Shirley Tucker, past volunteer with the Forward Education afterschool program in Masoyi, has published a tale about a woman's encounter with African youth.

Shirley is a compassionate and caring woman with a mother's heart for the orphaned. The youth loved her and she gained their trust easily. It wasn't long before they were sharing their complicated lives with her. I haven't read the book yet but have no doubt that this fictional novel is more real then not. Their stories deserve to be told and heard.

Anyone who has spent time with these youth will attest that, like diamonds under pressure and heat transform from black coal to glittering clear crystals, these youth who have gone through great adversity and pain, are sparkling gems on this earth.

Buried in the backrooms of poor communities, these youth are truly our "diamonds in the dust," and worth a lifetime of searching for and discovering them.

Elvis Mahlanya, a self-portrait

Originally this story appeared on our Hands at Work newsroom, this is the story of Elvis Mahlanya, 22 years old and a former Forward Education student, currently finishing his degree in Social Work. Elvis shares his story below as only he can tell it.

No one can tell this, only me. I am Elvis, the eldest son of the late Sinah Mahlanya who was basically a single parent. She passed away in 2004 when I was just 15-years-old. In her absence I had to take over responsibility for my younger brother, Africa, who was just 13 and my sister Tebogo who was just 6 years old. I had to make sure that I could address their needs all by myself. Everything from fetching water down by the river and providing food for us became my responsibility. Most of the time I had to ask help from my family members or friends. I remember being scolded and shouted at by my own uncle as I tried to advocate for my brother who needed school shoes. His were torn in such a way that he could not wear them. Some days he just went to school barefoot.

It was painful for me because I had nothing to offer my siblings other than speaking on behalf of their needs. I used to sometimes think I should drop out of school and go to work to provide for my siblings, but I was under-aged and could not. I used to cry a lot because I failed to meet my siblings’ needs, especially when we would go to bed hungry.

When my mother passed away my siblings and I got involved in a project right away in Masoyi called the Masoyi Home-Based Care. It took a few months before we got assistance from the care workers because they needed to make assessments. (Hands at Work grew out of the successful model of support and development implemented through the Masoyi Home-Based Care project outside of White River). Masoyi Home-Based Care runs a pre-school and creche for toddlers. They provide love and care for the very young and it allows older siblings, like me, to remain in school. I met people from Hands at Work through Masoyi and I was part and parcel of the project’s events and programmes. I was one of the key leaders in the youth program that was initiated by Levy Mwenda from Zambia. He is one of the good people I’ve met in my life. He nurtured me through spiritual life and developed my reasoning capacity.

An untroubled Elvis (front) and friends from the Forward EducationI remember earlier when the youth programme was in the initial stages, we were doing nothing but just talking to one another, sharing our challenges and our future in general. I remember one day Levy said to me, "Don’t worry about today, worry about tomorrow... Don’t be like a rat that runs around in a basin looking for a space to get out but not looking up where there is a space. There is a future here." Those words have stuck in my mind for years now. Through my participation in the youth programme, I was fortunate enough to be one of those who are chosen to go [graduate] the Forward Education programme, class of 2008. It was a six-month bridging programme designed to strengthen us to make the step to successful university studies. Kristal and Darryl [long-term volunteers with Hands at Work] were my mentors at the Forward Education programme. They empowered me with creative thinking skills, independent work habits, strong written communication skills, exposed and open minds, and a strong character. They were such a blessing to me and my life in general. “No problem” was a life statement in our class initiated by Darryl. We were coached to value life as it and not worry at all because God is with us.

Forward Education students doing homework at Masoyi Home-Based CareForward Education helped me to see life with an eagle eye. I thought I was nothing and was going nowhere since my mother had passed on. Forward Education raised my expectations, it took me straight to the university, it payed my registration, my transportation, my meal, my accommodation and so on. As I am writing now, I am doing my third year in of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Youth in Development, which is more less Social Work. My tuition, accommodation, food and books are now being funded by the Department of Social Development in Mpumalanga and the Forward Education programme through Hands at Work takes care of my other needs including food, transport, academic tours, my health and any financial issues that might crop up.

Due to my good relationship with my mentor, Levy, I had an opportunity to visit Oshoek [a very poor area in northeastern South Africa near the border with Swaziland where Hands at Work has recently started working] as part of my practical education or exposure on what I’m learning here. Life in Oshoek is tough, trust me. One can smell poverty from a distance. The environment is dry, no green trees, bare soil and poor soil for crops plantation. The people of Oshoek are very poor. 92% of their houses are built with mud and they are in a dismal form. Schools are far away from where people live. They share drinking water with cattle and goats. They have to walk for a mile to fetch water. We visited a couple of households headed by children. I met a young boy, just 15. He looks after the house and his young sister. He wore torn clothes. [When I saw him] I had a flash back, remembering the toughest time in my childhood. I had people to shout to for help, as for him it is tough because his family members stays in Swaziland and he doesn’t have an identity document. In this case, he can’t apply for a passport or any grants from the government. He is just by himself. Nomsa  [a community coordinator in Swaziland] and her crew are trying their level best to meet the children’s needs. The only need they can fully address is motivating children. They just motivate them to remain in school and focus on their studies, but they’ve got nothing tangible to offer. Children are suffering in Oshoek, hunger is literally killing them. The children are at high risk of participating in criminal activities, such as prostitution and theft as there is a border nearby. I also predict a high rate of teenage pregnancy if an intervention is not implemented on time.

My background and present situation proves that I am an example of leadership development. I see myself in a centre for rural development and poverty eradication in South Africa. With my experience working with people from different walks of life, combined with my observation that there is a strong need for a person like me to participate in developing or empowering others, this is where I believe I will be used. With the degree that I am going to hold within a year from now, I am going to have access to all the governmental institutions, advocating my people’s needs. I am an instrument for change in South Africa with the help of the Lord, my Almighty.

Hi friends, it has been a long time since I last wrote, I appologise. We are doing very well. We spent the first half of the year traveling and now we settled back in to our home in South Africa. I actually just finished unpacking my suitcase for the first time since November last year! We have seen so much and been so impacted this year already. Some day I will blog more about it but for now I really just wanted to plead for your support for this struggling family in Masoyi, South Africa.

Many of you read my last blog about Gertrude. I'm sad to say that the situation for her family has not improved. Her two youngest brothers are struggling to finish school and are daily facing rejection and fear of being thrown out of their relatives home.

Find out here how you can help by giving. 

I'm turning 30 this week, so I gave $300 to Gertrude's home and I'm challenging 10 of my friends to do the same, and 30 of you to give $30.

If you want to stay up to date with the progress of this project or just find out more information about the family and thier situation then join our cause on facebook.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for just generally supporting us. I promise next time it won't be so long till I write!

Her cough echoed against the tin walls. She had a dead surrendered look in her eyes, staring off in to the not-so-far distance. I could almost see the reel of life playing out in front of her: mother dead, father left, 2 kids to care for that aren’t hers to care for, but they are. Sick, deathly sick. No food, no income, not wanted by anyone.

As she opened up to share her story with us, her eyes began to quiver, and soon her hand was shaking, wiping the tears from her face. Her story was just as I thought. I wish it hadn’t been. I wish that Gertrude had a different story.

Her wails to God still echo in my mind.

I had never been in the presence of such honesty, such genuine humanity, grief and pain, dependence and faith mixed together. That day I felt God’s heart break.

The last time I visited Gertrude, she was staying with her sick Grandmother. Adolescent girls and babies floated in and out of the dark hall through our meeting. Distressed, she and her grandmother cried out together to their God, first using words, then just sobs and wails. There was an eerie stillness in the air as they tried to compose themselves before we left.

Gertrude died a year later in the same week as her grandmother. Together they left Gertrude’s 2 brothers, 14 and 17, and 16 year old sister with a baby of her own, a handful of young cousins, 5 children under the age 2 and a deathly ill aunt—the only adult left in Gertrude’s grandmother’s house.

I believe that God’s heart was in pain as She watched Her child suffer. I believe that there was a sweet reunion the day that Gertrude passed in to the next life. I believe that even through the pain there was purpose in Gertrude’s short life. I believe God has a redemptive plan for this earth and that it begins with you and me. She made us in Her image, creators, like Her. She desires for us to make this world a more loving, more compassionate place for saints like Gertrude, and for people like you and me who easily loose their way and quickly default to our selfish ways. I have to believe for my friends, I believe for Gertrude.

Video with Gertrude

Song for Gertrude

Lynn with Joas & Luisa during filming of the show in Mozambique.

Canadian friends: Living Truth will be debuting these 2 shows featuring Hands at Work in Africa this weekend and next. They were shot while Lynn was with them in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Catch the show: check this flyer for channels and times or go to livingtruth.ca

Lynn was interviewed and could very possibly appear in one of them!

Little did I know how hard this request to stand still, stand still and just receive, would be.

He told us that no matter what we must accept what they were going to give to us. We must accept it so that they can receive their blessing.

An amazing 3 days lead up to this point. A group of Canadians, mostly newly graduated doctors—some of the most highly educated people in the world—together with a group of volunteers from a slum in Zambia—some too poor to pay the $6 a year to send their child to primary school. Two groups thrown together by God, serving each other, learning from each other, freely giving and freely receiving.

You can use music when you are lonley,
where we come from ...

(he continues) ... but most of all, we use music to defuse tension,
where we come from.

Zimbabwean Jazz artist, Oliver Tuku, performs a poetic song that highlighting the loving and peaceful stance of Zimbabweans even in a tense political climate. Lynn took me on my 29th birthday. :)

We wrote an update letter for all our supporters (that's you because you're reading this now!). It'll be up on the front page of our website for a little while.

Lynn is in Zimbabwe and Mozambique right now with a tv crew. We are very honored to have Living Truth choose us again for their annual charity. They received an unprecedented response last year to their tv shows on Hands at Work.

A very small privileged audience (just me) was following Lynn along in a series of text messages and I decided it was selfish to keep it to myself so I’ve posted an edited version (minus the cute names and personal stuff) on Lynn's blog.

And finally, I added our Cape Town photos. It is just as beautiful as everyone says it is!