we (tim, maz and arron) wanted to send out a more personal Christmas newsletter, but due to some internet/googlemail problems we weren't certain on who received this and who didn't, therefore we have decided to at it to this blog with a link from our individual facebook sites.
we hope you enjoy the read and want to encourage you to continue to follow our progress on a daily basis here at the village of hope blog.
Walker Christmas Update from Village of Hope
Grabouw, South Africa
Dec 2010.
Firstly we (Tim, Maz and Arron) wanted to bring you a more personal news update from the Village of Hope Grabouw, rather than the more ‘corporate’ ThembalitshaUK newsletter that you may normally receive.
Well what a year 2010 proved to be and we will try provide some of our personal highlights (and maybe some low lights) throughout the next few paragraphs.
We started the year in the wonderful summer weather of South Africa, always a bonus for those of us that love the sunny weather, however within a month of the New Year starting Arron had made the long trip to Harpenden, England (complete with snow), to join Paul Baker and the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team of another 20 or so young people from around the world who were on a 6 month Sports DTS and who would serve in Grabouw during the 2010 Football World Cup.
Whilst Arron was way we (me and Maz) enjoyed sometime as ‘Derby and Joan’, the first time since we were married, 23 years ago, and even went to see Elton John in Kirstenbosh Gardens together....(not one of my choices, I managed to miss the Cliff Richard concert! Tim).
As Arron left Harry Hogarth joined the Village of Hope team and became one of the family, Harry was one of many volunteers who came to join us throughout the year and we are grateful for everyone who has visited and served us during this year, including the return visits of Jess Strafford, Barbara Wood, Emma Podmore, Tim Berger and his team from Dallas, Krissy Clarke, Mel Kidd and her amazing friends (Mel has stayed to serve us long term), Fran Black and her sister Kate, Matt Redette sent another team, Tom Digsby and the team from Infocus, man the list goes on and if we have missed anyone we are really sorry.(dan williams, the margette and leo, gerrit and all the students from the HAN in Holland, trondar and greta from norway!)
Tim’s sister Vicky, husband Chris and their children Faith and Joel, along with Chris’ father Antony joined us for an extended stay (due to some volcano blowing it’s top and delaying flights in Europe, when will the airlines in England cope with ‘out of the norm weather conditions’?, we hear that England is at another standstill due to a little bit of snow!).
Rob and Emily (and their amazing children Rosie and Isaac) recommitted to volunteer with VoH (Village of Hope) for another 2 years and we were visited by members of their family through the year as well.
Early in March we had some mixed news, Tim’s Granddad passed away (97 years young) two days before the arrival (birth) of Tim and Maz’ first grandchild (Alfie), Tim returned to England to attend the funeral but had a blessing of meeting Alfie for the first time. Maz spent some time on a visit to look after Alfie later in the year which she enjoyed immensely.
The YWAM team joined us for nearly 3 months to bring a sense of hope to the children of Grabouw that we work with on a weekly basis throughout the year to bless them over the World Cup celebrations, we had up to 400 children a day join our clubs, who were feed, watered, entertained and watched the big game on a screen at a local school. We want to thank them for all the hard work that they put in to make that time special for some of the most poor and needy children that we work with.
Trefor Williams came over during the early stages of the World Cup to run a Big Shot cricket coaching course, well he is Welsh and needed an excuse to get involved in the football fest, we just wish that the England football team had turned up too and that would have made the year even better...Josh was also over at the same time and Tim, Josh and Arron, along with some of the YWAM team were at the awful 0-0 draw with Algeria at Green Point Stadium, and yes I did boo Wayne Rooney (thanks for the waste of hard earned cash there guys!). Matt Walker was over doing some big business work around the World Cup and we enjoyed his humour and support during that time.
Our work in Grabouw has extend during the year, we have successfully place 15 children home with either foster, adoptive or their own families and the support to our children living with HIV is increasing by the day. Maz was ably supported by Lisa in the baby unit and Daz ran a very effective sports outreach programme, Rob and Emily provided much needed admin and fundraising support and Johan managed to keep himself busy with new projects on the farm and also at Thembacare Grabouw.
We enjoyed a short trip ‘home’ to England in August, where we enjoyed a family holiday at Wick Court near Bath, we also celebrated Alfie’s dedication at that time with our extended family which was an amazing blessing. We were also able to share some stories about the work that we are doing with churches and other small groups, it was good to catch up with friends and Trefor and Mandy Williams made us feel at home as usual.
In August the health of our eldest boy, Assi, gave some rise of concern, especially when we were away in England, the team over here did so well in supporting him as he spent time at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, where we thought we might lose him to the disease which has plagued him for the whole of his little life, however through God’s grace he is back with us, fitting fit, learning new things each day and gives us hope that through prayer God can restore what would seem a hopeless situation.
Assi is one of many miracles that we have seen this year, and to work with so many needy children is a real privilege, however to complete the work that we have started all costs money, supporting 12 staff, running vehicles, buying food etc is a real drain on our finances and although many of you will be facing an uncertain future with the down turn in the world economy we urge you to partner with us for a few pounds a month to enable us to help those widows and orphans that we work with.
As the year came to an end Arron managed to find another trip to go on, this time to work with Big Shot Cricket at an outreach in Uganda, he has certainly travelled a lot this year, we wonder what might be in store for 2011!
As we come to the end of another busy year Tim’s Mum and Dad (Ann and Roger), son Chris and his wife Claire and Alfie, along with Claries parents, Paul and Sue, have joined us the celebrate Christmas together and it is wonderful to share the day to day work that we do with our closest family.
We want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a bless 2011, and if you would like to find out any more info about the work we are doing please visit our blog, which we try to update daily @ www.thembavillageofhope.blogspot.com or if we could tempt you to donate to the work then follow the links from the Thembalitsha website @ www.thembalitshauk.org.uk
Tim, Maz and Arron Walker Grabouw Dec 2010
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