February News

‘Hope is Here’ is the new single from Wholehearted and is inspired by the work of the Thembalitsha Foundation.

If you caught us when we were in the UK you will have had a sneak peak. The single in available for free download (click here) and the video, that was filmed in Grabouw, shows some of the work of Village of Hope and ThembaCare. Those that are subscribed to our email newsletter (sign up here) get an exclusive preview of the video which will be released officially later on this week. We will post here and on our facebook page when it's released. Make sure you check it out - You might even recognise a few faces!

Through everything that we do as a Foundation our main aim is to bring New Hope and we hope that the video gives you a taste of just that. You can also see more stories of hope within our news this month – because we have been very busy and have lots to share! We hope the stories inspire you to join us in our quest to create positive change in our communities.


This month has very much been the month of birthdays with many of our staff, volunteers and children celebrating another year. It’s at these times we really do come to appreciate life and what a blessing it is – particularly when it comes to the children in the unit, whose lives could look quite different if they weren’t here with us.

Children’s Unit
We had one little boy turning two. He has been staying with us while we stabilised him on his ARV and TB medication but we are very excited to be placing him back home with this Mother. His Mum has been in to get all the training and advice she needs to look after her little boy and we are very hopeful that this will be another successful placement. On the flipside the other birthday we celebrated was for one of the girls who has been with us since we opened three years ago. She became four this month and her case has been a lot more complicated to work out – and is still on going.  It is hard to know when she will ever move on to find a home of her own. Of course, she has been with us for so long now that Village of Hope is the only home she knows and she had a fantastic time celebrating with all the German students (28 of them!) coming in to sing to her. Her face was a real picture! We are also pleased to welcome back our two year old girl from hospital. She has been in under observation whilst she was put onto her ARV medication. This little cutie has TB too so it was important she was monitored because TB can flare up when combined with the HIV medication and last time we had a real scare. This time we are pleased to report that it all went smoothly and she is happily settling back in here at the Village of Hope.

Our House Moms are also looking very pleased with themselves at the moment thanks to some new uniforms. The uniforms are in the Thembalitsha colours and, along with the nice new name badges, certainly bring an air of professionalism to the unit! They were provided by one of our old volunteers, Jennifer Hunt, who has visited the project a number of time. Thanks Jenn!  The attire is comfortable to work in too - which is a necessity when working with little ones.


Sports Outreach and Community Work
Our community outreach is still going strong. We have welcomed our two new interns from the HAN university in Holland, Angelique and Marijn. It’s the first time we’ve had two girls but, of course, they don’t seem to be phased by the football (and the boys have been very welcoming as you can imagine!) and seem to be at home with their roles already.

The girls already have two new boys who are keen to make the commitment and train to become mentors. This is really exciting because it shows that the strategy that Weike and Stephan set up is working: the older boys in the clubs are seeing how rewarding it is to be a mentor and wanting that for themselves.

The other exciting news is that we have been approached by the Waitrose Foundation, who visited the project earlier in the year, to see how we can role out our sports programme to all of the farms that they invest in. We are so pleased to see that Waitrose see the value in the work we are doing and are keen to be able to share the programme with as many people as possible. It’s still early days and we have a lot of logistics to sort out before anything can become definite so please pray that God shows us the right way to go about this.

Rainbow Smiles, our support group for HIV+ teenagers is doing well too. Our volunteers, Jess and Grace are doing a brilliant job of pulling activities and ideas together along with the support of Tim Berger and Johan. ThembaCare are also providing their wisdom in how to educate the kids on HIV and this month Jess and Grace have been roping in all the adults to become antibodies (or ‘soldiers’) to dramatise the battle that does on in the body when the HIV virus attacks!


Other News
Volunteers:
Our volunteers continue to do sterling work. Jess and Tim are settling in well and since then we have welcomed Grace Perret and Niall O’Loghlen from the UK – Grace is here for three months (and is a link from Aylesbury) and Niall for five weeks. We’ve also welcomed three young men from Canada: Travis, Lance and Andy. Andy is only with us for a week. He is actually Tim Walker’s cousin and it’s always good to meet more of the family, however briefly. Despite the brief stay, he has still managed to come face to face with a puff adder and a hornet’s nest! He also led the mid-week church service at ThembaCare so I think we can safely say he’s had a good glimpse of Africa! Travis and Lance are staying on till mid March and are getting stuck in on the farm, felling trees and chopping wood and also exercising their sports skills in our afternoon outreach. It’s good to have them here – even if they did have to bring their own emergency stash of Cheerios all the way from Canada!

Although Niall is staying with us, he is here to serve ThembaCare and will be training them in how to use syringe drivers for the next five weeks. Please check out ThembaCare’s blog (click here) to read all about the difference he is making – it is so exciting and he does know what he is doing because he’s a doctor! It’s nice to be able to host someone who is here to bless another project and good for us at Village of Hope to feel like we are working more closely with our ‘sister’ in town.

The New Building:
Well it’s all go, go, go on site. If you have been reading our blog you will be up to date with all the details! The German students are all here and getting well and truly stuck in – this time with hard hats (which is a relief!). The two-story building is coming on quickly and they already have the door and window frames in. As well as the building the students are also working more closely in the community by providing some shading area for a crèche. The shade is an intricate pattern cut out of a old sail and it is a very complex jigsaw to complete – each piece is unique in shape taking ages to mark and cut out and then having to (some how) bring it all together. We can’t wait to see it finished and we are sure the staff and kids at the crèche will be blown away!


Events
It’s that time of year again when we are recruiting runners to for our 10k run. We have six places available and the run takes place on Sunday 8th July. This really is a fantastic race – you get to run past major London landmarks like Big Ben and St Paul’s cathedral. It costs £30 to enter and you need to be willing to commit to raising at least £500 for us. So, whether you are new to running and looking for a challenge, or an old hand looking to beat your personal best, this is a great opportunity to get into training and to run for a great cause. Contact us at office@thembalitshauk.org.uk for more information.



How You Can Help
We are never short of ideas on how you can help us out!!!!
• Give - 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. Or nominate us as your charity of choice within your church or business.
• 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 (http://www.thembalitsha.org.za). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you!

dutch visitors with gifts from ajax...

harry (left) with michael and the rest of the older
 iraq football team

this afternoon we were blessed by the visit of our good friends harry, winny and son joel, their daughter elise worked with us on her placement in grabouw from the HAN university a couple of years ago and we stopped with them when we visited the HAN in nijemgen in november.

harry has some good contacts with ajax amsterdam (the real ajax) and during our training session with one of our sports outreaches in iraq informal settlement this afternoon we were able to present the most regular of our boys, along with one of longer term our sports mentors, michael from waterwerks, with a waterproof training jacket...which was very welcome as we had some very unseasonably wet weather which meant that the children could go home warm and dry!

the younger children received ajax scarves and tee shirts, the children at the village of hope were also blessed with some goodies...thanks guys your support certainly does make a difference.

let the stamping begin!

put the straw in and jump up and down!

builders water!

after all the hard work of getting the foundations dug and established the ukuquala II team have begun the laborious task of creating the walls. this isn't via the traditional brick and mortar method but the more unusual straw and clay mix which needs to be compacted into the shuttering boards.

the guys have a great way of doing this.....by putting on some gum boots and literally stamping up and down until the straw is compact enough.

oh and for your info the international art of builders tea has taken on a new stance, the team still retain the tin cups but have adopted water as their preferred beverage!

2 year old birthdays!

birthday boy with his balloon

having been open for nearly 3 years and having an intake criteria of children aged 0-7 years we would obviously have a lot of birthdays, however the one that we seem to celebrate more than any other is a child's second birthday....this week we have held another party this time for one of our most recent admissions a little boy who is placed with us whilst we stabilized him on this TB and ARV medication.

he is another of our successes as he will be placed back out with his mom next weekend. it has been wonderful to see his development and to be able to provide him with a fun filled party will have been a great send off!

firm foundations

each pole set in concrete with reinforced steel frame.

we are encouraged by Jesus to set our lives, what we believe, what we hold to when the going gets tough, on firm foundations. he uses a strong visual image of two men building on different foundations, one sand and the other rock....as the storm and flood comes which one will stand? Jesus says he is the rock, that solid foundation.

the whole concrete base.

like Jesus story we all need to build on firm foundations, whether that be a business venture, our lives or even a charity looking to provide hope via health, education and training. this week the ukuqala II team have been putting this into action as they firstly made sure that the sand stone that they were building on was firm enough to plant the 9 meter posts into the ground (yes we used dynamite to do this!) and then ensured that they were securely set each of the one with concrete and then a wider 'slab' with reinforced metal to hold the whole structure together with further concrete poured over the top to ensure the building would stand firm.

much of what they have put their efforts into over the last few weeks is unseen and as the rest of the team of students from stuttgart arrive it may not look like a lot has happened but without these firm foundations the new building would be susceptible to the forces of nature and eventually crumble to the ground.

well done guys, chris, andy, and til, your hard work hasn't gone unnoticed.

grace arrives for three months and a short update on the children

grace taking one of our little ones for a walk!

earlier this week we welcomed our latest long term volunteer from the frozen north, grace joins us for three months from england and will not only be involved with the work in the children's unit here at the village of hope but she will be a key member of our sports outreach and 'rainbow smiles' HIV support group.

it's great to have any volunteer commit for the longer term, they can really feel useful and make such a difference as they take on some of the day to day jobs which the rest of the team have to undertake when they aren't around. grace joins our other long term volunteers tim, mel and jess in our volunteer accommodation and is already proving to be a real hit with our children.

many of you have been asking for an update on our two year old girl who is in tygerberg hospital, well she is still undergoing checks on her liver to make sure that she can be started on her ARV (HIV medication) and we hope to have her back with us next week. our eldest boy has had tonsillitis this week and has been off school, please pray for his continued improvement.

praying for our children

just chilling in the kitchen before dinner,
her favorite time of the day

on tuesday morning maz took our little two and a half year old girl into tygerberg hospital where she will stay for a few days whilst the team get her started on her ARV (anti retro viral) medication for her HIV. normally there's no need for our children to go to hospital to start this treatment but due to the fact that she is also on TB medication and has had TB meningitis then the staff want to observe her before sending her back to stay with us at the village of hope.

she is such a dear little (well not so little) thing, she copies everything anyone says and has really developed since she has been with us. please pray for her as she stays on her own and that there wont be any complications with the different types of medication.
we are longing to see her happy smile back with us again soon.

an update on our 11 year old boy is that he has now been discharged from the red cross children's hospital into our sister project, thembacare athlone, mommy maz visited him yesterday and he is doing a little better but he is still a poorly boy!