Things got twisted financially, forcing me to drop out of school at around end of year. The way we survived with Granny was very tough, and to date we still face countless hardships. I have a young brother by the name Tadiwa, he does not go to school at all. Granny used to buy bulk groundnuts and pack them in small quantities for re-selling, at times I was the one to help her sale them out at crowded places like Mbare Musika, and profits derived from those nuts are what got us this far, although these days we have a variety that includes sweets and corn-snacks.
Many times we go to sleep without having eaten anything because sometimes prices of commodities sky-rocket and we get stuck and helpless with the little funds we would have saved from our petty business. When we run out of capital we beg from kind neighbors hoping to pay back, but usually to no avail till its water under the bridge, we are fortunate enough that these neighbors are kind and so understanding. Sometimes I feel like crying when I look at Tadiwa wearing old, torn clothes for three consecutive days. We both cannot afford to change clothes daily due to shortage of soap to wash off the dirt.
I just wish God would help me to get a job so that I could help my Granny feed the family. But I would also like to thank I AM MBARE ORGANIZATION for remembering people like us, through providing with food stuffs we are so much happy because they promised to provide more.
MEET ANGELA, a touching story.
My name is Angela, I’m 19 years old and I’m married to Christopher, a 21 year old husband who used to be in public transport sector as a commuter omnibus assistant conductor, of which it was and still is illegal. We stay at Matapi flats with Christopher’s mom (my mother in-law), I just call her Amai (mother). She does not have a decent job and she is neither formerly employed. Amai is a commercial sex worker who seem to enjoy her business very well although it does not pay much and is extremely dangerous, many times she is involved in fights with her clients’ spouses hence she wears countless scars. But whatever she does for a living it does not sustain the family of four, which includes my 2 years old daughter. Last year my husband slept off the door of a moving Omni-bus and broke his leg, I thank God he has healed now but he is no longer going to work due to his condition, but we sometimes do vending here and there, which isn’t enough for us as well since we all contribute towards rentals.
My worst fear is for my daughter to suffer from malnutrition because sometimes the meals that we ingest just to survive when things gets worse is unbearable. It pains me when I look at my innocent daughter during supper, how hard she struggles to swallow strange relish made from so called traditional dish. She doesn’t even enjoy at all but just to fill her hungry stomach she is left with no choice. Sometimes Amai treats us badly. She tells us to go out and look for jobs or any other sources of income yet there are no jobs at all. We get verbally abused, pouring several blames on us of being irresponsible how we fell into early marriage, burdening her. When her business room is occupied by her co-workers she resort to our house and since we share a single room that is only divided by a curtain cloth, we would be forced to create more space for her privacy by going outside, most probably from 8:00pm up to 11:30pm or 12:00 midnight. We then seek refuge from friends’ place for our daughter just to take a nap as we roam around close by in disguise of suspicion from humiliation. But not all the time that we ask for such favors as we avoid inconveniencing them, so we would stick outside after roaming, no-matter the weather. “Life is not fair honestly speaking, I swear” (shedding tears)
Right now I do not even have an idea how my kid will get to go to school, what we are going to eat tomorrow or what the future holds for us. Im very much grateful to I AM MBARE youth development Centre for gracing us with a food hamper which will definitely sustain us for a while, right now to be frank enough, I feel relieved. THANK YOU I AM MBARE.
MACDONALD
My name is Macdonald I am aged 17. We are three boys in our family from different fathers and I am the last born. My mom passed away when I was 4 years old. My father is alive but doesn’t care about us. I stay with my uncle (mom’s brother) and he is a hustler and doesn’t have a formal job. My uncle is the only one who is I didn’t finish school my highest level of education is primary Grade 7. I had better results that is 14 units but due to financial instability I couldn’t carry on with my education. I wish to proceed with education and it’s my biggest wish.
My biggest challenge is food and clothes. I can’t go to hustles due to my health status, I have acids and I have gone to the hospital but couldn’t find help due to lack finance. They gave me a prescription but I can’t afford and there is need to do a scan and it also needs money. My uncle things are also hard for him due to this pandemic (COVID 19) outbreak. We are now having trouble in terms of food but we are grateful to I AM MBARE YOUTH DEVELOP CENTER which gave us a food hamper which includes 10kg of mealie meal, 2litres cooking oil and 2kg sugar. I wish they will continue to support me and even fulfill my wish to finish my secondary school.
