Today I am on my way to Fredericton to visit my dear friend Lisa. I am traveling by train to Moncton and as I sit here enjoying the comfort and luxury of the train I decide it is time to call Thembalethu to see how my friends are doing. Gcinsizwe hands the phone to Siabonga who wanted to thank me for sending diapers for his baby boy. I hear a sadness deep in Siabonga’s voice, I ask him how he is and he says, fine fine in which I say “Siabonga, I can hear sadness in your voice, what is going on in your world today?”. Siabonga, the sole bread winner in his extended family and new father of a baby boy has just lost his job. His company has closed due to the recession and laid off all of their employees. In Canada we are very much effected by the recession, people are losing their jobs at an alarming pace, we apply for employment insurance and hope to find something else soon. We are very fortunate in this country, we have food banks and other social services to help us when we hit rock bottom. It is hard for us to imagine the desperation that comes from losing a job in other countries. For Siabonga and his large extended family they now face an impossible battle due to the massive unemployment in this area. Finding a job is nearly impossible, he now joins tens of thousands of other men with equal skills who are also looking for work. When I met Siabonga and his wife Anna they were only eating proper food every third day or so. This meal would consist of maize, beans and if they were having a good month perhaps a few flecks of meat about the size of scattered dimes. Today they have no income, and no food. I ask him what he will do, he has his two parents, wife, baby and two sisters to feed, his response “Only God knows our destiny, I pray to him that I find work and soon”. I ask, How will you feed your family? Where will you find food? Siabonga pauses for a long while then says in a defeated voice, Catherine, I just don’t know.

Siabonga is one of the families who receives food from The Themba Development Project’s food delivery program. On July 7th his family received food rations to last them for one month. His story reflects most people living in Thembalethu. Due to YOUR donations Siabonga’s family has a changed destiny, once living in a world without hope, his future now includes food and the knowledge that people in Canada care about the future of his family.