Stewart 5

This year I’ve been serving dinner every Tuesday night to a bunch of young men. I call them “MaGents” (pronounced mah-gents) a slang South African term similar to the American term “homeboys” or “my hommies.” Many of these guys (aged 17-25) have families and homes in nearby townships, but they have left for varying reasons. Some of their families have sent them out to provide for themselves. Some of the guys have chosen to leave because of the abuse they’ve experienced at home. Many of them have not finished high school and several can’t read or write.



Most of the guys hang around on the street near the mall 3 blocks from our house. They direct people to parking spaces on the street and ask if they can “watch your car” for you while you shop. They’ll even wash your windows or the whole car if you let them! This is a very common occurrence here in SA. Some stores, restaurants and malls employ their own uniformed car park attendants. It is customary to tip them if you agree to allow them to watch your car, usually about R2 (about 30 cents at the current exchange rate). The guys say that on average, if they work all week from 7 am till 6 pm, they make about R200 ($30). They sleep in vacant lots around the shops and some of them say they have “a room” somewhere.



A group of people from different churches got together a couple of years ago to serve food to these guys five days out of the week. Several NieuCommunities apprentices have been involved in serving these guys over the last 3 years. Since we had no apprentices this year, I took over Tuesday nights. I asked one of our Pangani staff, my friend Jostina, if she would accompany me. So, after she works a full day cleaning my house and doing my laundry, Jostina and I head to the place where we serve MaGents. The kitchen staff at a nearby retirement home provide the food. Jostina and I bring plastic plates, forks and serving spoons.



Most of the time the food from the retirement home is decent. Sometimes, honestly, I wouldn’t eat it. The guys eat most of it because they are hungry. But, often they choose not to eat one item or another. One week, when they seemed unhappy with the meal, I asked them what would they like, what was their favorite meal…they said they liked motwana (pronounced mow-TWah-nah), pap (pronounced pop) and coca-cola (Coke:).

shirts v. skins serving the foodMotwana and Pap

One Sunday afternoon I invited MaGents to the park to play soccer and eat lunch. Arthur, Tim Ramage, Doug, and our kids played a shirts v. skins match. Jostina made the motwana (boiled chicken feet with a tomato and onion sauce), pap (the main starch eaten throughout Africa, but prepared a bit differently from country to country) and mashed pumpkin. We served the food after the soccer game and then just talked and hung out at the park until the sun began to set. It was a beautiful day.

Last week Abie asked me to bring “cool drink” (similar to punch). I told him I would, but that since I would be paying for the drink each week I needed his, and the other guys, help to keep each other honest and not take the forks and plates that we bring each week. Many times MaGents show up to eat and they have been sniffing glue or drinking cheap beer. One of the younger guys, Tsepo, is regularly high on glue. On occasion he is sober and he’s really an articulate, intelligent, likeable guy. I’ve told him a few times now that he is a smart guy and that I really enjoy him much more when he is sober.

A few weeks ago MaGents told me they would like Christmas presents. I asked them what they kinds of gifts they wanted. One guy said, “just something that will make us happy.” So, I don’t know what kind of picture you have of these guys at this point, but picture any average 17-25 year old in America. These guys want similar things. They like to look good. They save up their money and buy Fila “takkies” (athletic shoes). They are into soccer and talk about what kind of car they’d like.

I told MaGents that I would see what I could do to get them some Christmas presents. But, I also asked them, if I got them something good would they get tested for HIV in order to get the present. I had asked one of the guys prior to this conversation if he had been tested. He said “no.” I asked if he would get tested and he said, “probably not.” So, these guys, in general, have no natural inclination to get tested. After I presented the idea the guys said they would get tested if they got a gift out of the deal.



Here’s where you come in…I’d like to give these guys the option of a new pair of athletic shoes or a soccer jersey. I am hoping to get 20 guys to come out one afternoon to get counseling and HIV testing through the local clinic. I need $45 each, a total of $900 to pay for the gifts. Please email me ASAP if you are interested in partnering with us in this endeavor!



Thank you for listening to my story:) Melissa