The winter season in South Africa is short and especially in the Soshanguve area it is dry and sunny, so it warms up to a pleasant 15 degrees during the day. This year the temperatures dropped to minus 3 degrees and it was freezing cold in the shacks or the small stone houses without properly closing windows and doors.
We again have four siblings, aged six to eleven, who are new to the center. They were taken in by their grandparents after their parents died. Only the grandmother has a part-time job as a domestic help. There is no money for warm clothes or firewood. The grandfather walks far every day to collect wood. In the early morning, he starts a fire to heat water for washing and in the evening, he lights a fire again for the children to warm up before going to bed. The children love it because they can often hear interesting stories about the old days from their
grandfather by the fire.
At the center, all the children drink lots of hot tea to warm themselves up. In smaller groups, the caregivers activate the freezing children outside with games or sit inside around a gas heater and do reading and language exercises.
House of Encouragement