Well Done Christina

So proud of Christina
Today is World Aids Day and the airwaves are full of all kinds of good and bad statistics but instead of a statistic I had a delicious ham and cheese sandwich lunch prepared by Christina one of our Evangeline 2008 graduates. I cannot begin to tell you what a pleasure it was to see her thriving in her new business that includes a restaurant Siqalo Sethus(Our Start) and sewing orders to repair and create beautiful clothes for her local community in the informal settlement of Sweet Home Farms. Like so many others, Christina moved to the Eastern Cape to find work but there was none for her She soon became involved with an HIV support group led by people from the Warehouse, an Anglican ministry to the poor which is how I met her. Evangeline sponsored her and two others from the group and Christina has excelled in what she does. She has put her learning to good use. "I never thought I could do sewing and computer before," she said. As I sat in the room with its freshly painted pink walls, yes, painted by Christina and the lace curtains sewed by her she told me that the income she gets from the restaurant,serving about 80 people from her community and beyond and from the sewing orders helps her take care of six people as the only breadwinner. "I am feeling well and the business is doing well," she said. She was working on curtains for a nearby church and getting ready to do her take out orders for the day In an interview she did for a magazine, Christina said ,"I want to show people around me that poverty is not something that you have to stay in. I remember when my children went to school hungry,but not anymore."
What I love about her too is that she cares for her community. "I plan to teach others to sew,' she told me. Yes we have lost some to HIV and AIDS but not Christina.