We can’t believe that a whole month of the New Year has passed already, December was a very busy month for us and we will try to collate over 60 days into this short newsletter!
Tim and Maz had their family over for Christmas. Their sons, Chris (with his wife Claire and baby Alfie) and Josh joined their youngest son Arron, with Tim’s Mum and Dad over. Chris also bought his Father and Mother – in – law (Sue and Paul) and Dan Williams also visited.
Menu
• Children’s Unit
• Sports Outreach & Community Work
• Other News & Volunteers
• Events
• How You Can Help
• Volunteering
CHILDREN’S UNIT
We had the wonderful news with the placement of our eldest 9 year old girl into a wonderful foster family in Khayelitsha run by an organisation called Home from Home. She seems to have settled very well and we wish her all the best for her new life. We have now placed 16 children back into the community and are now able to open up a new space for another child infected or affected with HIV who needs our specialist support.
We had the wonderful news with the placement of our eldest 9 year old girl into a wonderful foster family in Khayelitsha run by an organisation called Home from Home. She seems to have settled very well and we wish her all the best for her new life. We have now placed 16 children back into the community and are now able to open up a new space for another child infected or affected with HIV who needs our specialist support.
The children in the unit broke up for summer holidays in early December till the middle of Jan so it was a busy time for our staff and volunteers, however with the lovely weather the children have been able to play out on the jungle gym and also splash around in the paddling pool provided by Claire (Walker)’s school in Bath (quite appropriate don’t you think!).
All our children remain healthy, which is a real testimony to the right medication and nutritional diet, along with stimulated play and development plans which the House Mom’s (over seen by Maz and Mel) ensure are carried out each day. The love that these precious children receive is a real blessing and we pray for their continued healing.
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| Willing House Mom being buried in sand! |
We spent the afternoon at the beach with the children in early January, it was great to see these little ones taking their first steps on the sand and watching their faces as they splashed around in the sea. It is a real privilege to be working with these children and each day we thank God for his amazing provision for us to carry out this work.
SPORTS OUTREACH & COMMUNITY WORK
As the summer term came to an end so did the regular sports outreach into the local schools, it has been a real blessing to have some time out to take stock of the work that we have been doing, evaluating its impact and working out how we move forward in 2011.
As the summer term came to an end so did the regular sports outreach into the local schools, it has been a real blessing to have some time out to take stock of the work that we have been doing, evaluating its impact and working out how we move forward in 2011.
With the limited numbers (around 150 children, we call that limited!) who attended our schools based clubs, the feel that we have lost a little bit of contact with the children in the communities and the fact that the current Dutch students from the HAN university are returning to Holland at the end of January, we are looking pause our schools based work and re-establish the community based clubs at Rooidakke and Hillside. The children who attended our schools clubs will be encouraged to join us but with the whole Municipality having a look at how to implement our ‘life skills’ based clubs in more areas we feel that this is the right decision as we look to set up a longer term/full sustainable model for sports outreach in Grabouw.
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| kayaking on the dam |
We did have the chance to bless our most regular sports club attendances, with a wonderful afternoon playing on a local dam in kayaks, and we also took the children from the Iraq squatter camp to the beach where we enjoyed time playing in the water, organising a soccer match and catching jelly fish!
One of our younger mentors who help out at our sports clubs, Jason, aged 18, was stabled twice in the chest on Christmas Day evening, it is a miracle that he survived as both lungs were punctured and he arrived in hospital battling for his life. Thankfully he is making a swift recovery and is hoping to help Arron at his clubs which start again this coming week. We thank God for his protection over his life and pray that he will go on to be a blessing to many of his own community as he seeks to help with the life skills and bible study programme.
OTHER NEWS & VOLUNTEERS
Transport:
Unfortunately our new (second hand) VW Microbus broke down twice in the last two months, not a great start in its replacement of our ever reliable Toyota, the first time Tim and Rob replaced the alternator belt on a bank holiday Friday afternoon and the second the 5 gear stripped whilst coming up the mountain pass!....oh and Tim had a lovely puncture when he was taking the children to school....however we are still praying for a nice new Toyota Quantum but as I said in our last newsletter God knows and has a plan when this will arrive!
Unfortunately our new (second hand) VW Microbus broke down twice in the last two months, not a great start in its replacement of our ever reliable Toyota, the first time Tim and Rob replaced the alternator belt on a bank holiday Friday afternoon and the second the 5 gear stripped whilst coming up the mountain pass!....oh and Tim had a lovely puncture when he was taking the children to school....however we are still praying for a nice new Toyota Quantum but as I said in our last newsletter God knows and has a plan when this will arrive!
Food Garden and Walking Food!
Our Food Garden is providing much needed produce for our children’s unit, we have harvested fresh beans, broccoli and cabbage, with our butternuts and potatoes readying themselves for harvest. On another front Arron has successfully procured 2 lovely fat little piglets, which we are feeding up on our kitchen waste, it won’t be long before we are enjoying our own home grown bacon and pork chops!
Our Food Garden is providing much needed produce for our children’s unit, we have harvested fresh beans, broccoli and cabbage, with our butternuts and potatoes readying themselves for harvest. On another front Arron has successfully procured 2 lovely fat little piglets, which we are feeding up on our kitchen waste, it won’t be long before we are enjoying our own home grown bacon and pork chops!
Staff:
Unfortunately (for us) one of our house moms has given in her notice and we are now working out a way of covering her for the short term, and Daz and Lisa Muir have decided to follow God’s call on their lives and start their own ministry to the poor and needy in one of our local communities, we wish them all the best for their new venture and thank them for all their hard work for the last two years as we sought to set up the Village of Hope.
Unfortunately (for us) one of our house moms has given in her notice and we are now working out a way of covering her for the short term, and Daz and Lisa Muir have decided to follow God’s call on their lives and start their own ministry to the poor and needy in one of our local communities, we wish them all the best for their new venture and thank them for all their hard work for the last two years as we sought to set up the Village of Hope.
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| Mel, Fran & Jess |
Volunteers:
As you know Tim and Maz had their extended family over for Christmas, and Rob, Em and Mel were joined by Jess Strafford, Fran and Katie Black, who once again (Jess and Fran on return visits) proved to be such an asset to the work we do. They left in late December and we have now been joined by Ligia (from Brazil) and Lizi Allen (another one of Tim’s ex-crusaders). Mike and Jeanette Hulcoop from Southcourt Baptist Church (and good friends of Tim and Maz) also popped in for a week following a mission trip to Zimbabwe, it was great to catch up with all these amazing people who now have a heart for the work we are doing.
As you know Tim and Maz had their extended family over for Christmas, and Rob, Em and Mel were joined by Jess Strafford, Fran and Katie Black, who once again (Jess and Fran on return visits) proved to be such an asset to the work we do. They left in late December and we have now been joined by Ligia (from Brazil) and Lizi Allen (another one of Tim’s ex-crusaders). Mike and Jeanette Hulcoop from Southcourt Baptist Church (and good friends of Tim and Maz) also popped in for a week following a mission trip to Zimbabwe, it was great to catch up with all these amazing people who now have a heart for the work we are doing.
As we mentioned above we have said our sad goodbyes to our latest Dutch sports students, Nick, Bart and Irene who have helped out at our sports clubs and looked into developing our public open spaces into sports areas for our children to play in. We wish them well with their further studies and hope that they will visit again soon.
EVENTS
We are hoping to have something happening every month this year. We are starting with a day of prayer in February.
We are asking you to consider whether you might be able to commit to praying for us just for half an hour. If you feel this is something that you might like to do, we will sign you up for a slot as start filling the day up. To sign up email us office@thembalitshauk.org.uk
We are also planning our annual Cycle for September and we still have places available for a the 10k London Run in July. Please get in touch if you would like more details.
If you have an idea for an event that you would like to organise for us do let us know, we would love to have more things planned in the diary for this year and we can do our best to support you in making it successful.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
We are never short of ideas on how you can help us out!!!!
• Become a regular monthly giver - Regular givers are like gold dust to us!!! You can download a standing order form from our website – don’t forget to sign a gift aid form if you are a UK tax payer
• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise £1000s with enough enthusiasm! We also have annual walks, runs and bike rides. For more information contact us office@thembalitshauk.org.uk
• Pray – Sign up to the prayer newsletter. Prayer is just as vital to us (if not more so) than money! We can’t have enough people committing to pray persistently for us. Sign up at prayer@thembalitshauk.org.uk
VOLUNTEERING
We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff out here in South Africa. It can be a fantastic way to give (and receive!) However, we do have some criteria you have to meet in order to apply. For more information on Volunteering for the Village of Hope please download the INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERS documents from our website (www.thembalitshauk.org.uk). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you!
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