July 18th is Nelson Mandela's birthday, and has also been marked Nelson Mandela International Day by the United Nations, in recognition of his contribution to reconciliation. He is certainly a great man, who has achieved much, and inspired many individuals, people groups and nations in his fight against apartheid and for freedom and equality for all.
But I don't want to focus on Nelson Mandela; instead i would like to tell the story of another Mandela who I met last week.
This Mandela is 8 years old, and I first met him at the Women At Risk Holiday club that the CRED team were running last week. He always had a smile on his face, and was very eager to join in all the activities, but with a gentle and friendly eagerness that was very endearing.
When I went with some of the team on a home visit, we found ourselves visiting Mandela's home, and after seeing the conditions in which he lives, and hearing his story and that of his family, it made the smile not just endearing, but miraculous.
Mandela lives in a tiny one room shack with his mum Weyashat, and his brother Baraket (age 12). They also have a cat who had given birth to kittens 3 days prior to our visit, and it was with great delight that Mandela showed us the tiny kittens, still with eyes tight shut, nuzzled close into their mum.
The room had just one bed in it, and a mattress at the foot of the bed that is for sitting on during the coffee ceremony. Cooking is done on the charcoal stove that sits in the middle of the floor, and as Weyashat made us some African tea, she told us her story.
Weyashat left home when just a teenager, to join the army and during her time serving as a soldier she saw active service in the fight between the national army and the EPRDF. She got badly injured and after 7 years in and out of hospital was dismissed from the army with a pay-off of 3000 Ethiopian Birr (approx £100). She found work cooking for the soldiers and it was at that time that she met her future husband, also a soldier. Weyashat was happily married for about 6 years, and during that time gave birth to their two sons - Baraket, and Mandela. But then her husband was killed in action, and Weyashat's life fell apart.
She and the boys were forced to leave the army accommodation, and they found themselves homeless and with no source of income. Weyashat did all she could to find work, but all to no avail, and in absolute desperation she started earning money as a prostitute. With her earnings she was able to secure tenancy of the tiny building they now call home, and it was to there that she would bring the clients. If it was during the day, the boys would be forced to wait outside whilst mum went in and 'did her business'; if it was during the night the boys would sleep underneath the bed, out of sight to the client, but certainly not out of earshot for them, so that they grew up being able to hear their mother being 'used'. What sort of a child-hood is that? What mother should have to put her children through such experiences, just so that she can then feed them the next day?
As I listened to Weyashat's story I observed the reactions of the two boys. Mandela seemed fairly oblivious of it all, content to play with the cat. Whether he was really oblivious, or was just protecting himself by not listening i don't know, but his reaction was very different to that of his older brother Baraket, who listened attentively to every detail. We didn't ask Weyashat to be as explicit as she was, and I certainly worried that Baraket was hearing too much, but she's the mum and she knows what she is happy for her son to hear. One thing I did reflect on was the miracle of the smile - that two lads who have had such unfairly sad starts in life, manage to spend so much of each day smiling. When I think how easily we moan about things, and yet these two, who have so few real options in life, find smiles so readily - very thought provoking
Thanks to the intervention of Women At Risk, Weyashat is now completely off the game, and has completed a food preparation course. W.A.R will help Weyashat with finding a job, and the excitement and pride on her face of what she had achieved, and was looking forward to, was such a pleasure to see. Mandela suffers from diabetes, which is controlled with insulin tablets, and it is thanks to W.A.R. that this has been diagnosed and treated, as Weyashat would never have been able to afford the medical fees herself. Both boys will have education fees and medical fees covered until they are 18, or until Weyashat is doing well enough to cover the costs herself. There is hope in Weyashat's eyes - hope for the future, and hope in the knowledge that she isn't alone. Maybe it is the presence of that hope in their lives and that she imparts to the boys, which is the reason that they smile so much.
But I don't want to focus on Nelson Mandela; instead i would like to tell the story of another Mandela who I met last week.
This Mandela is 8 years old, and I first met him at the Women At Risk Holiday club that the CRED team were running last week. He always had a smile on his face, and was very eager to join in all the activities, but with a gentle and friendly eagerness that was very endearing.
When I went with some of the team on a home visit, we found ourselves visiting Mandela's home, and after seeing the conditions in which he lives, and hearing his story and that of his family, it made the smile not just endearing, but miraculous.
Mandela lives in a tiny one room shack with his mum Weyashat, and his brother Baraket (age 12). They also have a cat who had given birth to kittens 3 days prior to our visit, and it was with great delight that Mandela showed us the tiny kittens, still with eyes tight shut, nuzzled close into their mum.
The room had just one bed in it, and a mattress at the foot of the bed that is for sitting on during the coffee ceremony. Cooking is done on the charcoal stove that sits in the middle of the floor, and as Weyashat made us some African tea, she told us her story.
Weyashat left home when just a teenager, to join the army and during her time serving as a soldier she saw active service in the fight between the national army and the EPRDF. She got badly injured and after 7 years in and out of hospital was dismissed from the army with a pay-off of 3000 Ethiopian Birr (approx £100). She found work cooking for the soldiers and it was at that time that she met her future husband, also a soldier. Weyashat was happily married for about 6 years, and during that time gave birth to their two sons - Baraket, and Mandela. But then her husband was killed in action, and Weyashat's life fell apart.
She and the boys were forced to leave the army accommodation, and they found themselves homeless and with no source of income. Weyashat did all she could to find work, but all to no avail, and in absolute desperation she started earning money as a prostitute. With her earnings she was able to secure tenancy of the tiny building they now call home, and it was to there that she would bring the clients. If it was during the day, the boys would be forced to wait outside whilst mum went in and 'did her business'; if it was during the night the boys would sleep underneath the bed, out of sight to the client, but certainly not out of earshot for them, so that they grew up being able to hear their mother being 'used'. What sort of a child-hood is that? What mother should have to put her children through such experiences, just so that she can then feed them the next day?
As I listened to Weyashat's story I observed the reactions of the two boys. Mandela seemed fairly oblivious of it all, content to play with the cat. Whether he was really oblivious, or was just protecting himself by not listening i don't know, but his reaction was very different to that of his older brother Baraket, who listened attentively to every detail. We didn't ask Weyashat to be as explicit as she was, and I certainly worried that Baraket was hearing too much, but she's the mum and she knows what she is happy for her son to hear. One thing I did reflect on was the miracle of the smile - that two lads who have had such unfairly sad starts in life, manage to spend so much of each day smiling. When I think how easily we moan about things, and yet these two, who have so few real options in life, find smiles so readily - very thought provoking
Thanks to the intervention of Women At Risk, Weyashat is now completely off the game, and has completed a food preparation course. W.A.R will help Weyashat with finding a job, and the excitement and pride on her face of what she had achieved, and was looking forward to, was such a pleasure to see. Mandela suffers from diabetes, which is controlled with insulin tablets, and it is thanks to W.A.R. that this has been diagnosed and treated, as Weyashat would never have been able to afford the medical fees herself. Both boys will have education fees and medical fees covered until they are 18, or until Weyashat is doing well enough to cover the costs herself. There is hope in Weyashat's eyes - hope for the future, and hope in the knowledge that she isn't alone. Maybe it is the presence of that hope in their lives and that she imparts to the boys, which is the reason that they smile so much.
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