Home Based Care

A huge part of Hands at Work that I will be helping with is Home Based Care. Home Based Care consists of community volunteers going into their own community to take care of sick patients, orphans and vulnerable children. On Monday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to go out with local volunteers into two communities. We saw elderly stroke patients, two women dying with AIDS, one with tuberculosis, some with wounds, and several orphans.

Many of these people have ZERO money. The poorest are refugees from Mozambique- many without any personal identification. Without ID or South African papers they are unable to receive any orphan grants, disability or pension. The Home Base Care volunteers do basic care- washing patients, cleaning houses, doing laundry or dishes, basic wound care, checking in on orphans, advocating for them in their schools if needed, assisting with government grants, and whatever else is needed. Right now I am learning a lot about the program, and preparing for my time in Mozambique where I will continue on with Home Based Care programs.

I was really upset by one visit in particular. We visited one little old man who lived in a room- about 7’x 10’, all by himself. He had no food, no water, and no one to look after him. Occasionally a neighbor would bring him a meal. He was very thin, and had painful swollen legs- possibly from malnutrition or heart disease. He was still able to walk, but barely. He was from Mozambique, so he had no papers, meaning no pension- no money. In his community water was a huge problem- both of the pumps for their wells are broken, so getting water is not easy! We fetched some water for the little grandpa- we took two large jugs down the road, down a smaller trail, and across a small dirty creek to a little well. The well was sunken into the ground and had about two feet of water in it. To fill up the water jugs I had to reach way down with a small bucket and slowly fill up the larger jugs. It was very hard work (that the grandpa physically couldn’t do) to get the water and then carry it all the way back to the house- maybe a kilometer journey.

One of the volunteers gave her lunch to the grandpa - a sandwich and some juice, which he clapped his hands with pleasure to receive. After sweeping his house, doing some yard work, singing and praying with him we left. My heart breaks for this man when I think of my own Grandpa, and how terrible it would have been if he had been alone, and forgotten with no one to help him. Although they are often forgotten and ignored, this Grandpa, the sick, the lonely, and the hopes and dreams of the orphans are not forgotten by Jesus. Psalm 9:18- But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.