Dear all, I hope you’re in good health. The following is very close to my heart and I’d appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to read this through. I reach out to you to extend an invitation of humanity and generosity to support a couple of special people and families in my life who are in desperate need. Thomas Mulangi Ngumina, a close friend of mine in South Africa, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of nurturing a treasured friendship over the past 12 years, since my university history thesis ‘Displaced Lives’. Born in Congo, Thomas has a heart of gold. Graduated with a First in Biomedical Technology. Coerced into joining a militia in 2002 during the Congo civil war. Now an asylum seeker in South Africa having fled the oppressive regime and smuggled himself out of Congo all the way down to South Africa in the back of a truck. Wife Laeticia, daughter Bianca, and sons Christopher and Tommy are with him in Cape Town. Unable to find consistent work as a result of his asylum seeker status and xenophobic attacks. Thomas is now volunteering in a hospice and training to be a nurse. The hospice is paying for his transport to work but can’t afford to pay him beyond that. He’s working as a security guard at night to try and put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. His kids are returning to school with no spare money for clothes, shoes, school lunches or to pay for their books… “William, my friend, it is so sad to ask you for help, but I don’t know where else to turn” Mohammed El Gortabi. A smile wider than the Nile and a soul that knows no bounds. A Sudanese brother who took in Tommy and Chen to his family home with unwavering richness on their cycling travels from London to Cape Town in yesteryear. Sudan, a nation currently in turmoil amidst the barbarity of civil war. Mohammed and his family have been forced to flee on foot from their home by the militia, his house bombed and business burned to the ground, all their money and material possessions looted. His son, Ali, 3, is now in hospital on an IV drip because of bacterial infections from water pollution and poor nutrition. He and his wife, Zainab, have three other kids, Abdullah, 12, Youssef, 7, and Dania, 5. Also under their responsibility are his brother's two daughters. 8 of them in a room with 2 beds. A 30cm x 30cm 'window' and no door to the room. 6 kids huddle together in the beds. Mohammed and Zainab occupy the floor. “I have become a refugee in my homeland. Bread became a wish, and sleep a distant dream. My friend, we live in hell and a fierce war. We bid farewell to each other when we sleep, as we do not know whether to wake up after that or not. I am so afraid for my children, their crying is breaking my heart. I am writing to you now while I am hiding under the bed and the sounds of guns are howling and bullets are flying. I have never been sad, my friend, and I have never lost hope that everything will return. Nothing worries me except the academic future of my children.” If you’ve read this far, then maybe you’ve felt something stir… I have been supporting them both for a while, with the additional generosity of a few kind folk. And it feels to me that the time has now come to try and widen that net a bit further, to make it a more collective ‘we’. To make a more significant difference as a community. To support those in desperate need, with a tangible connection, to try and help forge a brighter future for their kids, who have had their childhood ravaged by conflict and shattered dreams. I invite you to please gift what you can. Whatever that gift of yours may be. A donation. A holding of them in your thoughts. A sharing of love. Secure channels to get money to both families have been used successfully over the last little while to support their welfare, educate their children and help brighten their future. Contributions will be split between both families. “My brother William, the real wealth that I own is hearts that felt my suffering and palms that extended to wipe my tears and console me and extend a helping hand to me. What do I say to those who gave me everything beautiful and stood by me in the darkest of circumstances? The word thank you is too little, because you have embodied the true meaning of humanity that does not know race, colour or religion. But these days will pass and circumstances will turn to the best, and then I will thank you in my own way” May we commune together and find the love and benevolence to help try put a smile back on those kids’ faces May we find it within ourselves to share and support these kids so that when the winds of change do blow through, their sails are primed to propel them forward in life. May the warmth of our hearts keep that flicker of hope burning ever bright for Thomas, Mohammed and their extraordinary families. I invite you to join us in building their future together. Big love Will/ Ref/ Willy P/ Perks
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