Author: Zeng Dieulv

Burundian Shadadi came to us at age 8, as an orphan from Burundi. We put him into school and managed to get a bursary for him at Wits Medical School. He now works as a Clinical Medical Practitioner at a hospital north of Pretoria. As we are the only home he has ever known, he still stays with us. On his way home, in early May, he was attacked by a gang at Pretoria station and lost his phone, money and bank cards. 

Desire in hospital

On Sunday, 5 May, Sudanese Charles was travelling from Malvern to Bedfordview with his friend.  Thugs blocked their vehicle on the way and demanded money. When the friend refused, they beat them both up badly, even shot his friend, who died from the fatal shooting. Charles survived but was left hugely injured and spent some time in hospital.

Also in early May, our Burundian,  Desire, was delivering for Uber Eats on the motor bike he had saved up to buy.  At an intersection, a gang of men attacked him, leaving him with very serious injuries, to his brain, ribs, lungs, back and with a deaf ear. In fact, he spent a full week in a coma in hospital, but survived, not without damaging consequences, and of course, the thugs stole his motor bike, his only source of income. 

All this happening to really good, peace-loving young people who are just trying to earn a living… Hard to understand…

Angolan Doctor Martin Kalenga was studying medicine in the DRC, when, in his 3rd year, in 1995, he was forced to flee from war.  There were no facilities for refugees at that time in South Africa and on their arrival, they had no choice but to stay in a disused mining village which had become a squatter camp (and still is today), called Angelo. Buildings were in a state of collapse, no windows, water or electricity and all sorts of violence, drunkenness and other undesirable behaviour being common. It was very tough indeed for the young refugees. Martin slept in one of the former compound rooms, where they all slept on concrete slabs. Even rats climbed over them at night!  They put up cardboard around their bay for privacy.

Diana read about the arrival of the refugees, and wanted to help. She found the place and began taking food there regularly as well as teaching English. It was there that she met Martin and assisted him to get a bursary from the United Nations to do a medical doctor’s degree, which was the dream of his lifetime.  He is in fact the ONLY refugee around now who moved into our first Mercy House with 5 others. 

We are hugely proud of our Martin, who today is a specialist gynecologist, with his own practice in Pretoria.  Martin never gave up, his resilience and determination being remarkable.  He even used to sell shoes and bags at weekends on the pavements in Pretoria while studying to get to his goal. 

Imagine the joy for  Martin, this Easter Sunday, when he came to visit Mercy House for the first time since those very early days. He could hardly believe what he saw, and was able to show his wife and 3 children, where he had come from, through the photos lining our walls.  We were absolutely delighted to have Martin with us, and thank him for his loyal support.  He is one of our Mercy House miracles!

Emmanuel wearing his Rotary induction medal

Emmanuel was only a few months when his parents fled from the Eastern DRC, having lost all their relatives in the war. The family lived with us for about 5 years after their arrival. When the parents got work, they moved on, but Emmanuel remained with us. We put him into school where he matriculated and has since never stopped trying to reach his dreams to become a financial advisor.  On his own initiative, he joined Toastmasters, and Rotary, having now been made chairman of their youth branch.

In our update of December 2021, we told the story of “The Heroic Zama Family,” which introduced Daniel to viewers.  Born with cerebral palsy, limbs atrophied, speechless and more. Daniel spent the 16 years of his life on a mattress on the floor. The family was absolutely heroic in caring for him with great love. On 19 June this year, Daniel passed away. It was a hugely sad occasion, not just because of the loss of Daniel, but because of the 16 years of suffering that he had had to endure.  He is surely receiving his reward in heaven. We hope that he will now be the one to care for his family from there with the same degree of devotion and love as they showed to  him.

Zama, the older brother of Daniel, is an excellent sportsman.  When he matriculated in December 2021, his dream was to become a sports instructor. After much searching, we found a suitable course in town, but this ended in huge disappointment and, when we found out that it was not at all what we had expected, Zama quit the course. But just after Daniel’s death, by sheer chance, Diana met a family who owns and runs a college, called Fitness Professionals, which trains fitness instructors and it has turned out to be highly suitable for Zama.  The course issues an internationally recognised certificate in Fitness Training, which qualifies them to work at Fitness Clinics or related fields anywhere in the world.  It is really a dream come true for Zama who is so, so happy! No doubt Daniel had something to do with the finding of this course for his devoted brother. “What goes up goes down” and dreams really do come true!

One of our house leaders, Masengo, came to us in early 2018. We put him into Phoenix College, where he matriculated. He has always wanted to go into the field of photography and had his mind set on that. As  finance was lacking, he “seized the day”, and has spent a few years educating himself through courses online in photography and videography, even getting some occasional jobs enroute. His goal-consciousness and determination are simply amazing. He has got the reward he deserves: in July he started working for a company, doing exactly what he had dreamed about. Again, dreams do come true.  We thank him for his good example and also for his very efficient leadership at Mercy House.  He certainly has good prospects for the years ahead and we wish him well.

What a wonderful joy, when, on the 10th of July we awoke to find that it was snowing. Mercy House premises was covered with a beautiful white blanket.  For most of our people, it was the first time they had ever seen snow and they went crazy, as the photos show – you can see the reaction of our Sudanese Charles, who came to us from Sudan only a year ago.  This was only the second time that it has snowed in Johannesburg in about 30 years! What a lovely experience. So, thank you God, also for snow!