the village of hope seeks to help children infected or affected by hiv, aids and tb in two different ways: we have a 9 bed children's unit to support those infected by hiv and aids and we also run a community-based sports and lifeskills outreach in the informal settlements and squatter camps each afternoon.

this blog has been set up to allow the key members of the team at the village of hope to share their thoughts, photos and experiences as we work in the community of grabouw in south africa

Thursday, May 13, 2010

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.

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