A Story About Nurturing

Phindile Mavuso (meaning “Promise”) was thirteen when she was brutally raped by two men at knife point on her way home from school. Already an abuse victim, she wanted to end her life and knowledge that the rapists were probably still in the vicinity of the shanty traumatized her further.

While visiting the community of Vuvulane where she lives, SOHO, CEO, Cynthia Prime learned of her plight. Since a team of counselors were visiting on behalf of SOHO, she arranged for an assessment to be done to ensure that the girl was not still suicidal.

What began as just another community visit became a life changing experience. Phindile introduced her younger sister Hlengiwe to Cynthia and the two asked to be ‘adopted.’  They lived for the periodic visits of SOHO staff to their country.

Today, Phindile has a job with a law firm in South Africa and she is also a song writer and singer. She wants to continue her education. Hlengiwe became a mother while in high school, once through coercion and once through mutual consent by a school mate.  Their mother, once a self-confessed third generation prostitute, has embraced Christianity and she helps Hlengiwe attend to the children so that she could benefit from job skills training program. She is fierce in her determination to advance her education so that she could be self-supporting. Whenever she can volunteer for SOHO’s special programs, she does so willingly.