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Worse still, tourists visiting the nearby Howick Falls were being robbed in broad daylight and these children, somewhat unfairly, were invariably blamed. Feelings against the children were running high. Jenny Uzzell, who runs a small tearoom close to the Howick Falls, decided something had to be done. She rounded them up and provided them with regular meals and a place to sleep every night in a small building behind the tearoom. A committee of concerned residents, including Sister Pegs O’Shea (a locally-based Catholic nun from Detroit), was formed to support Jenny Uzzell to try to sort out their problems and get them back to school. The organisation was christened GECKO, an acronym for Give Each Child Kindness and Orientation. The facilities were inadequate though, and the children had to sleep on a concrete floor for more than two years until Khazimula re-opened its doors as a children’s shelter in January 2007.
Now 24 boys and girls, ranging in age from 6-18, all happily call Khazimula their home and are thriving under the gentle but firm stewardship of Father Mvuyo, who is assisted by his wife Jabulile, and Siyabonga Mhawu and a staff of six. The Khazimula children have a dog, two cats, two pigs and several chickens, and the chance to live as children again – confident of the love and interest of their caregivers, their next meal and their own warm, safe beds. They attend the Jabula Combined School, and some of the children have already displayed an aptitude for learning. Under the dynamic direction of 21-year-old Siyabonga they have learnt gumboot dancing and formed a spirited soccer team. Siyabonga, an orphan himself, well understands the needs of these children and the therapeutic power of team games like soccer. Found abandoned as a baby, he was brought up in an orphanage and later fostered by Brother Philip Denis, who arranged for him to work for "Youth for Christ" in Pietermaritzburg. There he liaised with local street children, encouraging them to return home or go to the local children's shelter. In this regard, the Khazimula staff maintains contact with relatives of their children and try to support the fostering process. The Department of Social Development has put a moratorium on the opening of new orphanages, because they want orphans and vulnerable children to remain, and be cared for, within their own communities. This idea, while conceived with the best intention, is proving to be unworkable, principally because of the scale of the AIDS crisis. “There are simply not enough foster carers or social workers to go round,” says John Tungay. “Khazimula is only registered as a children’s shelter which means we should move all the children into foster care within six months. But there is simply nowhere for them to go.” “Yes,” adds Father Mvuyo, beaming, “and so they remain with us in our family.” Today is a red-letter day for the soccer team. Father Denis has sent money for a complete soccer team outfit and the children don their shiny blue and white kit for the first time. Their joy and pride is contagious. Father Mvuyo smiles with pleasure. “You know”, he says, “the first four months were very hard. The children were unsettled, badly behaved and you couldn’t trust them. Now they are learning to trust and be trusted. It is so good to see.” Father Mvuyo was a former psychiatric nurse and worked as an AIDS counsellor before accepting this position. His wife, Jabulile, chuckles. “Well, he asked God for a ministry, and he certainly got one.” The children have regular responsibilities: they help with the animals, they do their own washing and they work in the extensive vegetable garden. Several tunnel gardens are to be erected soon, which will help to make Khazimula more self-sufficient in food. The Gumboots Foundation’s KwaZulu-Natal seed bank is also housed at Khazimula, and provides seeds for vegetable-gardening projects at several local schools. Students from Michaelhouse continue to be involved and visit once a week. They help with homework, and are teaching the Khazimula children to play chess. John Tungay adds with a twinkle, “Perhaps a Khazimula Boy’s Choir next.” For more information visit the Khazimula Children’s Shelter entry on the AIDSbuzz directory or contact John Tungay at: 033 330 7535 or 082 739 9087 or Father Mvuyo at: 082 739 9087
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In a scenario that will be increasingly repeated all over the country, as the number of orphans and vulnerable children escalates, the centre of Howick in KwaZulu-Natal became the operating ground of a pack of wayward street children. Tourists and residents were regularly harassed by these ragged and filthy children, who hung around outside the shops and at street corners, begging for money and food.