First Day in the community of Cork

Heather Yourex writes:

Hard to believe its all ready been a week!

So today I made my first trip to cork. A more rural, less developed community that grew out of a refugee settlement of those that fled violence in Mozambique. It makes Masoyi look like MacKenzie Towne.

Hands at work came into cork a few years ago but had to pull out last year completely because of problems with the local chief. A new government is now in place so hands is back... But only since april.

The kids are back at the care center (12 tiny children who are all double orphans ... Who leap into your arms as soon as you get out of the van). The care center needs a lot of work compared to Masoyi... For one there's no place for them to play outside.

Our task for the morning had to do with the upcoming launch of the young moms program in cork. It meant we spent the morning conducting research. Completely fascinating again! I ended up with a few others at the local high school. We spoke with two teen guys, two teen girls (one who had a child), a male teacher and a female teacher...after we went to a nearby home and spoke with a go go (grandma) who takes care of her great granchild... Born to a 15 year old Mom.

I was surprised with what I learned. Everyone agreed teen pregnancy is a bigger problem than aids and even the lack of food. Girls are getting pregnant on purpose as a way of getting money. The SA govt offers a 200 rand a month grant for children born to single mothers. The boys - we learned - most often don't take responsibilty and wind up fathering many children with many girls. A lot of the problems stem from the fact that many of these young girls have grown up without parental guidance or rules... Running wild and free. As a result... Child abandonement is a big problem in cork.
I cannot imagine being a child here! Teachers admit they can't really teach...school is more like crowd control. Kids have no one... And wind up being parents without ever having learned to parent.

The afternoon howeve held some inspiration. The team went back to K2 (a care center in Masoyi) where the Masoyi young mom support group leaders were meeting. This is an inspiring group of girls who are working hard to make the best out of a limited amount of options before them.
Monday is world youth day. A big deal here and everyone is working on songs, dances and dramas. We watched the young moms rehearse as we held onto the babies. I'm shooting the performances... I decided not to shoot anything until next month but I'm making an exception.

So that was today. Otherwise things are good, eating so well here - I feel so bad sometimes. The fruit here is unreal po pos (papayas), oranges, avacadoes are all in season and amazing.

It was hot for the first time today. Yay!

Friday: Young Mom program workshop

Saturday: day off...we're hiking up to a place called gods window

Sunday: we're heading to a new community to attend a church service. Wolverine has no programs and no water. The founder of hands is speaking at this church service...I can't wait.