Grandmother and widow Jacqueline Mee lives in a 2-roomed mud
brick house behind what used to be their larger and nicer family home.
In 2003 Jacqueline’s
husband sadly passed away, ending his battle with HIV. Unfortunately, without the regular income of
her husband, Jacqueline struggled to financially support her family and pay for
the upkeep of the larger house and so had to move to the smaller structure
behind the family home. The mud brick home, which is just two rooms, could
probably fit into a large sized sitting room and is where the family of seven
still live today.
Jacqueline shares
this home with one of her daughters and five grandchildren. When I asked her how
she manages to support her family she told me that they rely on rent from the
larger house. However, at present this house is unoccupied and so there is no
income. I asked again how they are managing to currently support themselves if there
is no money coming in and Jacqueline just shrugged her shoulders and said “We’re
not”.
She told me that they sometimes use the yard to grow
vegetables and then sell tomatoes but I didn’t see any signs of vegetables
growing that day.
Sadly, Jacqueline (65)
and three of her grandchildren also have HIV and so need regular medication and
a balanced diet to stay healthy.
Thankfully through our child sponsorship programme these children
receive a hot nutritious meal at school everyday.
I later learned from Gertrude (the office administrator at
Janna School) that the staff also invite Jacqueline to school at lunchtime to receive
a school meal. I was so encouraged by this – the staff at our
partner schools really know the families in the community and we rely on this
knowledge to help us in our work.
The Mee family are
sometimes chosen to receive a food parcel from our alternative gift programme,
which is a huge help and is always very gratefully received but this is not a long-term
solution. One of our challenges is how
we help local people like the Mee family to support themselves. Jacqueline explained that she cannot get work now,
as she is too old.
Three of the five
children living with her attend Janna community school and the other two
children are currently in secondary school. This means more money needed for Secondary
uniforms and basic school supplies. Recently
they have been told that they need to start paying K150 a month (around £15)
for the water they have been using for years from a shared borehole.
At the beginning of the interview Jacqueline told me “Life
is difficult” and throughout the interview I was thinking how do we even begin
to support families like these? The good news is that we have begun. The work
we are doing does help to support these families and even if we sometimes feel
like it’s just the tip of the iceberg, the generosity of our supporters is
making a difference. The challenge for Beyond Ourselves is to continue working
out how best to support families and the local communities that will leave a
sustainable and lasting impact.
If you would like more information about supporting us
please follow the links below
Child sponsorship programme
Donations – alternative gifts
