Ruth is a 31-year old single mom, exposed, scared and living in a dilapidated, patchwork collection of scrap aluminum and wood.
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| All photos by Rae |
In 2004, it felt like things were going her way. Ruth and her son, Felix, moved out of Ruth’s parents home into what was supposed to be a temporary shack. She dreamt and even started constructing a safe haven – a brick house.
The very same year, the shop Ruth was working in closed down and she was left unemployed, with no income but an inadequate pension. The early phases of Ruth’s new house was put on pause and has not resumed in 7 years. It’s become an overgrown and forgotten collection of bricks and weeds.
Seven years later, the temporary house has proven to be temporary, collapsing under the power of severe South African storms, only to be picked up and patched up until the next storm. Rain comes in and beats down at an unbearable volume against the aluminum, inviting sleeplessness from the stormy sounds and fear of the family’s refuge flying away into the brutal night. The weather her home has faced is most clearly visible in Ruth’s weary and defeated eyes.
Ruth’s oldest son, Felix, is 13 years old and, despite degenerating circumstances and the walls around him caving in, is proving to be an honorable and hard-working young man. As man of the house, when he is not caring for his mother’s garden and property, he can be found at his grandfather’s field, tools in hand. Felix’s father refused to accept responsibility as a father as soon as Ruth became pregnant, and decided then that he would not be a part of his son’s life. Felix has never spoken to his father and doesn’t even know if he’s still alive.
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| Felix's bed |
Ruth also has a strong but shy 1-year old son whose countenance already narrates the rough times he has been exposed to after living for just one year in the dangerous, makeshift house. The boys have different fathers, but neither is in the picture. Ruth receives no support of any kind from the fathers or any recognition as a young mother.
Ruth was happy to invite me into the leaning walls of her house to reveal two small rooms filled with sunlight peaking from the gaping holes in the construction. Only one week before I first met Ruth, her home had been completely destroyed in a storm. Her neighbors came over and donated strength and scraps to put walls around her possessions, but they could not rebuild the sense of security that had been replaced with trepidation and loneliness.
This small family’s property sits on the main road in their community, Mbonisweni, leaving them exposed to every passerby. When their house fell, their feeble belongings were on display for the entirety of the community.
Ruth fought tears when she told her story. She’s been desperately seeking work, but for the past seven years has only found temporary jobs, providing minimal and unreliable income for one or two weeks at a time. She has to accept whatever price she is given, which is never enough, because she’s in constant fear of not being able to feed her boys. When asked what she wanted prayer for, Ruth openly shared that she is scared to live in her house and she is afraid of running out of food. Sometimes, between jobs, her family gets so hungry. She asked for prayer to find work. Not a handout, not a home, but just a means of sustaining her family in the most immediate way.
“My only hope is in God. I feel his presence most at night because it gets so lonely and quiet,” she shared vulnerably, shaking under the weigh of her emotions. Ruth once dreamt of becoming a nurse or a social worker, but her father could not afford to keep her in school. She now finds her dreams of being able to care for others turning into a desperate need to be cared for. She feels like it’s too late for her dreams to come true.
Ruth’s hope fell with the aluminum walls of her house. She is longing for protection, for a sanctuary, and to feel like she’s worth being cared for. The first 31 years of her life’s story haven’t instilled the truth of her inherent value, but Ruth has never been forgotten by God and clings to Him today, when there seems to be nothing else to cling to.
We are starting to build a relationship with Ruth and her family and are believing we will be able to start building her a new home soon!
Pray with us for provision and for HOPE and HOME for Ruth and her family. Let’s end a generational curse of hopelessness and poverty here.
I’m inviting you into every part of this story and asking you to do this with us. We are praying for creative ways to use building this home as a way to disciple a community of local, young men who will join alongside us. We are praying for Ruth and her family to experience God as their home, and to know they are worth being known, safe and protected.
I can’t wait to share more as it happens!
