Food Parcel Day Part II

Soon after I started to journal, Kevin said that they are trying to gather people to do home deliveries. So the six of us went with a man and a South African Youth, Kwanele, to deliver 6 food parcels. We piled in a van with all the food and arrived at the first house. Each one of us grabbed a food item and gave it to the family. Some people were crying when we got there, others had young children waiting for the food and said thank you more than once while we were leaving. After a few more houses, we stopped at one and got out with the food. Kwanele then told us it was his house and showed us around. I had to catch my breath for a second because then I realized we were giving him the food. He had been helping us all day and being the most polite young man in each house and holding the van door for us six girls. Here is his story that he told us with an open heart:

He lives in his late grandfather’s shack with his older brother. His older brother sleeps on a couch in his backyard because he is an alcoholic and drinks all the time. His father died in 2005 and his mom died one month ago. He has younger siblings live with someone else because he cannot take care of them. He is a junior in high school and loves his choir, and wants to study business. He then pulls out a prospective student program flyer for UCT (University of Cape Town). He told us he reads it every night and his dream is to study business or music. But he does not have the money for food or to go to University. Someone nominated him for a food parcel and came to get him at school to tell him. So Monday night we had gotten a few business cards from These Numbers have Faces and Brittany happened to have one in her pocket so we immediately gave it to him. We had our van driver take a picture of all of us and we told Kwanele to study hard and to call this number. He then said, “I will keep it in a safe place.” Hugs and goodbyes. We all got in the van and began to cry. Such a sad story, but hopefully we could give him the resources to change the outcome. I could not believe the determination and perseverance in that young man to keep going and dream of going to school. I thought paying for school myself is hard, but he made me appreciate the help and support system I have surrounding me. My family and friends made this trip to South Africa possible and I cannot thank them enough.