Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
With this newsletter we would like to tell you about a completely different and also for us entirely new facet of our work. In the many years of working, we have never felt threatened or in danger. Unfortunately, the people who live in the townships are repeatedly confronted by crime and violence.
One of our kindergarten teachers, Anele Japhta, who worked at the Bright Future Edu-Care Centre kindergarten, was shot in early March. Seven shots hit her in the arm, stomach and below the waist. The perpetrators assumed that she could testify as a witness in the murder of a police officer, so they hired a 17-year-old young man to shoot her.
As Anele left her home to go to Bright Future Edu-Care Centre for work on the morning of March 3, 2023, she was unexpectedly shot. She was in the intensive care unit of Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town for many days and at first we didn’t know if she would survive this attack.
Of course, despite this tragedy, the kindergarten had to continue and so we supported Zanele, the principal of Bright Future, in recruiting a new kindergarten teacher. Since she does not have the means to continue to pay Anele’s salary and there is often no contractual basis to guarantee it, we pay Anele’s reduced salary until she is healthy enough to resume work.
Earlier this month we were at Bright Future Edu-Care Centre in Asanda Village and discussed with Zanele the next steps to get closer to the long-awaited official government approval and, with it, state funding. We have been working towards this for many years, but unfortunately it is proving very difficult to get the final approval.
Together with Zanele we also visited Anele. At least we were able to make her happy with some warm clothes and shoes that we had received from sponsors.
Since she didn’t know at first the background to the attack on her, she was terrified that the perpetrators would come back. So she left her apartment and sought shelter with relatives. Only a few weeks ago she found out the background to the terrible attack. The fact that the perpetrators are now in prison allows her to breathe again and she can venture into public again.
But we were not the only ones to visit Anele. During her difficult time, she was often visited by loved ones, like these two volunteers, to give her comfort and courage.
It is a well-known fact that the medical care here is excellent, and fortunately Anele was also able to benefit from this: treatment costs and the costs for medicines and remedies are covered by the state.
However, the state does not pay for the trip for the weekly check-up appointments at Tygerberg Hospital. Anele has to pay for this herself. Because she was so afraid at the beginning that the perpetrators would continue to harass her, she always took an Uber taxi instead of public transport – which she couldn’t really afford on her low salary. After she knew that the perpetrators had been caught, she is able to use at least a cheaper form of public transport again.
Anele’s arm with the many metal plates in it is healing well and she can move it again. She’s still due for major abdominal surgery in August, but there’s a good chance she’ll be able to slowly return to normal life afterwards.
The mental healing process and the processing of the traumatic experience will probably take longer because the state unfortunately does not cover the costs for this. Unfortunately, people are left alone to cope with these fears and problems and are therefore dependent on the support of their families, friends and colleagues.
Anele is a passionate, dedicated and generous kindergarten teacher and at Golden Sunbeams we feel we are responsible to stand by Anele during this difficult time and support her on her way back to normal life.
In order for her to come to terms soon with her fears, we also want to help her overcome her traumatic experience
She will celebrate her 30th birthday on 28th September and we would like her to be happy and, above all, healthy.
We ask you to support us with donations and contributions, so we can continue to pay Anele a small salary. We would also like to finance her urgently-needed psychotherapy.
Donations Account: Golden Sunbeams e.V.
Stadt- und Kreissparkasse Darmstadt
IBAN DE54 5085 0150 0023 0186 32
BIC HELADEF1DAS
Reference ANELE
Many thanks and greetings from a wet and cold South Africa
Yours
Britta & Bernd