Meet the two families the team are building for

Meet Lalisile Dlamini one of the two beneficiaries for the houses the Challenge team are helping to build.

Lalisile is 38 years old and has three children, one son and two daughters (17, 11 and 7 years). All the children attend local schools.

Lalisile is married to Sutha Njwara and they currently live in a Kraal on the Highflats farm where the Mziki Agri village Project is based. The family currently live in a mud and wattle structure and their monthly income is very low. Conditions within the home are very difficult for the family, especially the children. Bad weather causes problems as the roof leaks and the children become sick very easily.

Lalisile was very excited when volunteers came previously to help families build their homes and she has been looking forward to meeting the volunteers and building with them.

Interview by: Ben TshiteyaVoluneer Co-ordinator Habitat for Humanity SA (KZN Region)

NOW READ ABOUT THOLAKELE….

Tholakele was born in Ixopo in 1977. She has one child, a boy, four year old Sithembokuhle who attends a local crèche. Tholakele also cares for a three year old orphan, Sphamandla.

The family currently live in a mud and wattle home. They have access to electricity and a communal water tap.

Tholakele does not have a job and the family survive by selling firewood. Her mother is working and helps to support her and the two children but life is still very difficult.

When asking Tholakelle what the Mziki Agri Project would mean for her, she replied, “I am so very happy because not only will I have a beautiful house, not a house made of mud, I will also have employment by building my house and I will learn new skills at the training centre.

It is very hard for us as when it rains in the summer, our houses collapse. We cannot grow food because the goats and cattle eat what grows. We also have so little water and this project will help this community in many ways that we never dreamed possible.”

Interviewed by: Sue JohnsonHabitat for Humanity SA, Resource Development &Communications

Interviews and photos reproduced by kind permission of Jeremy North, Volunteer Programme Manager, Habitat for Humanity GB