Author: Zeng Dieulv

 

At the end of April, we received a phone call from Pretoria from an American lady named Niki. She and her friend, Kim, had heard about us through the American International School (AISJ). They wanted to visit us, with a view to see how they could help. This happened the week before Easter. Already the next weekend, which was Easter weekend, they came with their families and joined our Easter Sunday celebration, when we have the Easter egg shower from our roof. This is always a very joyful occasion with all the children whom we support from the surroundings having the time of their lives, catching easter eggs from heaven. Very soon after, they came to plan how they could help us. The plan has already led to action. They raised a good sum of money from a sponsored marathon at their school, following which they paid another visit to roll up their sleeves and get involved on the ground level. Who could have dreamt of such a blessing: Niki and her husband accompanied our house leader, Masengo, to Jumbo to do the monthly shopping, which leaves quite a big dent on our finances.
On the same day, Kim and husband accompanied a young mother in distress, to her son’s school, to cover his school fees for the year – which she had been unable to do. She was greatly relieved about this.

Only God could have given us this wonderful surprise, and we are HUGELY grateful to Niki and Kim and their families for this wonderful commitment.  May He reward them. See photos above.

 

Something else just dropped out of heaven! For the first time ever in the course of the 30 years of our existence, around midnight, Thursday-Friday 8-9 May, the magic happened: our now youngest member of our Mercy Family was born – at Mercy House! We were happily able to cope with this sudden arrival, since we have Shadadi, whom we took in at age 8 still living with us. We put him through a very good private school then he got a bursary to do a degree at Wits Medical School. He is now a qualified medical practitioner. Another resident is Gaston, a registered qualified nurse. These two delivered the baby girl, Tianna, who has given much joy and many blessings to our Mercy community. We welcome her and wish the parents well in shaping this child into a valuable member of the human community. Interestingly, she arrived in this world on the same day as our new Holy Father, Pope Leo, was chosen.

In our previous update, we introduced the internationally recognised Fitness Professionals college which trains young people, in a one-year course, to become instructors at gyms. The first young man we put there completed his course in mid-2024 and the college, being so impressed with him, employed him immediately. It was then that our former volunteer, Kasia Wawiernia, visited us from Kazakhstan, where she is head of the UN. She was wanting to help, and agreed to fund another young man, Yafa, for the course ending mid-2025. And in June this year we have been able, through the support of another benefactor, the Rademeyer family, to put yet a third young man into this course. He is enjoying it very much. It has given him purpose and hope for the future. Of course, huge thanks to our benefactors who enable us to help young people onto their feet like this.

We are happy to share with our viewers an item that Fitpro put onto the web which details their experience of our first student there: Baleka. See below.

Fitpro_Institute

👋 Hi #FacesOfFitpro, meet Baleka Dzana!

We first met Baleka as an NCF student at Fitpro, where he studied through a scholarship from Mercy House.

From day one, his drive and passion for fitness stood out. We loved having him so much, we knew we wanted him to start his career with us!

Today, he’s a Floor Instructor and Personal Trainer at the Fitpro Gym. 💪 He also helps our current full-time students complete their practical hours — always bringing motivation, support, and a great attitude. 💆‍♀️

🎥 Hit play to hear his inspiring journey — from being a student to shaping lives on the gym floor.

We’re incredibly proud of how far he’s come and can’t wait to see what’s next!

#FitproSA #FacesOfFitpro #PersonalTrainer #SportsMassage #FitnessJourney #FitproGraduate #MercyHouse

instagram.com/reel

In the 30 years of our existence, we have never done a thorough renovation of our house. Time runs out. At the start of this year we, by sheer co-incidence, came across a man, Paul Santana, who does exactly that. We were thrilled, having prayed for many months that we could find someone to fill this gap. Renovations proceeded immediately and Paul has proved over and over to be excellent at his job. The photos below show some of his completed work. Our sincere thanks to Paul for his excellent work and dedication. We look forward to having him as part of our Mercy family on-going.

Always joyful occasions indeed: On the 26 April, Didier, one of our former residents got married. As conditions in his home county have stabilised, he decided to return there for the happy event. Obviously, we were not able to attend, but the photos show a very beautiful occasion and we wish the happy couple many blessings in their future life together. See photos below.

Once again, we celebrated Christmas with our wider Mercy Family – residents and past residents being invited to join our residents. We had lunch together, followed by the arrival of Father Xmas (also known as Exocee). Before the Christmas day, we held our usual Christmas party for all the young people we assist with schooling. Our sincere thanks to all those who donated gifts to give our youth much joy.