Early in January, I received an email through Vuyani’s Facebook page from a young woman.
This is the story she gave me permission to share with a recent photo . . .
My name is Magdel Afrika. In 2005 in my matric year at Asherville High School in Graaff-Reinet, I had a baby son. I went through a very rocky time at home and if Vuyani didn’t take me and my baby in back then, I would never have passed my matric.
Mrs. Hadron Lamont and Gertrude Hoffman, teachers at Asherville, suggested that I live at Vuyani. One of the caretakers looked after my baby so that I could go to school and later write my exams.
In the end I passed my matric exams with an exemption!
I got offered bursaries and chose to go to Cape Town. I’m only finishing my degree now – I’m doing my last year B.A degree in Psychology at UWC this year and then I’ll proceed with my postgrads next year, God-willing.
If one of my teachers did not take me to Vuyani for accommodation . . . it could have turned out so differently, but God had a plan! In Cape Town I had a lot of struggles over years and that is the reason for the delay in my studies, but I knew God had a purpose – so today, I’m grateful for Vuyani’s caregivers watching my son when I was at school and for Aunty Moira lovingly welcoming us at Vuyani that first day.
My son also had many challenges, especially a bad car accident when he was about 7 years old, which caused him to be admitted to the Red Cross Children’s hospital with a fractured skull. After years of therapy and special needs care, he has recovered remarkably.
I also want to mention Mrs. Betty Swartz (now at Vuyani’s Learning Centre). She was one of my primary school teachers and I remember her absolute passion for teaching. I can also see how Vuyani has evolved over the years, since 2005.
