Straatwerk

"God sets the lonely in families" Psalm 68:6

Jacky found herself alone and without anywhere to go at the age of 12.  Until then she had lived with her mother and four siblings and even then things were tough.  Her father was hardly ever around and only showed up occasionally.  When Jacky was in the seventh grade, her mother worked as a domestic worker.  One Saturday morning, while on the way to work with her two youngest children, her mother was attacked and raped by four men.  After the attack, she spent over a year in the hospital and not long after that, she died.  The day after her mother's death, Jacky turned twelve.

The children were left with nowhere to go except to her father's side of the family, where they were treated with contempt and looked down upon as the "not-so-fortunate" side of the family.  After a short while, it became clear that they were not welcome there, and Jacky and her brother had nowhere to turn.  Jacky and her family had been regular churchgoers and she remembers during this time becoming angry with God and asking how God could do this to her.  Frightened and alone, she ended up sleeping at the train station that night.  The following day she began going door to door, asking for work.  Finally, after many rejections, an elderly lady gave her some work to do and listened to her story.  That night the woman allowed Jacky to sleep on her front steps.  A man who heard Jacky's story from the woman who had shown her kindness asked her if she would like to go and work for a family by helping around the house and watching the younger children.  Having no other options, Jacky went to live with the woman there and in the beginning everything seemed to be working well.  However, after a few months things began to change and take a turn for the worse.  One night, the lady of the house asked her if she wanted to go dancing with her eldest daughter at one of the nightclubs.  Jacky said no, but a few weeks later, the eldest daughter invited her again and this time she went.  It wasn't long before she was taken back to the house and raped by a Japanese man she had met in the nightclub.  Frightened and alone, she cried for help, but no one came to her aid.  Jacky felt hopeless, wondering what was going to happen to her now, and she became even angrier with God.  She had thought she was in a safe place, but now she didn't know what to do. She didn't feel she could leave the house because she had nowhere else to go, but she also felt that her future had been ruined.  Eventually she went back to the nightclubs, where she met many men that gave her money. The woman she lived with always took the money she earned.  Jacky began making more and more money through prostitution, and continued giving it to this woman just to keep the peace, have a roof over her head and a sense of belonging somewhere.

At the age of 20, she became pregnant and she had her first son.  When he was two years old, Jacky was arrested for a crime her friend committed, and without knowing it signed her son over to the foster care of the woman she had lived with.  After only a month in prison, she was released and returned to the same house where she had lived all those years.  Things continued to spiral downwards and a few months later, Jacky began working the streets.

It was on the streets of Cape Town where Jacky met a group of people who spoke to her about Jesus and His love for her.  She used to try to run from them, thinking that if she talked with them, she wouldn't make any money.  But she also saw something different in them and for the first time, she was experiencing genuine love and affection from people who really cared about her.  Still trying to run from them, she began working in another part of town since she could avoid seeing them there.  For a few years she stayed away from the city, but eventually returned again.  

Some time later, Jacky came to the Lord and this group of Christians helped her get a job.  For a while, this worked out, but eventually she was accused of stealing from the shop owner and so she left.  Jacky returned to the streets, but whenever she saw the group of Christians they spoke to her about the Lord and never gave up on her.  Eventually, Jacky got pregnant again with her second son.  After her son was born, she was back and forth between the streets and trying to stay away from the streets, but continually found herself back in the same place and patterns as before.

One night something changed.  As Jacky headed out to the street, she had the feeling that something good was going to happen to her that night.  No sooner had she arrived on the street than she met the group of Christian friends she had gotten to know.  As they talked, she started to cry and went back to the coffee room with them, talking until 4am when they took her home.  The very next day they came and got Jacky and her youngest son and took them to a safe place to live, away from the old influences and people.  Jacky then started going weekly to the coffee room to do Bible study with her new friends. One day, after having Bible study, she left with her son to go back home and the rain began to pour down on them.  Standing in the road with her young son, having a long way to walk back home, Jacky prayed, "Lord, if You really do exist, just show me that You exist, and if You exist would You stop the rain for us?"  She describes it as the stupidest prayer she ever prayed, but even so, when she opened her eyes, the rain had stopped.  Laughing and crying, she ran home with her son, and as soon as she got home, she gave her life over to the Lord.

One by one, challenges seemed to come her way.  A few months after she made the decision to follow the Lord, she and her son had to leave the shelter where they had been staying.  Not knowing where to go, and being told that shelters were full, she didn't know where to turn.  But as the Lord opened doors for her, Jacky began to experience the favor of the Lord in her life.  Three months later, she got a job working with street children and worked there for nearly four years.  She stayed at a safe house for a while, and later, was invited to come and live with a woman she had met at church and to make that her home.  To this day, Jacky and her son live with this friend of hers who has also been a spiritual mother to Jacky over the years, and who has provided a place for them to call home.

Jacky and her son belong to and are involved in a church in the area where they live. Jacky describes her relationships with her pastor and his wife as being like a brother and sister to her.  She is actively involved with her church through intercessory prayer, motivational speaking among the young people, and advising and mentoring young girls.  

Jacky summarizes her life and her story by saying, "God is good and has always been good to me.  God's time is God's time.  Before He formed me in my mother's womb, God knew what His plan and His purpose was for me in life.  God is just so good to me."