MissRamsay's ...: Community work - Voluntarily or Opportunistic?

Apr 1, 2011

Community work - Voluntarily or Opportunistic?

I am a passionate person, and I am the type of person that feels bad when I see a little boy standing by the robot begging and sometimes my passangers either share my sympathy or simply tell me to get over myself!

Part of the rehabilitation program is letting the kids paint
about their ordeals before councelling begins

The one day, at the beginning of Winter two years ago, the sky was misty and it was COLD in Cape Town. I drove up to a robot and saw the same boy I see everyday, only this time, he REALLY looked cold! He walked past my car door in a t-shirt with his hands wrapped against his body inside the shirt and his lips blue, shivering from the cold! My heart just...stopped! I got home, decided to make him a sandwich, an apple, some coffee and I found a hoody in my cupboard that no one had claimed over a year (I asked everyone) and went back to him. To my satisfaction, he looked at me smiling through his eyes, put on the hoody, drank the coffee, ate the food... My soul felt satisfied! I went to my BF, burst out in tears and he shared my heartache. But it doesn't solve the big problem...

Yesterday, a friend and I went to the Homestead Child & Youth Care Centre in Khayelitsha for Street Children . We didn't go by choice, we went because of a project we had to complete. We spoke to the Social Worker Sonja about what they do, how they do it, their daily struggles, obstacles etc. After she left (to say good bye to a social worker who simply could not cope with the extreme sadness and severity of the kiddies) my friend and I stayed behind to chat to two boys living there - Athi and David. (This specific centre is for boys only.) They took us on a tour of the house, their playground, kitchen etc and played soccer with them.

Because of Homestead, they are not street kids anymore

Little boy walking with us and listening to the 'tour'

I live in a comfortable flat in Cape Town, have nice food, a laptop, I'm a social media guru, studying my Degree in PR Management, have my own car etc but how do I give back to the community? I don't and it makes me angry because I have so many skills to share with people less fortunate, to help and be a volunteer to the underprivileged but who will do it with me?

I want to help Homestead raise money for their new children's home in Khayelitsha because these kids don't have a choice! They are forced onto the street and Homestead gives them a safe place. Who has ideas on how we can do this? Who wants to do it with me?

Me playing soccer with Athi at Homestead

I believe that one person can change the world, one problem at a time. I wish I could solve all the problems in society, but it starts with one and I am choosing this one. I need to feel like I am giving back somehow, only then will I feel satisfied with my life.

If every person dedicated an hour of their time to helping in some way, we would get closer to educating the underprivileged, which in turn will change the way THEY do things, that will decrease HIV/AIDS, unplanned teenage pregnancies, criminal activities, drug abuse etc because knowledge is power!

The younger children's rooms (Beds on left and right of screen)

Education is CRUCIAL and only we can help, YES YOU! Reading this blog! YOU can make a difference one way or the other! Even teaching a child to wash their hands after playing is teaching, or respecting a women, or playing on a computer, or studying. What we assume is embedded information, is information that underprivileged kids no nothing about.