Mike Stevens is from the UK, but has headed out to South Africa to volunteer at HOLAH for a few weeks. Giving up his time, and raising the funds for his trip, has been a challenge but he's dedicated and is now over in SA.
He's been busy posting updates on Facebook and we wanted to share some of these, particularly in follow up to Jodie-Lee's post which we previously shared (check out the previous post on this blog).
Mike joined Jodie-Lee on their visit to a homeless shelter in Durban.
After the visit he said:
"We didn't know what to expect & personally for me it was one of the hardest & scariest things I've ever seen or done. It was called a shelter, but not like anything I've ever seen. So many people & children living in conditions that would be illegal in England. It's hard to explain, but was emotionally a massive challenge..... People shouldn't have to live like that. We're going back this Thursday with food, toiletries and goodies, to be honest I was scared and wouldn't want to see anything like this again, but thankfully there are people like Jodie-Lee, Leanne and Kim and many others in South Africa that dedicate their lives to supporting those in need. I have so much respect and love for them."
Mike, a couple of days later posted the following...
"I was going to do another video update about this, but don't think I could do it without breaking down in tears. So, today we got a phone call about a girl that was taken from her mum last night living on the streets. We found out that there was possible sexual abuse & she was likely to be sold as a sex slave so the police took her, she is about 6 years old. We picked up the girl & I used your donations to take her clothes shopping, her face was priceless, she was so happy to be off the streets & buying clothes. We then found out there was also a baby with the mum, so we went with the police to find the mum. The polices words on the way to the street they lived was "be careful, they kill police like cockroaches down here!" We sat in the back of the police van feeling scared, but happy we could take this baby off the streets. When we got there it was full of homeless men doing drugs & laying in the street, one man had his penis out on show, we found the mum laying around these men breast feeding this young baby. The smell of drugs & crap hit us as soon as the door opened. We took the mum & baby back to the station. The baby was in rags, with no nappy, absolutely stinking & dirty & covered in open sores that looked liked infected burns. We took the baby from the mum with the polices permission & to the hospital. He has very bad pneumonia, scabies with a secondary infection on top. He is being tested for blood diseases & staying in the hospital tonight & we are taking his 6 year old sister to hospital tomorrow to be checked for STD's. Hopefully all goes well & we can get them fit & healthy. It was the most crazy thing I've ever seen, it would never happen in England, it would be all over the news, the public would be up in arms about it, but this is the sad reality here ... I will update you on these 2 little beauties tomorrow"
❤️""
He's been busy posting updates on Facebook and we wanted to share some of these, particularly in follow up to Jodie-Lee's post which we previously shared (check out the previous post on this blog).
Mike joined Jodie-Lee on their visit to a homeless shelter in Durban.
After the visit he said:
"We didn't know what to expect & personally for me it was one of the hardest & scariest things I've ever seen or done. It was called a shelter, but not like anything I've ever seen. So many people & children living in conditions that would be illegal in England. It's hard to explain, but was emotionally a massive challenge..... People shouldn't have to live like that. We're going back this Thursday with food, toiletries and goodies, to be honest I was scared and wouldn't want to see anything like this again, but thankfully there are people like Jodie-Lee, Leanne and Kim and many others in South Africa that dedicate their lives to supporting those in need. I have so much respect and love for them."
Mike, a couple of days later posted the following...
"I was going to do another video update about this, but don't think I could do it without breaking down in tears. So, today we got a phone call about a girl that was taken from her mum last night living on the streets. We found out that there was possible sexual abuse & she was likely to be sold as a sex slave so the police took her, she is about 6 years old. We picked up the girl & I used your donations to take her clothes shopping, her face was priceless, she was so happy to be off the streets & buying clothes. We then found out there was also a baby with the mum, so we went with the police to find the mum. The polices words on the way to the street they lived was "be careful, they kill police like cockroaches down here!" We sat in the back of the police van feeling scared, but happy we could take this baby off the streets. When we got there it was full of homeless men doing drugs & laying in the street, one man had his penis out on show, we found the mum laying around these men breast feeding this young baby. The smell of drugs & crap hit us as soon as the door opened. We took the mum & baby back to the station. The baby was in rags, with no nappy, absolutely stinking & dirty & covered in open sores that looked liked infected burns. We took the baby from the mum with the polices permission & to the hospital. He has very bad pneumonia, scabies with a secondary infection on top. He is being tested for blood diseases & staying in the hospital tonight & we are taking his 6 year old sister to hospital tomorrow to be checked for STD's. Hopefully all goes well & we can get them fit & healthy. It was the most crazy thing I've ever seen, it would never happen in England, it would be all over the news, the public would be up in arms about it, but this is the sad reality here ... I will update you on these 2 little beauties tomorrow"
Mike (above) and Leanne (below) with the little baby in the story
❤️""
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