Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHRONICLE
APRIL 2018
Dear family and friends of St Kiaran’s
Lucy Centlivres
Meet Alletta Mbuwa
I was born in 1969 in the little town of Rusape* in
Zimbabwe, born into a big family of six girls and one boy. Since
my family was big I grew up in the rural area around Rusape.
Upon completing my high school I got married in 1990 and have
two children - a boy, Talent, and a girl, Alice. Talent, who lives in
Harare, having matriculated, is
now training to be a motor
mechanic and Alice is still in
school staying with her aunt in
Kadoma.
Unfortunately my husband
died in 2004 when the economy
Zimbabwe was deteriorating. As
a single parent I had to work to
provide for my kids. I worked at
the British Embassy in Harare
as a general hand for 8 years.
Eventually, I decided to
come to South Africa in 2008 to try and make ends meet. It was
not easy. I started on a grape farm in De Doorns harvesting
grapes from the fields. Life was very difficult as the job was
seasonal, therefore when that was finished we went to harvest
oranges in Swellendam.
As time went by I met a friend in 2009 who invited me to
come to Cape Town. I was fortunate to find a job as a
housemaid. Life became much better than working on a farm. As
I was living in Masiphumelele I met a certain lady who
encouraged me to go to church and I was introduced to the
Presbyterian Church in 2010. I enjoyed going to church but as I
did not understand the Xhosa language I decided to come to St
Kiaran's Church.
Being a member of this church has taught me to pray a lot
and read my Bible every day. I have grown in my spiritual life
and I will forever be grateful for being part of this church. I do
help in the kitchen by washing and cleaning dishes.
Aletta
John McDermid
Simon of Cyrene