Last night I received a call that I never wanted to hear. On Monday Sanele, one of the children we are all close to over here and the first child I met from my programme, died suddenly and tragically near his house.
I went to his family's house today to find out what had happened and also to pay my respects to the family. The story is that he had been playing football with some friends just up the track from his house and the ball had gone over a wire fence into a neighbour's plot. Instead of walking round the one-sided fence, Sanele had pushed his head through the wire to try and retrieve the ball. Unfortunately for him, an illegal electrical cable was near the fence and not buried as it should have been and it was touching the fence. As Sanele put his head through the fence he got an electric shock that killed him instantly. He didn't cry or suffer.
News of the tragedy spread quickly and many in the community are devastated by what happened. The local newspaper ran the story and the police came to make sure the cables were buried underground.
Sanele was 7 years old. His home is right next to the school and him and his sister used to rush out every time we drove past to wave at us. His sister is 9 and hasn't really understood what is going on yet. Today, she rushed out alone to wave at me as I drove up there. He was the loveliest child who was always keen to hang out with us and shouted 'Auntie Caroline!!!' from the other side of the football field before dashing across for a hug almost every time we went to the school. He was the first child I noticed on the photo of the 40 before I committed to coming out here and I visited his home last August. Since then, both him and Nonto his sister have loved spending time with us. Steve, Mike, Sean and I all hold both of them very close to our hearts. The news yesterday was a huge and devastating shock and also to those from Lionsraw, many of whom had met him and loved him instantly too. He was that kind of cheeky kid who got in all the photos and gave out love to all who crossed his path.
We'll never know why God allowed this to happen and why Sanele's short life was cut short, but when I was praying about it late last night I felt the Holy Spirit say 'I've taken him home.' and I felt a real sense of peace about it. It doesn't make it any easier for his family. The funeral is on Saturday. I've spent the day with members of the family sorting out things for the funeral on Saturday. That's going to be a sad day indeed.
