COUNTING THE COST INITIATIVE In Gege Swaziland there is a school called Gege Methodist Primary School. Gege is one of the many places that have been ravaged by the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. This statistic has been quoted in many reports, and it has been endured by the international community as the shocking number that it is, but few reports have been on the real damage that has taken place on the ground. The Counting The Cost Initiative is an initiative that seeks to go beyond the statics and meet the people that have been affected by the AIDS pandemic. It is an initiative that seeks to account for every homestead and how much damage HIV/AIDS has done to the people on the ground. In Gege there is a seven day a week cooking programme that seeks to address the nutrition problem of the children. This initiative is supported by an American religious group. Initially the cooking was done for four days a week, but seeing the need that the hunger is a seven day a week problem, so the programme was extended to seven days. Norah Ntshangase has been one of the people that have been cooking for the children from when the programme began. After seeing the condition of the children when I had the privilege to watch her and Ms Vilakazi feed the children, I experienced first-hand how bad the situation has got in Swaziland. Apart from the nutritional need, the other immediate need identified was the fact that these children walk great distances to go to school and most either walk barefooted or in shoes that are in such horrible condition that they wouldn’t be fit to be called shoes. Gege is a place that gets so cold in winter that frost accumulates on the grass and these children have to walk on the frost covered grass barefooted. So the Counting The Cost Initiative seeks to begin from providing shoes for these children while devising means of putting together sustainable initiatives that seek to avail justice to these children and many more who suffer the same plight in Swaziland. So we ask all that will find it in their hearts to either give previously owned black school shoes that are still in good condition or to buy one or more pairs of shoes to give to this initiative. Our target is to have collected five hundred pairs of shoes by the tenth of December, so that we can have them ready when the schools open in January 2014. The size of the shoes should range from a grade one child to a Standard five/grade seven pupil. Please note that this is not a charity initiative but an initiative that seeks to provide justice to these children and more like them in Swaziland. We don’t feel that these children need charity but that they too are equal inhabitants of this earth and that they are entitled to a decent life, and that to give to these children is a privilege that these children are allowing those who will find it in their hearts to give. We thank you in advance and would like to extend an invitation to all those that could have time to be drivers of this initiative, to feel free to be directly involved, and those that would like to be part of the handing over of the shoes in Swaziland to prepare their passports, and those that are in Swaziland to avail the time, so that they can have the opportunity to see for themselves the situation so that we can together devise more strategies to bring justice to the people of Swaziland. This initiative will be owned by no one but all those that will find it in their hearts to be part of it. To have shoes collected, please email name, phone number and physical address of pick up point to ntshangase.b@hotmail. If you would like to be part and parcel of the shoe-picking-up, and the organisation of this initiative please use the same email address and state clearly what you would like your role to be, and don’t be shy to give suggestions as It has been mentioned that the initiative is for those that will find it in their hearts to be part of it. Yours in Justice for All Brian Clive Ntshangase (Interim Head Organiser) My phone is in for repairs, I will provide my numbers as soon as I have it with me, but so long feel free to forward any queries to the provided email address and I will clarify where there might be some confusion. I will provide an address to courier shoes to, to those that are far from Johannesburg. But please if you are far from Johannesburg and you feel a need to give, email stating the intention, so we can organise a shoe-pool point for different areas. I thank you again.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 07:20:23 +0000
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