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!