Radikgong Johannes Maake

Last week right before Rejoice and I went to Woolworth's we went to a bunch of stores in Tzaneen to piece together a school uniform for a schoolboy the ladies at Lafata Drop In Center in Madeira Village had identified as "one of the most in need" children. We went to the uniform shop and got him a pair of trousers (maroon) and then shopped around some cheaper stores for 3 shirts (yellow, blue, and white), socks, a sweater, and some shoes. Since this is my wedding gift to two of my friends who recently got married, I wanted to go all out... get him everything he might need... and am still trying to figure out if a track suit for winter is one of those things.
So that was Monday.
Tuesday we got sidetracked with stuff in the office so we didn't venture out anywhere.
Wednesday Cedric and Enos were running around Madeira buying eggs and getting seedlings from the greenery (both projects of Lafata) so Rejoice and I caught a ride.
It was Wednesday when we met Johannes. Wednesday morning when we walked across the football (soccer) field with a view of the mountains covered in fog, and huddled against each other when we were walking in the wind. We went to the primary school just past the field, talked to one of the teachers, and were immediately led into a portable building that was acting as a classroom and the principal's office. We were offered chairs and asked about our business at the school. We introduced ourselves and asked to speak to Johannes, we had a present to give him. He was called and a few minutes later, a lean, tall boy, with a big shy grin, walked into the room. His white shirt was worn and his grey trousers were too small around the waist, but man, that grin. My heart leaped. His grin grew wider when we handed over all the purchases... we shook hands, the principal thanked us, graciously, for our help, we took some photos, and not 10 minutes after we had walked in, we walked out.
Johannes is 13 years old and taking classes in Grade 1 at the primary school because he missed so much school throughout his childhood. Both his parents are living, but he is considered an orphan and at risk because his mother doesn't want to care for him and his father's wife doesn't want to raise him. He was living with an aunt last year, but she died, so he moved in with another aunt. No one really knows much about his current home situation (we're working on that), but he's on the register at Lafata and comes to eat when they're serving food.
It was a bittersweet meeting. Hearing the way his life has been going leaves me with a heavy heart... BUT I'm glad Rejoice and I, along with the ladies at Lafata, his teachers and principal, could show him that there are people who think and care about him and are very interested in doing what they can to support and help him.