For Womens month, I’d like to talk about a couple of different tremendous women who make a difference everyday. They may not be on the news and they may not be famous, but they are the heroes in our world that make it turn. The first I’d like to introduce to you is….
Mum Carol: An Extraordinary Woman
Photo Credit: Noelle Esquire
A long crested eagle flies high above a Soweto Township, appearing with the dawn as it views the blend of earth and sky. Perhaps it knows instinctively that the search for basics in this sprawling arena of poverty, closely relates to the methods of survival it uses and its will to survive amidst tremendous odds.
In spite of the hardships and challenges of daily life, hundreds of orphaned children, will open their eyes and once again awaken their sleeping spirits. For many of them, it is because of the presence of a woman in their lives, named Mum Carol, that they know, even without a mother or father and with the responsibility of raising younger brothers or sisters, that they still have a chance. Mum Carol is their constant—a vigilant mother warrior who protects, nurtures, teaches and most importantly gives them love in a world where most of these precious human assets have been taken away from them all too soon.
Carol Dyantyi was born and raised in the heart of the Soweto township. She began her work at 15 as a voice speaking out against the implementation of Afrikaans being taught as South Africa's official language during apartheid. This was a part of the very famous children’s uprising—the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976—where Carol risked her life for the things she knew was wrong.
Mum Carol later said"We believed it would be a peaceful demonstration to aid our grievances, little did we know what we would face. We certainly didn't expect that some of us would die. But we also never expected that our actions would help lead to freedom."
The freedom she is speaking about is the end to apartheid, which possibly wouldn't have happened if Mum Carol and her peers hadn't taken to the streets.
Incredible!
Later she worked in the hotel industry then went on to study nursing before becoming the mother to more than 1,500 children and beginning Ikageng ministries, the safe haven that she started completely on her own once she noticed that her very own neighborhood was becoming filled with children who had lost their parents from AIDS and had no one to help or guide them.
She has always been someone to speak out against the world’s wrong doings and care deeply for others. She knows the result of pain and fear all too well, and in so many ways. She intimately knows the MANY challenges these children must face to overcome the tragedy of losing one or both of their parents to the blight of AIDS.
At the beginning of each day, Mum Carol reaches for the staff of responsibility, firmly gripping it in her able hands as she guides thousands of orphaned children through her“Ikageng Itireleng AIDS Ministry” -which means ‘help them help themselves’ in Sotho, help them navigate the maze of a hybrid adulthood thrust upon them without the experience or wisdom from the adults who gave them life.
It is within this setting that Mum Carol has committed herself to helping her children achieve the victories of their dreams and give a breath of hope you can actually see on their faces.
Perhaps you do not believe in Saints or Guardian Angels, and find that life is somehow a series of random acts that are beyond our control. However, after spending time with and getting to know Mum Carol, it is quite simple to understand that her strength of faith and her boundless love is more than random acts of kindness, but rather the power that lies in each of us that is not always visible or predictable but lies somewhere in the realm of our spiritual existence.
This is a place where Mum Carol, it seems, has always lived.
She is a heroine! She is an everyday woman of spectacular caliber, just like you and I, who decided to take fate in her hands, and change the world. One child at a time. Let's celebrate her!
Keep A Child Alive, helps to support Mum Carol's Ikageng Itireleng AIDS Ministry. To donate go tohttp://bit.ly/gAqW7P
Photo Credit: Kristen Dyer
Photo Credit: Keep a Child Alive
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