Jemimah helps Aids orphans

Jemimah Wright before she left for South Africa.

By Kevin Gotts

Norfolk journalist Jemimah Wright has spent the last three months helping to set up homes for Aids orphans in South Africa.
Faced with redundancy from her job working as an assistant editor on The Door newspaper in Oxford, 25-year-old Jemimah, from Kirby Bedon near Norwich, turned the situation into an opportunity.
"I had been thinking about going to South Africa, but I was not sure of when to go. Then, just after the redundancy decision, I had an e-mail from John Eliastam, the minister of a church in Cape Town, asking me if I wanted to go," said Jemimah.

The offer was to work with 80 other young people from different backgrounds for a minimum of eight months on community programmes including Mandela Park Township. Activities include schools work, teaching, and community centres while both parents are away working.
Faced with making a decision, Jemimah prayed. "One night I prayed I would get £100 the next day for confirmation. The next day someone gave me the £100 for South Africa! So I had peace about raising the remaining £3500. A month later I needed to get the ticket and insurance - £1000. So I asked God and by the end of the week, someone said God had told them to give me their savings which was £1000."
Jemimah left at the beginning of January and the itinerary included a ten-day stop-off in Namibia to work in a poor community called Keetmanshoop.
Before leaving for South Africa Jemimah said: "One of the reasons I wanted to go was to put myself into a difficult, challenging position where I would be living on the edge and trusting more on God. I

remember feeling like this in 1996 when I went to the Philippines with Youth With a Mission. And I really like the sunshine and the ocean."
Once in South Africa, Jemimah set to work helping pastor's wife Liesl Eliastam begin to set up homes for Aids orphans.
"Aids is a big problem here, they talk about it so much I almost assume everyone has got it, " said Jemimah.
"It's a huge project, but I like a challenge and I like organising," she said. "So far we have done the vision and mission statements and have gone to see other projects which are doing similar things. The next phase is finding a house and then fund-raising.
"Liesl feels the first house may be in Hout Bay which is good as I am already working there and getting to know people in the community. Her vision is to have many houses like this all over South Africa, taking only six orphans and giving them a family and a good quality of life as they live with Aids.

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