Dear Friends,

The harsh Kalahari winter will is finally coming to an end, thank Goodness. I feel the effects of the sudden changes of temperature quite a lot: temperature may fall below 32 °F at night and in the early morning, while it might reach 86 °F at noon. The children fall easily ill in this period: they catch a cold, suffer from cough and intestinal viruses.

After making some important evaluations, we decided, together with the Ministry of Social Affairs, to make our children spend a short period of time in their villages with their relatives and foster parents. All this is taking place under our supervision and with our financial and moral support. According to the Botswana Law, foster children should not stay more than two years in a foster home; after this period of time, they should be reintegrated in their own (extended) families or live with new, foster families, in order to prevent them from forgetting their roots. If you cannot rely on relatives, a representative of the Ministry of Social Affairs appoints a grown-up person who will exercise the parental authority over the child.

Our children are lucky enough to have families which are not totally foreign to them, as they spend their vacations in the village. Their departure is always traumatic for me, even if I understand that they are not my kids and that their getting back into their native society is the best for their future life. The children, instead, are excited and bursting with joy; some are puzzled and would like to be comforted. At the same time, anyway, they help me pack. “Ouma Cecilia, when will you come back to us?”, ask the younger children.

I go and see them every two weeks. They are fine and nobody has asked to go back to the Home yet: the village represents their roots. Last week I asked Ose how she felt. She hugged me and said: “You know, Ouma, I am like every other child now”. Problems are not all solved, but I hope that the families will manage to bring up their children with our moral and financial support. I spend a good deal of time in the villages and give a hand whenever it is needed: I bring some clothes, warm blankets and food; I also take care of the children or take them to hospital if they do not feel well. We paid pre-school and elementary school boarding charges for each child and we bought uniforms and teaching materials for the pupils of primary school. In regards to them, I regularly meet and discuss with the teachers, who assure me that everyone is well integrated in his/her class.

The children attending our Day-Care Centre are now 80. They all come from the surroundings, need a lot of love and attention and spend the whole day at the Centre. The are divided into three classes: kindergarten, pre-school for the children aged 4-5 years old and day nursery. They are given four meals a day, health treatment, clothes and shoes three times a year. On this subject, I would like to thank all the people who collected a huge quantity of primary goods, which we shipped through a container to Botswana. Besides, I thank the guys who helped loading the goods onto the container.

I regularly meet the children’s relatives and foster parents at the Kgotla, the local court, which is under a big tree in D’kar. Everyone has to bring his/her own chair or has to sit on the ground, while the Kgosi, the head of the village, sits in the centre and presides over the meeting. I explain our programme in regards to the children and the Centre’s regulations which must be respected. The parents talk about their difficulties, their problems and needs, and I see their need for attention. I must admit that few parents or foster parents really wish a better future for the children in their custody.

Alcohol is a serious problem to many adults. Sympathizing with them isn’t always easy: their culture is totally different and a further problem is the linguistic barrier. I have a smattering of Setswana, but the San’s and Herero’s languages are completely unknown to me. My wish is to learn something every week, but then I am always busy doing something else. I have little free time and the weeks I spend here pass too quickly, they almost fly by. The inhabitants of D’kar have accepted me: they are friendly with me and we have learned to accept one another. They call me “Sisko”, which means “mother of the kids”. This means that the children are happy with us at the Home. Most of them attend school regularly or go to the pre-school and they sing happily in the school bus in the early morning. They eat a lot: they enjoy a varied nourishment and eat up all their meals. Like all kids, they quarrel with one another over the seat on the bus, over bicycles and playground games. Anyway, I can admit that they are very good, unspoilt children.

Many of the children who have arrived recently at the Day-Care Centre have instead serious problems that we are trying to solve step by step. These kids need healthcare, attention and a lot of love. They sometimes arrive at the Home in bad conditions: they are often undernourished, dirty, puzzled and undisciplined. We can only be very patient and persevering. I do the rounds of the classes every morning together with Felicia, the person in charge of our children’s health, to see which children need a bath. Felicia calls them “our kolobe” (piglets). They do not want to have a shower because they are afraid of the water: for this reason, we have to wash them in couples in the bathtub.

If I notice that a child is ill or that is health conditions are not improving, I go and see his/her parents to get an undersigned authorization for an hospital check-up. This is not easy, especially whenever it has to do with Aids: they are scared. But I do not give up easily, also thanks to my Swiss stubbornness. From the tests it was clear that two children were suffering from Aids and other two from TBC. They are now under treatment and are recovering slowly.

It is well-known that children bring joys and sorrows into someone’s life, but the joys exceed sorrows. If I consider the progress our little children are making and see the happiness in their sweet eyes, I must say that it’s worth it. To all the people who have been supporting us morally and financially, I say the same thing: it is worth it! Your help is absolutely necessary!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Love,

Cecilia

PS: hereunder you find a little poem which was written by a little girl suffering from cancer and I chose it not only because I find it very beautiful, but also because it illustrates the goals of our charity.

Slow dance

Have you ever looked at the children playing a ring-a-ring-a-roses? Or listened to the sound of the rain falling? Or followed a butterfly flying around? Or looked at the sun at dawn? You’d better slow down. Do not dance so quickly. The time is short. The music won’t last.

Do you spread your wings each single day? Do you listen to the answer when you ask, “How are you?” When the day comes to an end, do you lie down on your bed with thousand of questions spinning around in your head? You’d better slow down. Do not dance so quickly. The time is short. The music won’t last.

Have you ever said to your child, “We will do it tomorrow”, without noticing his/her disappointment? Have you ever lost a friend just because you did not have time to call and say hallo? You’d better slow down. Do not dance so quickly. The time is short. The music won’t last.

When you run quickly to a place you risk loosing half the pleasure of going there. When you are busy and in a hurry for the entire day, life is like a gift still wrapped up…and thrown away. Life is not a run. Take it easy. Listen to the music.