Page 11 - Cornwall Issue 3_2023

INNOVATION

JUST ANOTHER
J U S T A N O T H E R

S OA P O P E R A :
SOAP OPERA:

D I F F E R E N T P E R S P E C T IVE S
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

BY M I C H E L L E D U P R E E Z • I M AG E S BY I VA N M U L L E R

t is Monday morning and time Eleos last year and you can only hope outs, but earnings. Each bath bomb you
to get the kids ready for school. and pray that there will be another pressed by hand, each soap poured and
There are no lunches to pack, sponsor this year. You dread the extra each blister from handling hot candle
but you know that they will winter expenses for medicine which wax will translate into a cumulative
get sandwiches at the Eleos will be inevitable and endless; if one kid amount of a few hundred rand – and
IAfterschool Care Centre when gets sick, they all get sick and this cycle that money is what you will use to take
school is done. You see the older kids repeats for the whole winter…every care of your family as best you can.
off as they walk to school, you grab year. The clinic never seems to have
the rickety stroller and then usher the anything in stock but Panado, so no As a social worker with 18 years of
younger kids out of the gate to walk hope of any antibiotics or cough syrup experience, the Soap Opera project is a
them to primary school. Then you force to help ease the burden. Some days you dream come true. Social workers need
the stroller around (it is a miracle if all wonder if this merciless cycle will ever to believe that it is possible to bring
four wheels face the same way) and break or get better. hope, knowledge, insight and change –
rush towards what is affectionately in that order – and that is no easy task!
known as the Baby House in Booysens, Pulling your shoulders back – you
Pretoria West. remind yourself that that is why you Eleos Community Centre has been
“work” at Soap Opera as often as you bringing hope to the women of
Monday morning is Soap Opera can. It may not be a proper “job” or a Pretoria West for 25 years. Knowledge
morning, where you “work” from stable income, but if the project can is provided through weekly programs
9am – 1pm. Some of the other women manage to sell enough products, there focused on better parenting skills,
are already there, depending on how will be a small profit distribution at the rights for women and children, support
far they had to walk. They look equally end of the month. Depending on the systems for women and children as well
tired and stressed, but greet you with a amount of days you were able to work as their holistic development through
smile – you are all here for a common and the profit made from sales, you will spiritual, emotional, educational and
purpose and the kinship you feel with get your share of earnings. That’s right – physical support. Eleos also provides,
them gives you a surge of energy. You earnings, because you will have earned inter alia, food parcels, clothing and
all face the same troubles in varying it fair and square. Not charity or hand- furniture. All of the aforementioned are
degrees, and it helps to know that you
are not alone. Just maybe you can make
it - together.

Too soon it is 1pm, you grab the stroller
again and walk back to the primary
school to get the younger kids home.
At least you had a coffee at the Baby
House. Time to start worrying about
dinner even though you don’t know
what the kids will be eating tonight.
The cupboards are empty again, and
the monthly food parcel you get from
Eleos will only last so long – even if
you stretch it. Between electricity,
medicine, nappies for the baby and
small essentials like candles for load
shedding, you don’t even bother to
work out where your child support grant
went so fast. It’s hard. You are worried
about winter’s approach; you know you
are not prepared for the cold, the kids
have all outgrown the winter jacket
(yes, singular) that they received from

Cornwall View • Issue 3 2023 9