March News

As ThembaCare Grabouw have probably mentioned in their news, we have had a dramatic month here in Grabouw. There has been a large amount of unrest in the community which culminated in violent protests a couple of weeks ago. We are thankful that our project is not immediately in the township so we weren’t caught up in anything directly, however it impacted our staffing for over 24 hours because it was not safe for our House Moms to move back and forth. Thankfully we are currently blessed with lots of very capable volunteers who stepped in to fill the gaps and they did an fantastic job of keeping the children stimulated and the routines running.

Children’s Unit

Peek-A-Boo Easter Bunny

With the Easter Holidays now in full swing, the House Moms are being kept on their toes. Nine children to entertain all day, seven days a week can be quite full on! To add to this we have been looking after two extra little boys in the day as well. The boys are staying with ThembaCare (because we don’t have any spare beds) whilst they wait to go into hospital for TB treatment. Thankfully we have the distraction of a new trampoline. The frame was a second hand donation a while back but the pad arrived perished and sun damaged and no good for hardcore bouncers. Tim’s parents brought out a new one with them from the UK using some money that was donated and now trampolining is a new major past time. We have also got Jess, Grace, Heather and Katia on hand to do some Easter crafts with the kids to keep them entertained.

Sports Outreach and Community Work
Two weeks ago we had one of our Soccer Saturday events at the Country Club. We had a fantastic turn out with over 150 children attending from the seven different areas we work in. All credit to the volunteers and Dutch Students who arranged it. It all ran very smoothly and the kids had a fantastic time. The German building students came along to lend a hand and be ‘managers’ for each of the teams and then later on the Dutch and German students went head to head in a match of their own. We are very grateful to the Elgin Round Table who came through again with food and refreshments for all the children. We stood back and realized that at one stage with had volunteers from England, USA, Canada, Holland, Norway, Germany and New Zealand helping out…Village of Hope really is going global!

It really was also great to see investment that we have been making in the sports mentors paying off. They conducted themselves really maturely and were an asset to our day. We are exploring how we can invest more in our mentors off the pitch too by seeing whether we can offer a scholarship to one of them to help to develop them and give them hope for a better future.

Other News
Volunteers:
The whole team was very sad to say goodbye to Niall this month. He had five weeks serving at ThembaCare Grabouw and with us and had become a true father figure in the volunteer unit. We are confident it’s not the last we will see of him but we are already missing him. Lance and Travis, our Canadian duo also said goodbye – things are certainly very quite around here without them!

On the flip side we were able to say ‘hello’ to Katia and Heather. Both of them are serving with us for three months and have already got stuck in! Katia is a Nurse from New Zealand and is assisting in the children’s unit and we have been enlisting Heather with lots of admin and petty cash. Not always the most glamorous of jobs but the help is always very much appreciated. We have even loaned her skills out to the Day Hospital who have needed help with their mountains of filing.

The New Building:
….Is complete! (well very nearly!) Yes, the Germans have now left, leaving us with another lovely straw house. This one is a two-story affair but is very similar to the house they built last year. The whole team worked extremely hard to get it completed as far as possible working late into the night and early in the mornings. We are so blessed to have another building which we hope will help us cater for more volunteers in the future and eventually lead to us being able to expand the services we can offer in the children’s unit. But for now it’s the same process as last year: we need to wait for the straw to dry out before we can plaster it and then begin to use it and with the rains on their way it could take a while.


Events
With Easter just around the corner, why not give a chicken this year rather than an egg?! We have a great alternative gift for you just visit eBay to get yours! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290691216752

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!

it all comes together with sport

now how did this go together again?!

on saturday morning we held our latest sports saturday at the elgin country club, the event was made possible by our wonderful volunteers, the HAN students and the german architect students who took some time off of their busy building schedule.

we host these sports saturdays for the 7 different groups of children that we work with throughout our daily sports outreach projects in the different communities and farms in grabouw and elgin valley. it was with deep regret that we had to restrict each of the teams to 8 players, meaning that some of the children were unable to attend but due to limited resources, in transportation and kit, we were still able to provide over 150 children with a fantastic morning of sport.

the 'set up team' arrived at the country club under grey sky's with drizzle in the air at 8am and by 9am the two 65 seater coaches provided by our local transport company, gaffley's, were making the trip around the townships to pick up the teams arriving with 129 joyful and expectant children at about 10am!....(it's amazing that we had just one seat left on the buses, only God could provide just what we needed)......the children from our farm outreach were already there waiting with the managers who greeted us from the buses.

finalists of the over 13's football

after introducing the children to their managers we were then set the task of distributing the kits for each of the teams, all the children were so well behaved, they listened to their managers really well and by 10.30 we had opened in prayer and the games began.

as the morning went on the weather improved and we were more worried about sun stroke than waterproofs........the girls played a netball tournament with 5 teams, some had more than the 8 players so they shared the games with substitutions and whilst they were waiting for their games they could also play a game of volleyball......the boys were split into under and over 13 age groups, a total of 10 teams, once again some with more than the 8 players we had wanted, played until a winner was found.

the children played so well, it was great to see some of the skills that we have been working on, both in the netball and soccer games and also in the way that they treated and respected each other.....the lifeskills programme is such a success and an article written by one of the HAN students appeared in the local grabouwer newspaper captures that...maybe click on the image to have a read about his experience?

report about village of hope sports
outreach in the local grabouwer

for record 'site view' beat 'remhoogte' in the final of the under 13's football, a mixed group of girls from 'remhoogte and rooidakke' won the netball and once again the boys from 'waterwerks' informal settlement beat iraq on penalties in the over 13 football tournament.

the day was a huge success and culminated in the guys from the round table providing the children, and helpers, with hot dog rolls and cool drinks.....it was a truly multicultural and international event with our referees from canada and south africa (our local sports mentors), managers from south africa, germany, holland and england...and we even welcomed some norwegians who were showing their support on their visit to grabouw.

the children made their way home at around 2pm and after a long clear up operation the dutch and german students (with a little help from the canadians) had a game of football together, our sports mentors also made up the teams with holland putting last years defeat behind them to over come the german international team 4-1 with 3 goals from michael from our waterwerks sports mentor programme!

it just shows that if we put our differences a side we can all come together and have a fantastic day which benefits everyone on different levels...thanks guys for your help and support and to the children you truly are amazing and demonstrate what a real rainbow nation could look like!

supporting our sports mentors.....

over the last two years we have been developing the relationship that we have with the young volunteers who come and work with us in the community as we share our life skills sports outreach with the children aged 9 - 15 in 7 different areas of grabouw and the elgin valley. we are now working with 6 guys aged 16 - 20 who not only meet with us each week to prepare the next sessions but give freely of their time leading the groups each afternoon.

many of our sports mentors are just coming to the end of their schooling and it's important for us to offer support to them in whatever way we can, today we are able to share the news that we have been able enrol one of our longer term mentors into a college in somerset west where we will support him in the college fees, holding him to account for the IT course that he is undertaking and hopefully making a real difference to not only his future but the future of his family.

if you would like to find out more about how you can help us to help those who have made a real commitment to our sports outreach programme then please get in touch with us via this blog.

we would also love to employ a full time sports outreach co-ordinator, to work with these guys, the HAN students and other volunteers who come and partner with us and we are currently looking for an international intern who might be able to come over for a whole year to take on this vital role.

hope is here

if you have been following this blog for any amount of time you will know of the strong link we have with the wonderful band from the every nation church in somerset west called 'wholehearted' and you may also remember that at the end of last year we were blessed to 'tour' the uk with them as we visited churches and schools to share about the work we do in grabouw via our thembacare and village of hope projects.

just before we made the trip we were involved in the shooting of the new music video to accompany the bands new song 'hope is here'. the video was shot in a couple of the informal settlements where we work, with people and children that we know and serve on a daily basis and whilst the song is very powerful the images on the video give it some depth and meaning.

as you can imagine seeing those people on a screen with the band playing the song 'live' in the background bought me and maz to our knees, tears flowed and our hearts were humbled to think that (through the work that we do) we have had a positive impact on so many people since God called us to serve in south africa.

lots of people came up to us after the gigs to ask when they might be able to see the video and download the song, so we are very pleased to be able to share the 'unofficial video' with you now. please click on this link to see the video and if you would like to find out more about what the song and wholehearted are about then click on this link, both will take you to youtube.

we hope that this song will inspire you to either support the thembalitsha foundation financially, get involved physically via our volunteer programme or hold all of the staff up in your prayers as we seek to bring the love of Jesus to those in physical or spiritual need via our thembalitsha health projects.

for more info on how you can get involved follow this link to the thembalitsha foundation web site. and for more info on the wholehearted band please follow this link to their blog site

for your info everybody in the film was happy to be involved, no one was paid and the band give genersuly to the thembalitsha foundation to enable us to make a bigger impact with those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB.

topping out...or the richtfest

ground floor walls completed

it seems that we go from the sublime to the ridiculous here at the village of hope, our last post contained the info about how we provided some very basic care for a couple of families that had lost everything in a fire that destroyed their home and possessions in one of our informal settlements in grabouw and today i am posting a blog about the wonderful party we had to celebrate the hard work of our stuttgart students as they close on to the completion of our second building that will host our international volunteers.......

richtfest (topping out)

...everything is connected as we wouldn't be able to provide the help to the community without our volunteers and we are so thankful to them and to the amazing german students who have been working so hard to not only build but also provide the design and concept of our new building but sometimes your brain struggles to come to terms with the two worlds in which we seem to live.

the richfest party

however that's the conundrum we live with everyday and we have to deal with that...what we wanted to share with you the wonderful evening and traditional ceremony that we had last night with the students as they performed the 'topping out' or what they call the richtfest of the new building. this is richtfest is only completed once the roof is finished and they have worked hard very hard each and everyday, performing taxing building skills with little knowledge or experience, and having to contend with the warm (if not hot) summer sun to enable that to happen this week.

we had a great time, listening to their speeches, which were set to rhyme in both german and english and we enjoyed a braai and some beer together....with less than two weeks to go before they leave this was a good time to reflect on all that has already been achieved (i am sure the photos show some amazing progress) and gives them renewed energy for the final push.

thanks guys, we truly love, respect and commend all that you are doing to further the work of the village of hope and the wider thembalitsha foundation here in grabouw and south africa.

happy to help.....

simple bottle tops,
used as washers on the plastic roof

yesterday morning we received an early morning call to inform us that there had been a fire in one of the informal settlements in grabouw. these are areas where some of our children come from, where we run sports outreach and where our thembacare palliative home based carers work day in day out and we were more than happy to help out where we could.

with the support of a few of the congregation from the elgin united presbyterian church who donated some funds we were able to purchase some basic items to help reestablish the two families who had lost everything in the fire. the more immediate needs of food etc were provided by the local community who rallied round to help their neighbours but with the money we collected we were able to buy a small stove, buckets, crockery, cooking utensils and we were able to make good use of the volunteer mattresses which we had recently replaced to ensure that the families (of 8 people) could sleep off the floor.

friends helping to rebuild.
see burnt tree in foreground.

it was amazing to see how well the men had done, rebuilding their simple timber structure home, which was covered with black plastic sheeting and insulated with card board. the municipality had provided some basic building materials but much of it was made from locally sourced materials....like the washers that were used to stop the nails pulling through the plastic sheeting, (see the photo showing the 'bottle top washers').

we know that we only provided a part of what is needed to ensure these families get back on their feet and we need to continue to support this and other families like them, we are happy to have put them in touch with other like minded NGO's (charities) who will be able to help them in other ways, such as sorting their ID books which were burnt in the fire and other important documents that may take months to replace but are required to enable people to live each and everyday.

new sports outreach (our 7th)

our HAN student setting up the warm up
(in 25 degree heat) game!

we currently deliver our sports outreach into 6 different areas including a fruit farm in the elgin valley and last year we were approached by another farm to work with their children. its always hard to balance starting a new club with the greater impact it has on our current sports outreach team, our heart is to bless as many children as possible with this life skills and health awareness based outreach but we need to ensure that anything we do is sustainable, ensuring we are not letting the children down if we have to stop for any reason.

i am glad to say that we felt happy to accept this opportunity to work with this new farm and yesterday we ran the first club there (our 7th club), the site has a large rugby field and some broken netball posts (which we hope to fix to engage the girls in the netball training). the session was led by one of our sports mentors (local young people that we have seen potential in who is now a 'support worker' to the main team) with a HAN student and myself supporting him as he took the children through a simple introductory session. the 10 children who came were aged 13-17 and were very enthusiastic, they will encourage the younger children to come next week to bolster the numbers.

weekly sports planning meeting

after our thursday clubs we have our weekly planning meeting where we discuss how well (or some times not so well) the last week went and we plan the next week of our 40 week programme, we split each group up into the 7 different teams and assigning jobs, from the initial warm up, to the life skill, health talk and bible story. each week has a theme and is linked to a bible verse and life skill application.

this week our meeting was very busy as we were joined to two of our newest sports mentors, from the iraq informal settlement and a couple of older guys who are keen to expand the programme into other areas of grabouw.

it's amazing how God is using us to engage with the children, now over 180, each week, impact their lives with positive messages, providing them with role models and life application skills and sharing God's love with them in a very practical way. as saint francis of assisi was credited with saying....'spread the gospel at all times and use words when nessasary'...this is what we do each and every afternoon and we are so privileged to be able to spend time with these children who come from some of the poorest homes in our community.