open gardens! open hearts?

tomorrow sees the start of the elgin open gardens, this two weekend event is held once a year and enables the general public to view some of the amazing gardens and vineyards that surround grabouw.

this year we have been given the opportunity to promote the work that the village of hope does in the poorer side of the community at two vineyards, iona and elgin ridge and we hope that the poster and leaflets that emily has created will open peoples hearts and eyes to the plight of thousands of children in our town.

we wanted the poster to be blunt and straight to the point, and i think we might have achieve that with the image of the wonderful flowers set against one of our children standing in the rooidakkes township in grabouw.....lets see if it works!

stand up......

over the last couple of weeks we have been blessed to spend time with an amazing comedian called mark palmer, mark was part of the village of hope comedy night and also mc'd the ball held at the mount nelson on saturday which raised funds for the school of hope.

mark's act is good wholesome (clean) fun and it makes a real change to hear a comedian that is funny and doesn't need to resort to toilet humour or swearing to be funny. not that i am a prude but mark is a great guy and i would recommend him very highly...have a look at his web site here.

if there is church leaders in USA or UK reading this who want to host a fun packed night then mark is your guy, you'll only have to pay his airfare!...

mel starts a fire and a blog!

our new volunteer, mel kidd from dallas, is really getting into things here at the village of hope, with rob and arron away for a week (rob in jo'burg and arron off in uganda with big shot cricket) there was a need for someone to step up to the plate and become 'the firestarter', mel took up that mantle and started her first ever fire last night!....(see photo)

mel also started a blog where she is going to be keeping her friends, family and the wider world updated with news of her year with us on the project...please follow her (click on this link to go to her site)

stuffing rucksacks

yesterday we were delighted to welcome jo from england, with her nephew, along with amanda and her daughter from gordons bay (just down the road) onto the village of hope.


jo had read about our work on the 'stuff your rucksack' site, see link here, and bought over much needed items in her luggage. it was great to be able to show jo around the project and for her to see where the items were going to be used.

if you know of anyone coming over to south africa, or indeed anyone who is venturing anywhere around the world, then guide them to the stuff your rucksack site where the could link up with local charities and make a real difference to the charities working in the most desperate places in the world.

thanks jo!

another front page....

last week we launched our schools based sports outreach which takes place on monday and tuesday afternoons, from 2.15 at two local schools, pineview and katherine murray.

one of the HAN (dutch) students is working with a local township paper 'ons bekkie' during her placement and she wrote this 'front page story' which reads.


"Keep the children out of trouble

By Maaike Cnossen

Keeping them busy, working on their self-esteem and learn to respect each other. That is what the after school activities of the Village Of Hope are all about. Four times a week they organize all kind of sports and games for the children.

The Village of Hope started the program two years ago. At first it was only for kids who caused trouble in the classrooms. They started to teach them to have respect for each other and their self by doing activities with them in the neighborhood. “In the beginning some of the kids weren’t even used to saying thank you. But by learning them to have respect for me during the activities, they’ll get used to that,” tells one of the founders of the Village of Hope Tim Walker.

And now he even have more kids to say thank you. Nowadays it’s not only for the problem children anymore. A lot of children wanted to join the after school activities. Luckily, the Village of Hope recently arranged something with two primary schools. Kathleen Murray Primêr Skool and Pineview Primêr Skool let them use their fields and facilities. And that means a much bigger play ground than before, which leads to more room for more kids.

And it is a win-win-win situation, because also the primary schools benefit from it. “I am really grateful for the Village of Hope”, says deputed-principal Jeremy Ess of the Kathleen Murray Primêr Skool. “We do not have our own trained coaches, so I am very glad with the help we get from the Village of Hope.” He sees the kids really benefit from it, because it keeps them busy after school and out of trouble.

Tim Walker also wants to make a change in their lives. He always tries to get a message out each week by having different themes. This week is all about being together and looking out for one and other. They learn this by doing team sports like soccer. “They have to understand that they are a team. Playing soccer here is not about finding the new Beckham, but it’s about achieving something together”.

But the Village of Hope can’t do it all by itself. Every year they get some students of the Netherlands, who help them. “It’s always nice when new students come to join us. They are always really enthusiastic and come with new ideas. That also keeps us fresh to rethink about some activities or add some new ones.”

end of quote/article

dallas team leave.....

last week we were blessed to have hosted the latest team from trinity church in dallas. the team were ably lead by krissy clarke who had spent 6 months working on thembalitsha projects last year, so the team were in good hands.

as with all our visiting teams we want to make sure that they gain the whole overview of the work that we do in grabouw, so we were able to send teams with the thembacare home based palliative care team, provide opportunities for them to engage with the children we work with via our sports outreach project in schools and communities and also allow them to spend some quality time with the 9 children who live with us at the village of hope.

they also blessed us with some amazing and much needed presents, such as syringes for drawing up the children's meds and covers for the mattresses in the volunteer unit. the guys also spent time painting a couple of new (secondhand) cupboards and filing cabinets for the new office and painted scriptures on the walls in the children's unit....which look fantastic.

on saturday afternoon we were able to take the guys to the semi final of the curry cup (a national rugby tournament) where the mighty western province beat the cheaters 31 points to 7....a great time was had by all.

we will miss the team and thank them for their support not only during the time they served on our project but as they go back to dallas as our ambassadors for the work that thembalitsha are doing here in the western cape.

new office..

whilst we were in england johan kitted out our new 'shed' into a wonderful office space for use to work out of, positioned next to the children's unit it provides us close access to oversee the unit but security from those little hands that wonder around the keyboard and fax machines.

picture shows barbara, maz and emily at work!

mel arrives

well the team at the village of hope is growing by the day, last week we welcomed back rob and emily house for their two year stint with us and this week mel kidd from trinity church in dallas has joined us for a year.

we want to welcome mel onto the team and here the photo shows her learning the ropes with maz as they draw up the ARV (anti retro viral) meds for our children.

cabbages aplenty

today we have started to plant the first veggies on the village of hope, with the help and support of the elgin learning foundation we have planted a whole stack of cabbages and have run the irrigation system for the first time.

houses return and assi back in hospital again....

yesterday we had a bitter sweet day, in the morning maz picked up rob, em, rosie and issac house as they returned for their two year stint with us at the village of hope, we are so looking forward to all that they will add to the team and based on the 10 months they spent with us last year we certianly see the project growing from strength to strength.

the sad news was that our 10 year old boy, assi, was readmitted to the red cross children's hospital as his oxygen levels had dropped dangerously low, barbara wood travelled with him in the ambulance and lisa made sure that he was well cared for during his admission....

...news is slightly better this morning but he still needs our constant prayers.

blog hits

just thought that i would update you on some very random facts about the village of hope blog...first thing is that we are getting some visits! which is great news, and over the last week the stats looked like this.

United Kingdom 86
United States 74
South Africa 47
United Arab Emirates 19
Japan 19
Iraq 12
Pakistan 11
Germany 6
Norway 6
Canada 3

interesting hey?

please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we seek to bring hope to children infected or affected by HIV and AIDS....

august/september newsletter

Village news!...Walkers Return and Assi is also back!

August has been a month of new challenges, Daz, Lisa and Johan did a sterling job to keep the Village running whilst Tim, Maz and Arron visited England for 4 weeks. This year they were supported by two longer term volunteers Barbara Wood and Emma Podmore, who have both served at the Village of Hope before and they ensured that things were kept ticking over.

We have had some major issues with our eldest boy, 10 year old Assi, who has been in the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town with a lung infection, adding to respiratory problems and concerns over his liver, so the team has also had to cover that.

The most amazing news is that Assi has not only recovered enough to be released out of hospital but straight back to us (his family) here at the Village of Hope. This is a real miracle as there was little hope for his life and we thought that the best we could hope for was for him to go to one of our Thembacare hospices in Athlone or Grabouw!

The Walkers trip to England was very productive, we had the opportunity to speak at 3 churches, an evening supper, a school and of course the long awaited Barn Dance (thanks Em and Jess and their small but dedicated team who put on that event). It’s always good to share stories of what God is doing through us in South Africa and I think that as we share with people it also encourages us to see what amazing progress we have made during 2009/10.

Children’s Unit

Our main focus has been on the health of Assi. This little boy, who is not only HIV+ but suffered TB and meningitis as a small baby also has other disabilities, including a major heart problem and other associated issues. Our main aim is to make sure that he is receiving the best treatment available and we hope that the 18 months he has spent with us at the Village of Hope has increased his overall well being....and the proof that constant prayer has made a difference is seen in his amazing recovery and return to us.

The love and the care that our House Moms provide to our children is amazing and children like Assi are receiving that love and care that we all take for granted. Since we opened in April 2009 we have successfully placed 15 children back with either their own families or into foster care and we have just welcomed our new little baby into our home, therefore taking those living with us back up to 9!

Emma has been working with Lisa on some longer term programmes for each of our children, which will provide us with some goals for each child, encouraging their day to day activities leading to future development in their little lives.

Sports Outreach and Community Work

We are seeking a new direction in our sports outreach into the community and by using the contacts we made during the 2010 World Cup we are going to launch two new after school clubs based at local schools, extending the work to 100 children at each school on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. This work is to be supported by the HAN (Dutch university students) who are also working with us.

We will still run our community based clubs at Iraq and Waterwerks squatter camps on Wednesday and Thursdays and continue to bless the children at Remhoogte farm in Elgin, also on Thursdays.

Part of our longer term plan is to build up local community leaders and with that in mind we have identified 5 local High School children (16-18 year olds) who we took on a team building ‘outward bound’ course and we will work to empower them as they seek to come alongside us to deliver this sports based life skills programme to the schools.

Daz had a busy time keeping the existing clubs running, ably supported by Emma and Lisa. With the slight change of direction we are hoping that we can now support the local students with the management skills and take more of a ‘back seat’ during the clubs. Of course, it’s always to best to lead by example so much of Tim, Daz and Arron’s time will be spent demonstrating the ways that we want the clubs to be run in the future.

Seeking Direction for the Future


We have just purchased a small shed which Johan has converted into ‘an office’ for Maz and the Unit team, but we are looking for longer term building opportunities and as always there are numerous things that we could get involved with in our community. It is important though that whatever we do needs to be sustainable and affordable.

With our monthly costs rising as each child is placed home we are constantly short of funds which makes it hard to budget and plan for the future. If you feel that you can commit to supporting us each month then please follow the links on the ThembalitshaUK web site.

We would like to convert our existing volunteer accommodation into our first ‘cluster home’ for our longer term children to live with a Mom and Dad. This doesn’t mean that we will lose the accommodation to house long and short term volunteers as we are looking to build future accommodation on the land which in turn requires funding!

Other News and Volunteers


On Thursday 23rd September the Wholehearted worship album was launched in Cape Town. All proceeds from the sales will come to Thembalitsha projects. If you purchase the full CD, not via itunes, then you will receive a bonus DVD with a music video shot in Rooidakkes squatter camp in Grabouw. There is also an interview with me about the work we do....so log on to www.wholehearted.co.za for further info.

During August we were blessed with help from Barbara and Emma and also Jenny Jiggins, who I knew from my days as a Crusader leader in Winslow/Granbrough. We have desperately missed Rob, Em, Rosie and Isaac who have been having some time out in England, raising their own funding to allow them to return to us in October for 2 years!

Emma leaves.......

today is a very sad day at the village of hope, don't worry all the children are fine! but we had to say goodbye, for the third time now, to our amazing volunteer emma podmore. emma has done some wonderful work with our children, putting together some stimulating programmes and helping lisa with the children's development plans.

she also spent a lot of time with assi when he was taken into hospital and we appreciate her servant heart, she will be sorely missed.....come back soon!