han students present their final thoughts

this morning i had the pleasure of attending the end of term reports from the latest HAN university students who have been working in grabouw for the last 5 months. out of the 20 or so students we have been blessed with 6 students working with us on our projects, 2 sports students, 2 sport management students and 2 students working with children with special needs.

it was amazing to hear of the positive experience that these students have had at their placements with us and we are looking to build up a relationship with the dutch university.

photos show the students in full flow of their presentations.

ywamers make front page

it seems that we are making headlines each and every week at the moment, this week we share the front page of the elgin grabouwer with the news of the YWAM team, with further news on page 8. the article picks up on the work the team are doing in two local schools and includes a thankyou from the town. click on the images for a read.

being 'good'

with just 20 days to go till the fifa world cup 2010 the population in south africa has been told to 'be good for just 4 weeks' by our president jacob zuma, a crazy statement in many ways but lets hope that the focus that the world cup will bring could kick start a change of hearts and minds, and i suppose that was the sentiment that mr zuma intended....have a read of that story here on the new24 web site.

birthday smiles

today emily and i visited one of the girls we work with in iraq squatter camp to celebrate her birthday, emily, issac and rosie had made a cake, which went down very well.

photo shows emily, the 13 year old girl and the birthday cake.

Arron arrives home with the YWAMers!!

on saturday we picked up 20 young people from around the world who have come out to serve with us in our sports/schools outreach. the team are from YWAM in harpenden and have been on their dts (discipleship traning) for three months and are raring to go as they serve the most needy and underprivileged kids in our town.

our son arron is part of that team and it was great to see him after his time in england, he is looking good and will be a great asset to the team.

so far they have run sports sessions at 4 of our afternoon clubs and today have started their 2 1/2 week schools work. six of them are placed at a farm school in the elgin apple region and 11 of them are working in a school in town with 'difficult learners' and those with special needs....

....we will keep you further informed of their progress over the next 9 weeks and look forward to sharing some amazing stories with you. please pray for them as they seek to make a real impact into the children's lives both in the schools and community work that they will be doing

english homework....

yesterday as i visited the homes in iraq (squatter camp, grabouw, south africa) which had been blown down by the wind i popped in to see some of the other children that we work with in that community.

there is one special 9 year old girl who has captured all our hearts at the village of hope, she lives in a two roomed tin shack with her mother and baby sister, as i visited them yesterday i was somewhat shocked by the sight i saw. the girl was sitting with her A4 pad doing her english homework, whilst her mom kept warm under the covers of the only bed, which had been moved into the living area as the bedroom roof was rattling around and leaking in the rain which was pouring down. her two year old sister was calling my name as we sat and chatted.

no broadband bitesize revision from the bbc to help here, just pen, paper and a willingness to learn in the most difficult of circumstances......and with a smile on your face as well!.

photo shows girl doing english homework, mother in bed and baby sister in their two room tin shack.

more issues for shack families

south africa has it's share of good weather but sitting on top of the mountains grabouw also has it's share of rain and when it rains it really rains, unfortunately with the rain and change of season comes the wind...

...many of the people in grabouw don't have the secure brick built structures and tiled roofs, in fact thousands of people live in little more than small sheds made from broken pallets, tin sheets and old pieces of wood..

...on tuesday night the wind blew and blew and when i went to run the soccer outreach in iraq (a local squatter camp, where many of the seasonal apple pickers and their families live and not just for the picking season but that is where they have built their family homes!) three of the 'tin shacks' had had their roof's/tin sheets/plastic sheeting ripped off and the local church (also a tin/wooden structure) was providing a home to the women and children who were affected.

spare a thought for these families who have now got to rebuild not only their roof's but also their lives as many of their possessions were damaged by water, what with the heavy rains that also swept through the settlement.

photo shows three of the boys who attend my soccer outreach standing outside one of their homes which lost it's roof.

April/May Newsletter

It seems a while since I put pen to paper, or should that be fingers to keyboard, to bring you news from the Village of Hope, but I do hope that you continue to follow our news via the Village of Hope blog at www.thembavillageofhope.blogspot.com where you can find daily updates from the project.

General:

Since we last updated we have had the immense pleasure in placing four of our longer term children back home with their families/foster families in the community. Saying goodbye is always a tough thing but it is our desire to work with the children's families to ensure that there is always a chance of reuniting them at some point in their lives.

With these four little ones going home it now means that we have eleven children that we are caring for in the community, added to the nine we are currently able to care for on the Village of Hope.

Since those children returned home we have been able to take in further children that need our help and support as they live with either HIV or TB. These children continue to be a real blessing and to be able to input into their young lives in such a positive way is an amazing privilege.

Arron has been away for the last two months and we have missed him being around but we look forward to welcoming him home very soon as he returns with the wider YWAM team.

We have been blessed with visits from Emily’s sister and dad, Rob’s mum and dad and Tim’s sister and family. This has been a great time for the team at the Village of Hope to introduce our loved ones to the work that we are doing both here on the project and in the community via the Thembacare and sports outreach teams.

Children's Unit News:

We are glad to report that we have been able to complete the installation of the jungle gym in the extended play area just outside the children's unit. We want to express our thanks to the Everynation Church in Hammersmith who made this possible.

The children who remain at the Village of Hope continue to grow. We are committed to getting them to school and for them to eventually live in a family which honours God and holds him at the forefront of the home is very important to us as well. Our house moms do a wonderful job and we thank them for the twelve hour shifts that they put in each and every day to care for the children with as much love as they give their own children.

Sports outreach:

With the World Cup (Fifa Football World Cup South Africa 2010) almost upon us we have joined forces with other like minded, child focused charities who have a desire to come together to make the World Cup period something for the children of Grabouw to remember for many years to come. Please pray for us that we get lots of support from the local people to help put these events on, come rain or shine, money or no money!

Since the last newsletter we have established the work that we are doing at a farm in the Elgin Valley. This takes our sports outreach to six areas in and around Grabouw. Whilst it's always nice to extend ones boundaries we are very mindful that anything that we do must be sustainable and we take on any new work with that mindset.

With the new club we are now reaching around 160 children with our lifeskills based sports outreach and bible studies every week. We opened up the May event to the wider World Cup committee and had well over 500 children attend between 9am and 3pm which was very encouraging.

We are looking forward to welcoming Paul Baker and the YWAM team from Harpenden to join us as we extend the work we are doing for the World Cup period. We have had great meetings with local schools and churches where we will be running our clubs from as the children enjoy a month long break from school.

Volunteers:

We are forever grateful for the people who come and serve with us at the Village of Hope and during the last couple of months we have had some amazing people, including Margeete and Leo from Holland who, sadly, have now gone home. They made a real difference in the older girls lives. Harry has also left us to start his mighty climb of Kilimanjaro; Harry was an amazing, humble young man who will be greatly missed.

As we have already said Tim and Maz, Rob and Emily have had family visiting and these visits also allowed us a couple of days off to visit some of the amazing places and experience the wonderful scenery which surrounds the Western Cape.

A team of four guys and gals from Dallas joined us for a week. Matt and his team had visited us last year and it was great to see the team again as they seek to support our project and the town of Grabouw.

Future projects and prayer points:

As stated above we have some wonderful opportunities to work with the children in Grabouw over the World Cup period. Please pray for the team as they seek to work with the guys from YWAM and also think of Trefor Williams who is bringing his 'big shot cricket' to Grabouw in early June.

If you would like to be part of the support team, giving financially, or of your time from your home then please contact us via email. If you think you would like to come out and get involved in the work we are doing as we seek to help the poor and needy children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and/or TB then we would also like to hear from you. Thanks for your continued support.

Much love

Tim and the Village of Hope Team, May 2010

sports saturday makes headlines again

an article about the sports saturday which we ran last weekend has appeared in our local 'elgin grabouwer', i know it's not bbc headlines as yet but any publicity about the work we are doing is most welcome.

you will have to click on the image/picture to download article which shows a photo of the children enjoying a dance session run by a local NGO.

monk (ing) around

this weekend we have welcomed back rob and em from their week long trip into the south african garden route and said our goodbye's to daz and lisa who are away for a couple of weeks on a well earned holiday.

over the weekend i (tim) have been at a mens retreat with father richard rohr, see malespiritaly web site for more info, it was an amazing time and one that has once again challenged me to deconstruct what i 'know' about God.

although the 120 guys on the retreat weren't 'allowed' to 'label' themselves by what 'jobs' they did i felt that i made some very good connections and i am looking forward to joining together with some more south african 'emerging men' in the future.

i know this all sounds rather cloak and dagger stuff but you really needed to be there to understand.....however it was wonderful to spend time alone with God, reflecting on all we have been taught and meeting some other guys who are searching to find 'their true self'....

village of hope provides new home for sisters

yesterday we were able to provide a home for 2 sisters (aged 4 and 2 years) who's mother is receiving hospital treatment for TB, unfortunately the mother has defaulted on her meds twice and is on her last chance...this is the reality for many people in grabouw and we are happy to help this family as they seek to make a road to full health.

we hope that the girls will settle well with the other 7 children that we are currently looking after and that during their stay with us they will receive the love and care from our house moms that they are missing from their mother.

biggest sports saturday yet!

last saturday we ran our biggest sports saturday so far, planning for the world cup we have linked in with other NPO's and government organisations under the 'social development world cup task team' banner.



over 500 children attended the latest sports saturday which started at 9.00am with an under 13 soccer tournament for the children that attend our weekly clubs in and around grabouw, along with a netball competition for the girls. the day proceeded with other organisations arranging music and dance, touch rugby, cricket and even a chance to practice golf.

we stopped for lunch, a cool drink and hot dog, and then continued until around 3pm with an under 15 soccer and extended netball tournaments. both soccer competions were won by waterwerks under the guidance of trondor and hillside ended up winning the netball.

with the team from YWAM joining us in just over a week we are going to be running another 5 of these sports saturdays during the world cup, which we hope will be even bigger and better.

photos show maz busy face painting, daz blowing his own trumpet and kids enjoying the start of another soccer match.