Building bridges and relationships whilst we feed –  Francesca in George

 

My name is Francesca Engelbrecht and I started on the E-pap project in January 2020.

At the beginning it was a difficult journey with me being new and not knowing the schools and the teachers, but that did not stop me from being friendly and helpful and won the trust of the teachers at the different schools.

Today I can really testify and say that relationship building is an amazing skill. I have had an absolutely fantastic relationship with all the teachers and the kids since 3 years ago.

They welcome me, and I feel welcome in the communities that I work with. These include Thembalethu, Lawaaikamp, Parkdene, Conville, Borcherds, Rosemoore and Pacaltsdorp.

Teachers are keen to share and show the progress of children or if a child digresses they would ask for our help. And the best about all of us joining hands, we always make a plan and figure out how we can help one child at a time.

When you start on a journey like this serving others, you will never be the same again. The thought of having to part from a project like this scares me, not because of anything other than people grow on you and they become like your family no matter each person’s background. These communities have amazingly, wonderful, caring, selfless individuals, taking care of others in the midst of their own struggles.

I love how our kids get so excited when they see me stopping in front of their schools and they start singing, ” e-papa, e-papa” and ” Misi, Misi” referring to me. They run to me so we can thumb click each other. It is the cutest thing.

We all are aware of the struggles in underprivileged communities, and I want to thank all Donors and Parttakers in this project knowing we do what we do best but not just best but it comes from a good and pure place out of the hearts of people who care.

May God bless this project and the people involved.

Sincerely yours

Francesca Engelbrecht