Jannet

We ‘met’ Jannet when the founder’s children set up a stall to raise a little money to help Evanson help some of his school children during lockdown. 15 of the most in-need children received bags of food and soap. Jannet was one of these children. She was holding the cutest little baby in her arms and something made me enquire further about her. The baby was James – her 18 month old brother. She was raising him as her mother – Eunice – was unable to be there with them. She had her first baby at 14 and had been through a life of hardship and abusive men. At only 28 years old she was living a life involving alcohol and prostitution, seeing no way out of the life she was leading.
Jannet and James were living outside, on a dirty mattress and under a few sacks tied to the end of a shanty. Her kindly – but exceptionally poor – neighbours would help her with caring for James when she was attending school and would allow her to use their stove to cook. Jannet was 10 years old.
This little girl was laid on my heart and I vowed to help further. She received a second bag of food (as did the other 14 children). My kind mum sent some money to buy more food, a dress for Jannet, an outfit for James, and some nappies. My heart had broken when Evanson told me that they can’t afford nappies. Sometimes the youngsters don’t wear anything and just defacate where they are, and sometimes old bits of clothing are used as makeshift nappies. These are washed out out in the street – streams of sewage run throughout the slum.
Evanson and I put our heads together and came up with a 6 month rehabilitation plan. We asked Eunice to commit to stopping drinking and leaving prostitution and working with us to find a new job. We asked her to commit to receiving family planning as she already had birthed 4 children and was struggling to be able to raise two of them – tragically two are missing. She also agreed to have counselling. We raised enough money to pay for the rent for a small home (a tin ‘shanty’) for 6 months, to help her get back on her feet and I began sponsoring Jannet so that they would have a regular small source of money coming in which they could spend on food.
The very first day the little family moved into the home you could see such tension in all of their faces. It was a new world for them and reconnecting was a concern for us. But four days later the photos and videos were of beautiful, genuine smiles. Eunice was always holding baby James, giving him the mummy back that he would have craved, and enabling Jannet to go and play with her friends and be a little girl again.
My sons and I continued to fundraise and were shocked and touched at the generosity of friends and family. We were able to replace Jannet’s dirty old mattress with a great quality one, a beautiful wooden bed and a comfortable blanket. We bought a small gas stove for them to cook their food on along with some utensils. We bought a table and a bench seat – the first time any of them had owned such a thing, This meant that they could sit to eat as a family and Jannet had a place to do her homework.
Finally, we came up with a new plan of work for Eunice. This wasn’t easy as she had no education. Initially Eunice was going to sell vegetables but she came up with the idea of selling coffee. After researching the cost we managed to fund an amount of the set-up, asking her to take on a small loan and pay back a little each month, ending at the same time as the 6 month rehabilitation plan – the end of December 2020, which meant that she would start the new year afresh. We believed it was important that Eunice had input into her new work and also took responsibility for paying for some of the set-up so that she didn’t feel like she was receiving hand-out after hand-out.
Mother Teresa said: “If I look at the masses I will never act; if I look at the one, I will.” I vowed to do the same. Eunice remains at home, caring for her children and selling coffee. I send letters of encouragement and love as often as I can. Evanson tells how important it is that she knows that she is loved. Life has not been kind to her – and certainly not easy. She is worthy and beautiful and I am so proud of how hard she has worked. I hope she truly knows how much she is loved.
And so it is that Compassion CBO and The Janna Foundation join forces and continue to open our eyes and hearts for “the one”.