Written by our St. Lucia intern Andrea Martinez
Emma and her family joined our Family Empowerment Program in early 2014. At the time, Emma was already part of our Home Based Care program, as she suffers from diabetes. However, after the family tragically lost both parents, they became part of our Family Empowerment Program, so that THAF and the African Impact volunteers could help provide them with educational and emotional support.
Emma is 10 years old and lives in Khula village with her three older siblings, Gugu (21), Ningi (16), and Simo (14). We first met Emma in 2013, when the local clinic referred us to her because she suffered from diabetes, and was constantly ill because of it. After our initial visit, we started working with Emma through our Home Based Care program, to help her cope with her diabetes. At the time, Emma lived with her dad, and two of her siblings, as her mom had passed away in 2012. Then in January 2014, the family suffered another loss, as their dad passed away from a work accident. As a result of this, Emma’s older sister, Gugu, moved back home, so she could care for her younger siblings.
During this very difficult time, Emma and her family were really struggling to deal with Emma’s illness. Her health was very unstable and she was spending many days in the clinic and falling behind in school, and has had to repeat 2nd grade three times. The other two children were also struggling in school, and Gugu was having a difficult time caring for her siblings, as she didn’t have a job. In addition, all four family members were having a difficult time coping with the loss of their parents, as they were trying to do so independently, without each other’s support. During one of our regular Home Based Care visits to Emma’s house, to check on her and the state of her diabetes, her brother, Simo, broke down in tears. When we asked him what was wrong, he said that their father had passed away during the Christmas holidays and that he no longer had someone to help him with his homework. After hearing this news, we decided to add the family to our Family Empowerment Program.
We started visiting the family once a week and working with them to help support them with different aspects of their life. First, we helped Gugu find a job. We also started working with them on how to effectively deal with Emma’s diabetes, such as teaching them about “good” and “bad” foods. In addition, we started helping the three younger children with their homework and doing different educational activities with them. Also, we started doing different games and bonding activities with the family, to help bring them closer together as a family. We also helped them start a garden and installed a JoJo tank for them, so that they could have another source of food and water. Finally, we provided Gugu with emotional support in her new role, as the caregiver of her three siblings, by providing her with advice and by simply becoming a group of people that Gugu and the family could trust and talk to. As Nokwethemba, one of the African Impact Community Coordinators at St. Lucia explains, “we wanted to show them that they are not alone and that there are people who care for them.”
After almost a year of working with the family, they are all doing much better. Ever since we started working with Emma and her family, her health has significantly improved. The head nurse at the clinic said that she used to see Emma there all the time, and that now she barely ever sees her. Gugu also now has a job at Wildlands Conservation Group, and is doing well in her new position. All three children are also doing well in school. Gugu said that being part of the Family Empowerment Program “has really helped us a lot, and made a big difference, especially for the kids.” She explained how the kids were very emotional after their father’s death, and the FEP program has provided them with emotional support, so that “they can help each other and cope with the loss of their parents.” She also said that this program “has helped us a lot, I cannot even explain how much they have helped us, and I hope they can do the same for other families.”