Emma's interview

I was on my way to the Atlantics Childrens Home. I had brought a lot of clothes with me for the children, and some toys too. I was hoping to interview someone there, about their life in South Africa!

When I came to the childrens home I could see a lot of sad children, but there were a few happy faces aswell. I saw a man who was washing the childrens clothes. He looked very helpful and I could see it in his eyes that he had a big heart!
I went to him with the big bag with clothes for the chilrden. He looked up at me.

"Hi" I said.

"Hello" he said, and gave me a friendly smile.

"I am here on vacation and I was hoping to give the children some clothes, and mabye get a interview with someone?"

"Oh, thank you. Sure ,you can interview me," he said.

His english was surprisingly good.

"How long have you worked in this childrens home?"

"I have been living in this home almost my whole life. Since I ran away, when I was 9 years old!"

"Really? That´s incredible, do you remember anything from when you were 9?"

"Not a whole lot... But I had a really tough childhood."

I could tell that it was difficult for him to look back at his painful memories.

"Could you tell me something you remember about your parents?"

"Well, in South Africa some people are very mean, and we have a lot of those people. We were very poor. My dad tried everything. He started with drugs, and he could not pay back the money for the drugs, so someone killed my mom. I loved my mother very much, she was everything to me! My dad started hitting me, so I ran away,... far away. When I had been running for 3 days I stopped. I thought I was going to die. I passed out, and I woke op in this home. I don´t know who helped me, but I am very thankful!"

"That´s a really sad story you have there! How can you cope here with all the bad memories?"

"This is my home, and most of the people who live here have had a terrible lives and difficult upbringings. But I want to show them that South Africa isn't a bad place to grow up! I hope I can help somone!"

"Thats very nice of you. I'm sure you're doing a great job... What is the south African weather like?"

"Well, in the summer time it's maybe around 30-35 degrees and 20-25 in wintertime, so it's always quite hot!"

"I can see that you're very tan!"

"Haha, yes, everyone is very tan around here"

"There are a lot of deserts here, right?"

"Yes, we have a lot of them, the biggest in South Africa is Kalahari."

"Have you ever been there?"

"No i haven't had any free time. Most of the time, I am here at the home!"

"Ok, thank you for taking the time to do this. I think I will go and say hi to the children!"

"No problem. My pleasure," he said and gave me one last friendly smile.

I gave the clothes and the toys to the children. They were very happy. When I was on my way to go, all the children were running after me! It was actually quite sad to leave them, but at least I know there is someone who cares for them and that helps a great deal.