The Story of T Kloof Community

Within the community of T Kloof a high degree of vulnerability exists. Many of the families here have come from Eswatini, seeking a better life in South Africa, but without South African documents they are unable to obtain any formal employment. When people do find work, it is odd jobs in the community such as washing clothes and working in the fields.

Hands at Work began walking in T Kloof Community after recognising that many of the children from the Houtbos Community Based Organisation (CBO) were actually coming from T-Kloof after school. It’s a long distance to walk through the bush to the Care Point and then back home again.

6 Care Workers coordinated by Nester 

Basic Services Started in 2022

5.5KM from the Oshoek Local Office 

When the local Hands at Work team in Oshoek saw the challenges these children faced they, together with the Care Workers from Houtbos CBO, decided to visit. Meeting with Sifiso Zwane, a local pastor, they walked in the community and he explained what was happening.

Rosa is a ‘mother Theresa’ figure in the community. She has a heart for caring for vulnerable children and, immediately grasping the vision of Hands at Work, she showed them around. Encouraged by Rosa, other local women asked to join as Care Workers, and a chance encounter with a man who understood the Hands at Work vision led to him offering a portion of his land to be used for the Care Point. The Oshoek team is now in the process of obtaining the land papers from the Chiefs, in order to replace the existing stick and mud house with a properly constructed building.

Initially attended by the children who were coming to Houtbos CBO from T Kloof Community, the Care Point is now also used by other children who were visited in their homes by the Care Workers and identified as most vulnerable.

In February 2023, a Hands at Work Foundations Training was facilitated by the Oshoek team for the Care Workers. The purpose of the training was to share more about the vision of Hands at Work and to go deeper into what it means to care for the children.

Meet Zethu

15-year-old Zethu* lives with her grandmother, her mother and her cousin in a humble house made of sticks and mud. Both her parents are traditional healers; however, they are separated and her father has since remarried. There is animosity between the two families to the point where Zethu is estranged from her father’s family and receives no support from them. The Care Workers in T Kloof have come around Zethu and her family. Her Care Worker Nester says, “The Care Point plays a big role in her life because she’s being followed up on and she is visited to check on how she is doing.” At the Care Point, Zethu is a youth leader who participated in a youth camp organized by the local Hands at Work team in Oshoek. There, she was able to share her story and express her feelings with compassion and courage.

The local Hands at Work team in Oshoek currently supports seven Community Based Organisations, which exist to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The office provides training, networking, and encouragement to those Community Based Organisations like Houtbos. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.

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