Livewell

with

Vongani

“He wouldn’t talk much but he spoke to me a lot.”

Vongani Safina Tshogwe,

Care Worker

I’m a care worker. I love my job. In my 5 years here I have learned a lot. I have learned to have a big heart, to have perseverance, to love and to be something more than just myself but to mean something to another. To understand other people and realize we are not all the same. We are different. My last resident was not a speaking man. He wouldn’t talk much but he spoke to me a lot. He loved me. I remember his last day. I could see he was going. He looked at me and he gave me a laugh that I had never seen before. He looked at me like he was saying something good. And I asked him, “Papa, is your time gone?” and he laughed at me. I put him in his wheelchair and he grabbed my hand and he hugged me. For a long time, I said “It’s fine papa, It’s fine, if it’s your time now, you can go. May God bless you where you are going and may your soul rest in peace.” And he looked at me and laughed and then he left me. He used to talk to me with his eyes. He would speak to me with his eyes. He would smile with me.