crazy days.....but still loving it!

creche in iraq squatter camp with
the soup in the buckets in the foreground

today has felt like a week in one day....so many things have happend during my day, stresses, strains, highs and lows, but one thing that bought me back down to earth with a big bump was around lunchtime when i was able to 'do' the soup run.

the soup run is a 'service' that we have been providing for a couple of years now and is a partnership between us and the rose and bull restaurant here in grabouw, in fact all we do is transport the soup to those in real need of a balance meal and we have been totally blessed by doing this.

lines of adults and children at the
multipurpose centre, rooidakke

today i was running around like a headless chicken, meetings here, there and everywhere and was slightly late with the delivery, as i arrived at the multipurpose center in rooidakke i was greeted by lines of adults and children waiting for the arrival of the soup, perhaps the only meal that many of them will have today.

i hope the photos show the huge need that we have here in grabouw  and it is only our pleasure for the village of hope to provide this to our needy communities, non of this is for our own gain, we are just here to serve!

our new dutch students get involved....

wieke with two of the children

this week we have been joined by our latest students from the HAN university in holland, stephan and wieke (with a 'w') will be working with us on our sports outreach into the community. they are both studying sports and sports management and are the 4th set of students that we have been blessed with.

they have helped at a couple of our sports clubs already however today the students spent the morning with our thembacare careworkers in the formal and informal settlements as they (the careworkers) visit the patients living with HIV and TB, it's always challenging to see the real side of grabouw but i hope it opened up their eyes to the problems that we face in our town.

stephan proving a real hit with the kids

this afternoon they joined us at one of the sports outreaches at a farm in the elgin valley, where they engaged with the children and helped deliver our lifeskills and lifestyle programme. i hope they will be ready for next week when they will really get their hands dirty as they help us serve the kids in our community with a well constructed and life enhancing programme which uses sport to relate with the kids in a positive way.

our brothers meet their new family!

the boys enjoy a cup of coffee with
their sister (enjoying the bottle) and their new dad

the boys new mom and dad, with their sister.

we have been providing a loving home for two brothers for the last year or so, their family background is very difficult and whilst they still have parents they are not able to care for them due to wider health and social issues. the brothers also have a baby sister that they have never seen, well not until today!

maz has been working very hard with both our local and regional social workers to find a new home not only for the boys but also one where they will be reunited with their sister in a new family.

we have a wonderful relationship with another ngo (non governmental organisation) called home from home, who we have successfully placed our 9 year old girl with and this afternoon the boys met their new mom and dad at their home in khayelitsha (cape town's biggest township)....

...it was a very special meeting and one that we will be working to a fully integrated placement by the end of next week....we need to take things slowly and today the boys were able to see their new bedroom and explore the home with the knowledge that they will be going back for a longer visit this weekend as the new parents take them under their wing to become an whole new family.

please pray with us that this couple will provide that love, care and stability that this little guys have missed from their natural parents....thanks

ever wondered what a short term mission team gets up to?

last month we had the pleasure of welcoming joe williams and his team from jesmond onto the thembalitsha projects here in grabouw (see post here about their arrival). one of the team, andy, has made a short account of their trip, which we have posted below. i hope this will give you some idea of what our short term mission teams get up to and will help you see the benefits to both them and to the community that we serve.

Andy’s Africa Account


Our
 time
 at
 the
 farm
 mainly
 consisted
 of
 2
 duties,
 helping
 the
 ‘house
 moms’
 and
 painting
 the
 house.
 Helping
 out
 the
 ‘House
 Moms’
 look
 after 
the 
children 
was 
very 
tiring 
at 
first because
 they 
were 
so 
energetic!
 It 
was 
also 
great 
to 
see 
a safe
 haven
 for
 them.



We
 worked
 to
 decorate
 an old 
house 
that 
was 
being 
converted 
in
to 
a 
new
 office;
 again
 this
 was
 another
 time
 to
 see
 the
 team
 work 
together 
productively.
 Although
 some
 would
 say
 equal
 amounts
 of
 paint
 ended
 up
 on

the
 floor 
tiles 
than 
the 
walls!




I
 was
 also
 privileged
 to
 accompany
 a
 couple
 of
 the
 Themba‐care
 Nurses
 on
 one
 of
 their
 rounds 
of 
the township,
 Rooidakke.
 Feeling 
slightly 
daunted
 as 
I 
was 
split 
from
 Izze, I 
joined
 8 
Nurses 
and 
we 
headed
 out
in 
a 
Combi
 (van).
 It 
was 
a 
relief 
when 
the
 2
 Nurses
 and
 myself got 
out 
in 
the 
township 
to
 do
 the 
round.
 The
aim
 was 
to 
check 
that 
the
 patients 
were 
taking
 their
 medication
 and
 that
 their
 prescriptions
 were
 in
 order.
 What
 they
 explained
 and
 became
 obvious
 as
 the
 morning
 went
 on
 was
 the
 problem
 of
 relocation.
 The
 government
 had
 a
 housing 
improvement
 plan
 where 
they 
were 
building 
new
 houses 
for 
those 
living 
in

shacks.
 However
 this
 was
 proving
 problematic
 in
 finding
 some
 patients.
 Moreover
 I
 was
 astonished
 by
 the
 commitment
 and
 professionalism
 of
 the
 Nurses
 as
 they
 were
 coming
 to
 work 
immaculate
 dressed
 and
 yet 
they 
too 
were 
living 
in 
the 
Townships.



We
 also
 spent
 time
 helping
 to
 run
 a
 holiday
 club
 for
 a
 local
 church.
 This
 was 
great 
to 
harness 
all 
our 
individual

skills
 for
 the
 enjoyment
 of
 the
 children.
 The 
first 
couple 
of 
days 
were
 mayhem
 but
 we
 soon
 settled
 in
 to
 a

routine:
 running
 games, 
teaching
 them
 songs,
 crafts
 and
 everyday
 we
 managed
 to
 give
 a
 short
 Bible
 Message.
 Some
 of
 the
 older
 children
 could
 understand
 English
 so
 we
 pray
 that
 the
 seeds
 we
 sowed
 in
 those
 2 weeks 
can
 grow.


We
 also
 had
 great
 time
 of
 relaxation
 and
 fellowship
 in
 our
 time
 off.



Highlights
 include
 standing
 on
 top
 of
 Table
 Mountain,
 seeing
 penguins
 at
 our 
feet 
and
 celebrating
 the 
4th

July
 on the
 farm
 with
 the
 kids
 and
 the
 American
 Volunteers,
 Britton
 and
 Tyler.
 
 In
 addition
 each
 evening
 we

had
 a
 time
 of
 study,
 alternating
 between
 the
 Sermon
 on
 the
 Mount
 and
 Tim
 Keller’s
 book,
 ‘Counterfeit

Gods’.
These
 were
 great
 times 
to 
focus our
 work
 on
 God
 amongst
 the
 excitement 
of 
the
 trip 
and
 spend 
time

learning
 from
 each
 other.
 In
 each
 morning 
meeting 
we 
would 
close
 with 
The 
Lords 
Prayer 
and 
this 
was 
great
as 
it 
made 
me think
 on
 each
 sentence
 and
 gain 
a 
deeper 
understanding 
of 
God’s
 sovereignty 
at 
the
 start 
of

each
 day.



I
 had
 a 
 great
 time
 with 
Joe,
 Izze,
 Lucy, 
Beth, 
Jen 
and
 Jasper
 learning
 from
 and
 assisting 
in 
the work
 of
 the
 Village
 of
 Hope.
 Many
 thanks
 go
 to
 Tim
 and
 Maz
 for
 their
 hospitality
 and
 the
 great
 encouragement
 they
 are
 in
 being
 a
 light
 of
 God
 in
 Grabouw.
 A
 connection
 with
 the
 project 
has 
been
 made 
and 
I 
hope 
to 
support
 it 
more,
it
 will 
always 
be
 in
 my
 prayers 
and
 I hope
 to 
return. 



One 
thing 
that 
it 
has 
taught 
me 
is 
that 
although
 I 
have 
my
own
 difficulties
 they 
are 
nothing 
in 
comparison 
to 
the
 needs 
of 
those
 in 
Grabouw,
 I
 have 
nothing
 to
 worry
 about.

 It 
is 
my
 prayer 
that 
the
 Lord
 continues 
to 
bless
 The 
Village 
of 
Hope.


thanks for the brief but positive account andy, and we hope to see you again very soon.

August News

Yes, Tim and Maz are going to be at your disposal throughout November and early December so if you want them to come and pay you a visit just drop us an email. We’ve also got bands doing gigs to raise money for us and another day of prayer coming up. Make sure you check out the ‘events’ section of this post so you don’t miss out!

It’s wonderful to have Rob and Emily back with us from their 4 week trip to England. Mel has been away for a few weeks on a funding support trip to the USA so our long term team, which completed by Arron and Johan, is still down one member. That said we have had some wonderful support from Britton, Tyler (who’s brother and father joined him for a few days from Dallas), Barbara Wood who has returned for the third time, Katrin who is serving with us for 6 months and Claire who is staying with her Grandmother in town...so once again it has been a very busy time!

Children’s Unit
Our top news story is that our 11-year-old boy has returned from his ‘holiday’ at Thembacare Athlone, following his time in hospital with further respiratory problems. We had a good meeting with the team from the Red Cross children’s hospital who were happy for us to provide that special care that he needs. Unfortunately he is now constantly on oxygen so his attendance at school is restricted, however he is so glad to be back home with Mommy Maz and the wonderful house mom’s who care for him so well.

With  our 11-year-old being away for all that time we did have some space to take in another little boy, aged about 1 year, who’s mother had abandoned him with his Grandmother, who was sick herself with TB. Therefore we have shifted a few beds and cots around to help us provide beds for the 10 little children who live with us at the Village of Hope.

This new boy should only be with us for a short time as we have already made contact with the family who really do want to care for him. Please pray for his family that they might understand the responsibility that they have towards this boy.

All of our House Mom’s have been now completed the St John’s First Aid course. It’s good to have a full team back together. These ladies, who all live in the community, do an amazing job for us, looking after the needs of our children on a 12 hour shift is not an easy job.

The children (of school age) have been back for a couple of weeks, and we were able to secure a place for our little 4-year-old boy to join the other children at school. He had been so excited about going to school (and had been on the school run, just for the ride, for over 6 months) but when the volunteer led him into his class for the first time tears filled his eyes and he wasn’t quite sure what to do! By the time we collected him he had a smile on his face and was full of stories about the new friends he had made and the exciting things that he had done. It’s so special to be able to offer these children the ‘normal’ experiences that we all take for granted.

Sports Outreach and Community Work
Our sports outreach clubs started again after the winter holidays. We can’t wait till the next Dutch students join us next week! Our ‘skeleton’ staff of Arron, Emily, Kat and Britton are joined each week by our local sports mentors, Justin, Roger, Michael, Reggie and Lee who are all pupils at the local schools. These guys do a great job for us and have enabled us to continue to provide clubs in each of the 5 areas in Grabouw: Hillside, Iraq informal settlement, Waterwerks, Site View and Rooidakke (Netball only) as well as our outreach onto a farm in the Elgin Valley.

We have been excited about the amount of girls joining us to play netball, especially in Iraq. These girls spend a whole day at school and then have to complete ‘chores’ when they get home. This could be collecting water from the local standpipe with 25 litre buckets or preparing the meal for the family. They often arrive late because of this  but to see them enjoying the games that we prepare for them is such a blessing and encourages us to ‘keep going’ as we seek to build valuable lessons into their tough lives.

We still continue to ask for second hand soccer boots, sizes 2 – 7 (UK), which will enable us to keep a stock for when we play what we hope will be more regular games against other clubs in the local area. If you have access to an old pair and live within kicking distance of Grabouw/Cape Town then we would love to hear from you. However our need is growing for a full time Sports Outreach Co-ordinator, which could be a position that is filled by a local person and or complimented by an Intern who could stay with us for a year’s placement.

Other News
The Straw House:
Tyler, Arron, Johan and Katrin, along with support from Rob and Em, have been busy ‘plastering’ the inside of the new house that was built by the team from Stuttgart earlier in the year. The process involves applying our ‘homemade’ lime, straw and sand mix by hand to the straw walls. Not only is this time consuming but has proved somewhat dangerous with a few people receiving ‘burns’ from the lime.

Volunteers:
Tyler has now left us to return to Dallas. Before he left he was joined by his older brother and father for a few days. It was great for Tyler to be able to show his family around the work that we are doing here in Grabouw and the projects that he has become so involved with. They also cooked us up an authentic Mexican meal before they left bringing all their spices from the States!

We said our goodbyes to Joe and his team from Newcastle, but then had the privilege of welcoming Suzie and her all-female team from the Mid Cities church (the church where Tyler attends in USA) who were over with us for a week.


Events
Well, first of all we have to say a huge congratulations to newly weds Rachel and Neil Thomlinson. But we also want to say a big thank you! Instead of choosing to stock up on crockery and coffee machines at John Lewis they decided to hold their wedding list at Just Giving and give us the money!! Bless you guys!

Another thank you goes to Lisa Smith who braved a sky dive and raised £200. No mean feat (or should it be feet?!)

We continue to be stunned by the lengths you lovely people go to in order to raise funds for us! – Keep it up!!!!

SEPTEMBER: Rock for Thembalitsha
If you are near Aylesbury on 4th September why not rock out and support us at the same time?! There will be 6 live bands playing in the market square from 2pm as well as a BBQ and a raffle (where you can win a large flat scree telly – not bad eh?!)

OCTOBER: Village of Hope Prayer Day
We are holding another prayer day on 15th October. Our previous prayer day earlier this year was really fruitful and we very much appreciated being lifted up in prayer for 24hrs. It reminded us that we needed to keep prayer at the top of the agenda.
You can even sign up now if you like: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/prayer66

NOVEMBER: Tim and Maz back in the UK
Yes, you will be treated to another visit from the Walkers! They are going to be in the UK all of November. Please let us know if you would like them to come and visit you! They are available for church talks, house groups, schools. They really do have amazingly inspirational testimonies from their life in South Africa and would welcome the chance to share them. They will also be accompanying WholeHearted (see below)

DECEMBER: Wholehearted band on tour
If you haven’t already heard of Wholehearted or read about them on our blog then where have you been?! Not only do these guys have a great sound but they are fantastic supporters of our cause and are going to be touring England for two weeks at the beginning of December. If you are keen to hold a Wholehearted gig at your church or school then please email emily@thembalitsha.org.za as soon as possible. When you book Wholehearted you will get a Tim and Maz appearance in with the deal! You can find out more and hear their sound at www.wholehearted.co.za

We are going to be posting these events on the Thembalitsha Facebook page as details develop.

If you have an idea for an event that you would like to organise for us do let us know as we would love to have more things planned in the diary for this year and desperately need more people to be doing stuff for us. We will 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 under the ‘Support Us’ page on our website (www.thembalitsha.org.za). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted.

how to make someone's day.....provide them with candles and matches!

barbara and our good friend
outside his small home

you may remember the story about a young 16 year old boy that has become a great friend to me, read the short blog post from december 2010 by clicking here, well yesterday, via some funds that were donated from a generous guy in england we were able to bless this local teenage boy with some basic supplies.

the photos show barbara wood, from aylesbury, southcourt baptist church, with this young guy both inside and outside of his small wooden shack in the zwelitsha (iraq squatter camp) here in grabouw. this guy is such a blessing to me, as he helps me to translate to the younger xhosa speaking kids at our sports outreach each tuesday afternoon.

you couldn't imagine the delight in
receiving a couple of candles and a few matches!

he was so happy with his parcel, which included some tinned and dried food, as well as deodorant and much to his delight some matches and candles. we (thembalitsha/thembacare/village of hope) don't normally hand out support in this direct way, as it can create a culture of reliance upon us to provide, which is obviously unsustainable and doesn't empower people to help themselves, however there are some exceptions to every rule and it was such a humbling experience to know that these few supplies will help this young guy not only to have a fuller stomach and less body odour but also light for him to do his homework in these dark winter evenings!

more birthdays and more fence stolen!

two year old girl, her mother, our house mom and
other children enjoying a game of pass the parcel

we have been able to celebrate two birthday's this weekend, yesterday i celebrated my 44th birthday with maz and arron, they took me for a wonderful birthday lunch at the guardian peak vineyard near stellenbosch and then we enjoyed an evening of cheese and biscuits with our wonderful volunteers....however that wasn't the main party that we had a the village of hope this week!

on friday we were delighted to have a birthday party for one of our newer children, she came to us a few months ago and has been very ill since she has been with us, ending up in hospital with TB meningitis  however it was great to celebrate her second birthday and also welcome her mother, who is also quite sick, to the party. as usual our house mom's and volunteers did an amazing job with lots of party games such as pass the parcel and lots of yummy food.

unfortunately we did suffer another loss of fence and fence posts from around the edge of the property on friday, this is a real pain in the neck and we are wondering what to do to prevent more being stolen. we are trying to make those that steal it realise that they are actually stealing from themselves as we have to spend donated money to replace that which is stolen rather than helping those in need through our two projects (village of hope and thembacare) here in grabouw.

continuing sodexo support

tim, barbara receiving a donation of food from colin 

our long(er) term volunteer barbara wood from southcourt baptist church in aylesbury (where myself and maz were married over 20 year ago) works for sodexo in england and has been instrumental in bringing us together with their local team here in south africa. we first came into contact with sodexo over a year ago and as part of their nelson mandela day commitiment to the local community they encouraged staff to donate dry goods for the continued support of the orphans that live with us on the village of hope.

it was great to meet up with colin from sodexo, who is pictured with me and barbara, who handed over the items that had been donated. it's great to know that there are people in high level industry willing to make a difference to those less fortunate. the support we receive is part of sodexo's wider 'stop hunger' champain and we thank them for getting involved locally.

wholehearted donations via sms?!

the wholehearted band, who will be touring england with us (tim and maz) in december, are currently on a short tour of south africa, we have set up a simple way of giving via sms (text message) and over the last few days we have received over 50 of these sms' which automatically donate R10 direct to thembalitsha here in south africa. 


we have also set up the same system in the UK where you can text a message and donate any amount direct from your mobile phone account, if you don't believe it works or if you would like to make a R10 donation from south africa or any amount from the UK then please follow these simple steps.....and if you are quick you could be the first person to donate from the UK which would prove to us that it is working...go on you know you want to!


from south africa sms HOPE to 38415 and R10 will automatically go to thembalitsha


in the uk text HELP07 £10 (or the amount you wish to donate, which can be from £1 upwards)
to 70070 and that amount is directly sent to thembalitsha via our justgiving site.....



unfortunately nothing like this exists in the USA or around the rest of the world yet however if you want to give online then please go to our justgiving site here!

relaunched thembalitsha web site

we are pleased to announce that we have relaunched the wider thembalitsha foundation web site, this is something that emily has been working on for a few days (thanks emily) and whilst there are a few further tweaks to make with additional items such as the volunteer testimonies, we are really pleased with the result.

please follow this link to the site and see how the village of hope fits within thembalitsha and be encouraged by the work we are doing to provide new hope to those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS, TB and the disadvantaged here in the western cape.