With Arron leaving, Tim and Maz were on their own for the first time in twenty three years and getting used to a quieter home. Actually though, quiet isn't a word you can use for the life at the Village of Hope as the nine children in the unit continue to keep us all busy.
Unfortunately we had some unexpected news when we found that around seventy meters of the new fence we had just installed to provide us with some protection was stolen. It is a little frustrating but when we live so close to people who have absolutely nothing to live on it isn't surprising. God calls us to love our enemies and we are learning that day in and day out as we seek to serve our poor and needy community.
Children’s Unit
Of the nine children, five of the boys are now at school in the mornings, which gives the moms a bit of a break from the stresses of keeping them occupied all the time. This also means that Lisa is able to create some 'structured play' for the smaller girls who are still too young to go to school.
We have also been able to provide some space to care for two older girls who have been placed back home but are not currently attending school. It is one of our aims to continue to support these children and their families and if we are unable to do this these two wonderful children would be stuck at home in their tin shacks alone for most of the day while their parents are at work.
Three of our boys are spending weekends with their families in Grabouw. This is part of the process as we seek to train their parents to care for these boys in their homes. This can be a long winded exercise but one that we need to get right to make sure that they are well cared for when they leave the security of the Village of Hope.
Maz has been able to replace two house moms and this month we hope that we will be able to find the right person to fill the nursing sister roll which we are currently advertising for.
Community News
Things have certainly picked up again with our sports outreach programme and Emily House has joined Tim in the Iraq squatter camp on Tuesday afternoons as we extend the netball side for the young girls who live there. Daz has now established the Waterworks soccer club on Wednesday afternoons and is starting a cricket club with some of the older boys in another area.
It's always a pleasure to work with these young people as we seek to provide them with life skills and bible teaching which sit alongside the sports training and I had the amazing privilege of sharing the story of David and Goliath with the children from Iraq as we learnt the skill of tackling. For most of them this was the first time they had heard this story and they listened with wide eyes as I explained how the shepherd boy with a sling shot and a stone defeated the huge giant.
We held our latest sports Saturday a couple of weeks ago, with around one hundred and twenty of our children joining us for a morning of soccer and netball at the amazing Elgin Country Club. Once again it was great to see the children having so much fun and to bring the different clubs, communities and cultures together is a wonderful privilege.
Trondor, our Norwegian volunteer sponsored the morning, where we were able to provide a sixty five seater bus which we discovered can hold one hundred! Trondor also provided food and prizes. We bought a new set of goals for the under fifteen tournament, much to the delight of those boys. We are now looking to get some portable netball posts which we will use for the next event and each afternoon as we work in the community. At present we have no fixed posts and the girls have yet to practice the art of goal shooting, although they are superb up until that point!
Once again Tim’s team of boys from Iraq won the under twelve and under fifteen soccer tournament but Arron's Rooidakke team once again provided strong competition. Lisa's Elgin Timbers girls won the netball, which sounded exciting as each team cheered the others on with wild songs!
Daz and Lisa have continued the work in the town where they are providing parenting courses, not only to some of our children's parents but also those who are known by the local police, we are hoping that this will continue to develop as we seek to serve those less fortunate that ourselves.
Volunteers
January was another sad month as we said goodbye to our most recent Dutch students who had been working with us at the Village of Hope as part of their university placement. We much appreciated their input, both into the children’s lives and into the management structures as we seek to set up a professional children’s unit.
We were joined in January by a Dutch couple, Leo and Margeet who will be with us for 3 months. Their daughter had volunteered at the School of Hope on a few occasions and they are fitting into life at the Village. Margeet is helping with activities for the girls in the morning and Leo provides some driving support to Thembacare in Grabouw.
Rob and Emily House have taken over the management of the volunteer unit and we thank God for bringing them to us at this stage of the projects development. Their daughter Rosie has just started school and Isaac continues to provide us with much entertainment with his love of cars and car keys.
With Arron departing for his mission trip, we were left a little short for someone to not only do his share of the jobs around the village but also to run his soccer team. Thankfully, help is at hand as we welcome a nineteen year old volunteer, Harry Hogarth from Tring, England. Harry will be with us for the three months that Arron is away and is already fitting in well.
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