The Shilongo family:
Beatha, Tangeni, Jonas Volkan
The emotional story of our name.
Volkan met Beatha Shilongo during his one-year volunteer service in 2014 when she came to the school project to get some copies of her documents. Volkan has always noticed her, as she owned a tuck-shop frequently visited by him across the school project. They were talking from time to time but when Volkan noticed that she was pregnant their conversations grew more personal – at probably the most important time, because Volkan was not doing well. He had an emotional low and wanted to quit his service, but Beatha helped him out of this crisis by giving him hope and confidence. The friendship became more and more intense, more and more conversations and mutual visits took place. “I learned so much from her – that gave me support and courage to continue”, says Volkan. He quickly wanted Beatha and Malina to get to know each other as well.
One day Beatha wrote an SMS: “I gave birth to a baby called tangeni. I am bless. God was with me through give birth but it was painfull my dear. ” We were very happy that she had given birth to her child safely. In May 2015, our name giver Tangeni Shilongo was born. We had a very intense relationship with Beatha and promised to take care of Tangeni as long as it was necessary. We decided to finance the health insurance so that she and her child always have free access to private hospitals, doctors and medicines. Since 2018 we also pay the fees of the pre-school incl. the transport costs for Tangeni so that he can get safely from the “township” to the city. Beatha does not have her “Tuck Shop” anymore, but instead concentrates more on the sale of fish and meat and thus finances herself and her two sons.
We support this family on every project trip by purchasing food and clothing.