A Thanksgiving to Remember

Back in May, I posted about a little boy Akhona, who was in my toddler room at 1000 Hills but then suddenly wasn't because of family issues.  Ever since I found out what was happening with him and his dad, I made it a goal to find him again before the end of the year and on Thanksgiving, all of my wishes came true! It was an incredible day that I will always remember and cherish for the rest of my life.  

The day started with Fikile, myself, and Akhona's dad Amon, going to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) which has social workers on the top floor of the building.  When we got there, Fikile went in to talk to the social worker she knew while Amon and I stayed outside.  I could tell that he was nervous but excited so I decided this was going to be the perfect time to give him the pictures I had of Akhona.  I took these pictures back in February or March and wanted to give them to him before I left.  As soon as I gave him the pictures, a huge smile came on his face and he was shaking because he was so happy.  For a solid 5 minutes, Amon stared at every inch of the pictures making sure he didn't miss anything.  He spoke in Zulu to Akhona in the pictures and would kiss his face.  I managed to hear a few familiar phrases like "Ngiyathanda" I love you or "Baba" which is father but also a common nickname for children.  As he was looking at the pictures, I just stood next to him smiling with him knowing that this little boy means the world to him and he would do anything to get him back.  It was a beautiful moment that could of lasted forever.  When Fikile came back with our next steps, we stood in the queue to register but when we got to the counter, Amon realized he didn't have his ID book with him so we had to go drive to his mom's house to go get it.  After the little hiccup, we were able to go upstairs to see the social worker.  After about 10 mins of waiting in the lobby, a Zulu social worker invited us to come into her office.  When we sat down she asked what language she should speak in and I told her that English was needed for me but to please speak in Zulu for most of it because Amon was the reason we were there.  Then she asked why were there and I told her my side of the story.  I told her that I was a teacher from 1000 HCH and I had met Akhona and his dad in January.  Then when Akhona wasn't coming to school, I wanted to know what was going on so thats when Fikile and I did some investigation to find Amon and bring him here.  Then Amon told his side of the story in Zulu which involved more details about Akhona's mother who is an alcoholic and has left Akhona with the Gogo.  I don't know exactly what he said but he must have been convincing because after he was finished, the social worker filled out some paperwork with personal details and a summary of the incident.  Then she told us that she was going to write a letter that we could bring to the police station in order to remove Akhona from the Gogo's house and give him to Amon.

A side note about this story is that Zulu's are basically computer illiterate which I forgot about until 40 minutes went by and there was still no sign of the social worker.  When I asked another worker passing by, she said that they have trouble with computers and she is probably retyping the letter after her supervisor made some corrections.  Sure enough, our social worker came back 15 minutes later with a 4 sentence letter written in English stating that the child should be removed from the home because the mother's whereabouts are unknown and she is allegedly an alcoholic.  We thanked the social worker immensely and was on our way to get Akhona back.  By the time we got to the police station it was 11:45am and Fikile and I had to go back to work help with lunch/nap time.  The van with the police escort was going to take a while so we left Amon at the police station and told us to call us as soon as he was at the Gogo's house with the police.  About an hour later, we called to ask where he was and in the 2 minute conversation he had with Fikile, he said that they were at the Gogo's house but Gogo was screaming at Amon and the police about taking Akhona.  I instantly got a pit in my stomach and thought it wasn't going to work out after all of our hard work.  I said a little prayer that everything would work out and I continued playing with the kids before they went home.

About 20 minutes later, Fikile got a call from Amon saying that he was ready to be picked up at the police station but didn't mention if he had Akhona or not.  So I left 1000 Hills and started driving to the Mpumalanga police station and on the way there, Amon called me and said, "Akhona is with me, can you please fetch us?"  I told him I was on my way and an instant sigh of relief came over me.  As I drove up to the shops by the police station, I saw Amon jumping up and down with Akhona in his arms and the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face! I parked the car and got out to greet them.  Amon immediately ran up to me smiling and hugged me and kissed Akhona.  Then he kissed me on the cheek in excitement and we the three of us had a group hug right in the middle of the street.  It was an incredibly beautiful and touching moment that I will always remember.  After 6 months of not seeing his son, this awesome father (who happens to be exactly my age) was reunited with his son with the help of Fikile and I and what an amazing moment it was.  After the group hug, we got in my car with Akhona on Amon's lap (in the front seat with no car seat because that's how all of the kids ride in cars around here, on someones lap or in the back seat by themselves) and we drove to Amon's sisters house which happened to be where we went looking for Akhona back in June.  As I walked into the house behind Amon, the little girl at the door shouted "Umlungu!" which means white person in Zulu.  I was instantly welcomed into their small, one bedroom home with big smiles from both the three kids and the sister.  We sat down and Amon told his sister about how they got Akhona back and how happy he was to have him back.  The sister thanked me for helping and continued to smile at me and Akhona.  It was another beautiful moment to see how Amon showed off his son and how his sister was so happy for her brother.  

Then I drove them to his house in Inchanga and the whole way Akhona was pointing at things and saying different Zulu words and phrases.  Amon kept saying, "I am happy too much" (I am so happy) and kissing his son.  Akhona is about 6 inches taller than I remember him to be and is fatter but is also potty trained and talking more which is great to see.  I dropped them off at their house and gave Akhona a container of orange Play Dough that he loved playing with in school.  Amon's dad said thank you about 10 more times and said he was going to come to the center on Tuesday to enroll Akhona back in school.  I was more than happy to do all of this and drove away with a huge smile on my face knowing that this father and son were reunited and were both so happy.  When I first met Amon and saw how much he loved his son, I knew that he was a great parent and would take full responsibility for raising this adorable 2 year old boy.  I am so blessed and touched that I was able to be part of this experience and especially thankful that this happened before I leave to go home.  I know Amon will be an amazing dad and I hope Akhona can come to school for the last few weeks while I'm still there.  If not, I'm sure I will see him again to take pictures with him before I leave.  Please continue to pray for Amon and Akhona for their safety and well-being.  If possible, Amon is going to get sole custody of Akhona but this will be a long process that will take much longer than a couple of weeks.    Even though the whole process was long, everything was worth it in the end because Akhona and his dad are reunited and I am incredibly thankful for that and for them!

South African Fact: 60% of the families in South Africa are single parent families.  Usually they are single mothers but Amon is the exception and is going to be a great father and role model for Akhona.  Also 40% of South African families are child-headed households meaning the older children are responsible for the younger kids and the house which means they most likely aren't going to school.  

A Trip to the Farm (also a late October post)

As I've probably mentioned in previous posts, we have made some incredible friends since we have been here including coworkers.  One of the families/couples we have grown close to is Louise and Stephen who have two older sons and a daughter, Alice.  Louise works with Kellie and Kevin at the Hillcrest AIDS Center and is always graciously having us over for dinner and Sunday lunches.  Louise's family also owns a farm in the Underberg area which is about a 3 hour drive from our house.  A couple weekends ago Louise and Stephen invited us to the farm and it was a blast.  We got there around 7pm on Friday night and met Louise's aunt and uncle, Lynn and Stigg, where were supper nice and happy to have us.  We chatted for a bit and then had a delicious dinner of mince and venison lasagna with salad and bread which all came from their farm and was amazing.  After dinner, Stephen drove us to our cabin where we stayed which was right on the dam.  The drive was only about 10 minutes in the dark but on the way we saw a dika, some cattle, and a huge, crazy flock of sheep that were standing right in the middle of the road while we were trying to go by.  Stephen was an excellent driver and was able to maneuver his way around them without hitting them but we can very close at times!  The flock finally moved a way but then ran next to the car as we drove away. Needless to say, it was quite the adventure just to get to the cottage.  

The cottage we were staying at was small and adorable with no electricity and water that was heated up by a fire stove and donkey at the back of the house.  There were two bedrooms downstairs and a loft upstairs.  It was a beautiful view to wake up to the dam on Saturday morning and I was able walk around, explore the boat house and see 4 donkeys close by.  On our way back to the main house, we stopped to look at blue crane and crown cranes which hadn't been on the farm for over 50 years!! At the house we worked on an African puzzle which took forever and was really hard until lunch which was another delicious meal.  Stigg, Steve, Kellie, and Kevin went to a local bar to watch the Sharks rugby match while I stayed back to work on the puzzle.  Lynn suggested we go for a walk so we went for a walk around a small part of the 3,000 acre beautiful farm.  It was so nice to hear stories from Lynn about how they got the farm, the trees that Stigg's grandfather all planted years ago, and how Louise loved to go there when she was a little girl.  I found a porcupine quill on the walk which I brought home with me.  Since we had such a big lunch we had really good bread dipped in pesto, roasted peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and olive oil with an Egyptian spice mix that Lynn made.  Everything was delicious of course.  After dinner we chatted for a little bit and then I drove Stigg's car back to the cabin.  We had a small run in with the sheep but I hooted and they moved out of the way pretty quickly.  It was eerie to see the darkness of the dam/farm at night but it was a cool drive.  We played a couple rounds of taboo and sat by the fire before going to bed.

Sunday we got up and went to see ancient bush paintings that were in caves on top of a hill on their farm.  We started walking towards the hill but then Steve and Stigg came with the bakkie (pick up truck) and gave us a ride all the way up the hills and mountains which would of been a nice hike if the weather was better.  The paintings were really cool and Stigg thinks they have been their for over 200 years.  When we were up in the caves, we saw a bearded eagle which was a rare sighting.  Then when we were walking back to the bakkie, it started to rain and we got stuck in a downpour and got soaked when we were standing in the truck.  When we got back, we changed, went to the main house for lunch, and then drove home.  It was a great relaxing weekend on a beautiful farm with lovely people.  I will try to post pictures soon!

South African Fact: Recently, South Africa redesigned their currency which now has brighter colors and Nelson Mandela on all of them.