Jacaranda petals carpet and hide our sunburnt Australian soil.
The mauve crush under foot reminds me of the other precious sunburnt land, Africa, across the ocean and how the seemingly endless pain and broken would also be hidden, in some places, cloaked by a smudge of November violet.
In both Australia and Africa, the purple fuzz signals a tiredness in the closing of a school year. That most frantic month for families; as end of year celebrations slam close another year of childhood milestones. A purple haze offers the backdrop as parents continue (here and there) to hope and dream for success in education to propel their beloved kiddies into a better life. On both continents carers of children are united in this common ache and throb of hope. So in the yawn of November may we acknowledge in gratitude for our heroic teachers in schools, both here and there.
AAF has a long history of partnering with schools in Africa. As our mission includes improving the lives of children impacted by HIV/AIDS, so it follows that we have a solid footprint in many overcrowded under resourced and broken school structures. Usually, schools are only held together by the tenacity of desperate, yet gifted and generous teachers...
As a foundation we commend the teachers who advocate and agitate for countless vulnerable children, encouraging them to still dare to dream when life's prospects are grim… Family units are often shattered by disease but also increasingly because of gender-based violence. Often teachers form the only solid reliable relationship to steady a child’s shattered world. ... Often the only avenue for soothing this brokenness is through education. But not always.
Mrs Bongi Shabalala is currently the acting principal of Intumbane Primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. For many years she has been a long-term champion and friend of AAF. She has faithfully partnered with St Peter’s Anglican Grammar (Campbelltown)where she has been instrumental in facilitating genuine connections between South African and Australian students. One of her greatest successes has been in orchestrating the build of a well-stocked secure school library (virtually unheard of in this forgotten corner of the globe) where children can come to shelter in place, learn to hold, open and disappear into the pages of a storybook, transported away from the harsh realities of a rural African childhood.
In this terrain no school counselors exist to support, no psychologists exist to explain, likewise there are no School Chaplains, no Family Doctor and often no family unit to cajole a child through the scrapes of childhood. Yet Somehow Bongi has persisted and co-ordinated years of relationships between Intumbane and Macarthur kids, with pen pal letters, the purchase of band equipment and sound systems etc, allowing her students to represent their school in regional comps. She finds the vulnerable, the hungry, the broken the cold and mothers them back with her enormously generous hug. Recently when an Intumbane student died (in the endless tragedy that can be an African childhood) … it was the teachers who initiated and hosted a wake together (from their own meager wages) to acknowledge and celebrate this precious life lived yet gone too soon.
So, when Bongi called us earlier this year requesting help for a nine year old child at her school, (Who had been living with facial and foot deformities with no medical plan for correction) we knew she meant business, and she would not rest until this broken little boy had his dignity restored... Long story short (as they say in KZN)
We can close 2025 in jubilance as we celebrate the great results that one persistent teacher can achieve via advocacy for a forgotten child. Alondwe now smiles confidently as he pulls on soccer boots and jostles with mates in the scramble of a dusty soccer game. He is thrilled at his facial improvement following successful phase one surgery (we anticipate further improvement next year with his scheduled second phase operation) But more importantly he is joyful he can now run and play!
He is also now somewhat of a celebrity due to the media’s interest in his plight!
It has been a privilege to co-ordinate our AAF contacts to help Alondwe and his mum obtain life changing surgery... This included South African teachers, social workers, media and pastors...along with coordinating the doctors and surgeons on both sides of the ocean. To orchestrate this tremendous outcome from Australia, so that Alondwe could stay in his own country for his surgery and home to convalesce whilst being enveloped into a local church to heal.
AAF acknowledges those kind volunteers and donors backed by the persistent prayers of the saints, who facilitated changing a desperate life into a story of hope.
Alondwe remains one “starfish”, in a sea of countless cases. Recently an AAF supported pastor Joseph was asked to do a blessing at a local school near his township (for an HSC commencement). 800 hungry kids crowded into a hall to be covered by his prayer of hope. Joseph estimates there are 7 other schools which he is yet to visit to provide encouragement to teachers and students urging education as the greatest route out of poverty.
Thank you for believing in the endless work AAF is able to do via long term relationships in remote dusty forgotten villages where no aid agencies reach. Thank you for empowering local leaders like Bongi to advocate for the most vulnerable. For helping her be the hands and feet of the greatest Hope.
As my husband Matthew and I travel to and from Africa I am often asked why we persist walking towards the pain of the endless needs of countless African children: and to be honest some days the task does seem overwhelming. Especially in the yawn of a purple November. But repeatedly grace has met AAF in the hard places.
Alondwe’s case reminds us how every child has a purpose; and is an image bearer of God. That despite their brokenness and deformities they all warrant a hope of restoration. Which propels us forward.
Thank you for partnering with us. By taking the time to read this, by praying for safety for our team and perhaps (if moved) by financially supporting us. As we examine our annual reports from our many projects in Kenya and South Africa, we estimate that last year AAF touched the lives of over 5000 children! An ocean of “starfish”!
As we close our year, we look forward to sharing more stories of success; just like Alondwe’s in 2026.
Dr Jane Gray
Deputy Chair AAF