Making a difference-Building a house for a family of five

Nyiko (11 years old) and Khensani Selowa (8 years old) have been with the Xitsavi Youth Centre Afterschool Care Programme since 2012. They both attend school at Manyunyu Primary with Nyiko in grade 5 and Khensani in grade 2. These children come from a very poor background where their mother is the sole breadwinner working in a farm all day long to make ends meet. Their house got burnt down on a fateful evening where they had forgotten and slept with the candle on while the mother was away for work. They used to live in a one room house with only a single window and a door until the day little Nyiko almost lost his ears while he aided his siblings out of the accidental fire. To help aid the situation, food parcels were arranged by Harry Kubayi, Kheto Mongwe and Musa Mhlongo. The Selowa family is currently staying at the grandmother’s one room house without a bed or a proper door. The fire has made worse a situation which was almost in progress to be better.

"The right to shelter, to have one's own bed to sleep in, a roof over one's head, a place where one's possessions are safe is a human right. It is essential to the preservation of one's dignity and health-their own space in the world" (Toronto Christian Resource Centre). Although people without access to adequate housing in this small village are a minority, this right ought to be universally protected and by all means held in highest regard by society at large, owing to the fact that the mental health of those living in such conditions produces a negative impact on their physical health as there is no dignity in 6 people of different sexes cooking, dining, bathing and sleeping in a single room.

Thank you for helping this family have not only a home but an access to adequate housing.