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In the early days, at the time of the genocide in Rwanda, we had two young men sharing a room, both Rwandese, but from opposing tribes (Tutsi and Hutu) and they lived together as great friends, happily and peacefully. What does that tell us? Wars are made by leaders, whilst people on the ground suffer so much, are even great friends. By way of contrast, we are proud to report that currently at Mercy House, residents come from DRC, Rwanda, Sudan, Mozambique, Burundi – and we are a happy community. How’s that to prove a point!!!!

Our Marc Yorinda was 12 years old when the genocide occurred in 1994 in Rwanda. The parents were killed and he and his sister walked for 2 weeks from Kigali to a refugee camp in Goma DRC. In 1997 war spread to Goma and they had to flee again. This time to a camp in Zambia, but in 2002 that camp was closed. They had simply nowhere to go. Marc managed to get onto a truck on its way to South Africa. On arrival, he slept at Park Station alone, unable to speak English, but found someone who could speak Swahili. This man helped him to trace a friend of his father in Germiston, who took him in. There he met SvdeP Mrs Marlene Ritky who helped him in countless ways. He started to learn English and heard about Mercy House. We put him into school where he did extremely well, then managed to get an Iscor bursary to study engineering at Wits University. After graduating in 2008 he worked at Iscor, then, in 2018 was offered a job as Managing Engineer at Entabeni Life Hospital in Durban. He is still there now as top manager controlling the electronics of their 4 hospitals in the Durban area…with several managers working under him. What a tremendous achievement! We congratulate Marc on his resilience, integrity and deep faith, which have got him to where he is today.

See below Marc on graduation day in 2008 with Mrs Ritky and on Sunday, 19 April 2026, when he flew up all the way from Durban just for the day, to meet up again with Mrs Ritky and Diana, to thank them for all they had done for him. Says something about his character doesn’t it!

Our first dog was an unplanned surprise when, in 2004, Jacinto, our young Angolan orphan, brought home a small puppy a few weeks old. We could not resist her and named her Princess. Everyone loved her and she became a great blessing to our family. She was with us 13 years till 2017 when her back legs gave in and she could not walk or use them for other needs. We had no option but to put her down and this broke our hearts. Our house leader, Riccardo, and I were in tears as 4 residents carried her huge body to the car and to the vet where she was put down. Next in 2017 we got a small black Labrador puppy, named Charlie, who was also found on the street. He was with us for 8 years, and died in our kitchen 8 years late in 2025. In the meantime, yet another wandering puppy, also a beautiful black Labrador, was found on the street and she became a wonderful companion for Charlie. They played together with much joy. We named her Hina. Lastly in September 2025 we adopted Daisy, also found on the street and she has become a wonderful companion to Hina. They too have great joy in one another’s company. All in all, our canine friends have given us much joy and we are grateful for everyone. See the gallery below. 

 

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

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