community works

healthy meals......happy patients
.......helpful volunteers

it's hard to convey just want we do do via the them thembalitsha foundation's projects here in grabouw, maybe you think that our work is confined to our village of hope children's unit and thembacare hospice work (both inpatient and outpatient) but a lot of our time is given to work in the community. this can be seen via our sports based outreach to over 200 children a week or our rainbow smiles club which our volunteers help with every friday afternoon, all of which remain within the foundations scope by providing healthcare, education or training, but with so much need on our doorstep and a plethora of volunteers who's hearts are broken for the poor and needy its really hard to remain focused and therefore limit our work to those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB.

however as part of our support to the community i (tim) sit on the community police forum (CPF), and although it's hard to remember how one gets involved in such a wide way i do believe that God has placed us here to work with and assist the local community in various ways and with the basic education, provided by my secondary schooling in aylesbury that we so often take for granted, we have the skills and abilities to help in many different areas.

last week under our CPF 'projects' banner we were able to take over the daily task of providing a basic healthy meal to the 50 or so people who attend the day hospital to take their TB medication. the meal is vital for the medication to be effective and the day hospital are grateful to captain noble and a team of volunteers from his church who undertake this task each and everyday.

for us it was a once off and we were not only able to hand out this meal, which was made by one of our volunteers (pauline) and my mum, but also a leaflet informing people of some simple facts to enable them to live a safe and healthy life supported by our local police service. i was joined by a couple of the CPF members and four of our thembalitsha volunteers (three shown in the photo, which appeared in our local paper, plus katia) who got up early to hand out the food and documents, we prayed for each patient and found that we had so much food that we were able to bless all the patients who were attending the ARV (antiretroviral) clinic as well.

if you would like to get involved in our work either via prayer, volunteering or giving regularly enabling us to reach more people with practical and effective care then please visit our thembalitsha foundation web site

supporting mentors...ajax come so close

view from signal hill

its hard to put into words the sights, sounds, feeling and or just the experience that we had yesterday evening as we took our 8 mentors who help with our sports outreach to watch cape ajax v orlando pirates at the green point stadium in cape town. we were also joined by some of the dutch students and a few of our volunteers who came along for the ride (more about that later).

our first stop was at signal hill, the back side of lions head mountain which shares the cape town backdrop with the world famous table mountain, from our lofty view the boys had a great vista across their city and were amazed by the sight of the stadium far below. as we drank in the view the mist from table mountain rolled in front of us, causing the stadium and roben island to appear and disappear from the scene....one of the boys commented that it looked like a dream, and in a way he was right, it was a long way from the realities of his daily life filled full of worries about the basic things of life that we all take for granted.

the wow of the stadium

from those lofty heights we ventured down into cape town and made our way to the victoria and alfred waterfront where the boys were wowed by the street performers and overwhelmed by the amount of people enjoying the sights and sounds of africa (not the real africa but a good introduction to the the continents many tourists!).

after a long meal at the mcdonalds overlooking the harbour, where the boys enjoyed and even lingered over their big mac and fries, we made our way with a few thousand other vuvuzela blowing fans to the stadium and other than a few minutes getting through the not so tight security we found ourselves walking up the steps to the awe inspiring stadium which was fully lit against the cape town skyline.

to see the faces of the boys as they saw the view of the pitch for the first time was one of the most amazing things i have had the pleasure to have share, their eyes opened wide at the spectacle that presented its self before them, not only were they dumb struck by the vastness of the stadium but also with the presence of their famous footballing stars right before their eyes.

our intrepid volunteers

many of the boys come from homes with no running water, let alone electric to power a tv, for some of them these legends were only seen via the newspapers or soccer magazines telling of tales of heroism and glory. tonight they were going to share in the highs and lows of their team, and even if 'their team' wasn't playing they would cheer and clap at every move of these modern day gladiators. (i've be waiting to write a report like this for years but after the 2010 debacle that england played on this very pitch against a poor algeria side, and the fact that that night the stadium wasn't a riotous colour of african fans but just the same old random blokes from london, huddersfield or manchester who were in south africa to watch their hero's fail once more, (this time in africa (rather than south america or europe as has happened so many time before), it didn't seem that fitting until now!

only god can help his team!

the game was fast and furious with cape ajax taking a dissevered lead around 20 minutes, however that lead only spurred on the pirates and their large allegiance of supporters which out numbered the home support by at least 2 to 1, and they leveled 3 minutes later with what was to be the last goal of the game.

we were surrounded by home, away and even neutral supporters who all aligned their support of their clubs, pirates, ajax, cheifs and stars fans chanting their songs, calling upon their god's support of their teams...the riot of colour, the cacophony of sound filled the stadium and although the game ended as a 1-1 draw each fan, each child and spectator took away their own thoughts and dreams such as i have seldom seen before.

boys enjoying after game celebrations at the waterfront

after a short walk back to the waterfront, posing in front of the 'ferries wheel' we found our faithful combi to join the queues of vehicles making their way back to their homes, for us it was grabouw  but along the N2 we said our goodbyes to those from the townships of langa, athlone, kayhelitsha, maccassa and lwandle.....

...dropping the boys off in the informal settlements of grabouw proved to be a quiet affair with the majority of friday night party people in their homes when we arrived at 11.30...and as we dropped off our last of our sleepy mentors we received a phone call from 'the girls', our volunteers had broken down half way up (or down dependant on your stance) sir lowry's pass in our newly acquired audi A4....argh....another two hours waited us as we firstly returned to the village of hope to secure our toyota hilux to provide the much needed pulling power, but found that the car was fixed fast and only a tow truck would suffice to bring the car to its return to grabouw.

the audi on the tow truck...eeek how much will
that cost?

an amazing and long day came to an end at 1.30am with thoughts of new sights and sounds, new friendships made and the thought of an expensive repair bill filling my mind!....

...for me today is another day, the stresses and strains of running a project which engages with people infected or affected by HIV, AIDS or TB, but for the boys a new day has dawned where they have seen the stuff of dreams.....such is the life we lead here in grabouw, its a real conundrum but thanks for taking the journey with us.

April News

Last month you may remember that we mentioned how Grabouw had been experiencing civil unrest and protesting. We would like to thank those of you who have been praying for us because the town has become noticeably calmer over the past week. Last Sunday a few of the team were able to attend a Peace and Reconciliation meeting that was arranged by the ministers of the town. All churches and political groups were invited and there was a fantastic turn out. The ministers spoke with authority and it was exciting to witness God’s presence in the room. The meeting reminded us that God is still on the case and that His kingdom is breaking through here in Grabouw. It also reminded us to be persistent and fervent in our prayers for our community.

Children’s Unit
Well, the Easter break is over. Those children old enough have returned to school and the unit has resumed its term-time routine. We all enjoyed a wonderful time with the children whilst they were off school. With our abundance of able volunteers we were able to take day trips and have lots of creative craft sessions! We took the children (along with lots of excited adult ‘helpers’) to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town. There were so many of us that we even had to hire a bus to take us there! The amazement on the children’s faces really was a sight to behold. They were intrigued by all the fish and sea creatures and soaked up the entire experience. It was a fabulous day and all of us were worn out by the end of the trip. The bus was nearly silent on the way home because most of us fell asleep! We also took a more local outing to Highlands Road Deli. The Deli and wine estate is in a beautiful setting by a dam in the Elgin Valley and is run by Justin and Mary Hoy. We we made to feel very welcome and the children were able to enjoy a fantastic home-cooked chicken pie followed by a play on the pirate-themed jungle gym. We had a few rainy days (yes, we do get rain!) over the holidays but did take a trip out to Kidz At The Mall, an indoor soft play venue and the kids went crazy in the ball pools and charged up and down the climbing equipment. The Easter weekend itself was a bit of a wash out, this was a shame but, with the large British contingent we have here at the Village of Hope, we pushed on through with our British tenacity and braaied as well as having an easter egg hunt for the children in the rain!


Sports Outreach and Community Work
Both Rainbow Smile and the sports outreach programme took a break over the Easter period but full service has resumed since last week. Every now and then we get a sharp reminder that these children really do have a tough life: you may have read on our blog that one of the boys from Iraq (an area of the community where we work) lost his home in a shack fire. He had turned up to sports club as normal and didn’t even mention anything about the fire until the end. All he had managed to rescue from the fire were his school shoes. Click here to read the full story.

On Easter Sunday we had a flying visit from Luckley Oakfield school, Wokingham, England. The students where over here on a field trip and dropped off some sports equipment as well as a donation of R3000! They were on a very tight schedule and their 45 seater bus was not able to make it up our rural farm track so they were unable to stop in to the project itself – we arranged a rendez-vous at a nearby café (see picture) where we said a quick ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’, picked up the equipment and donation, had a photo taken in the pouring rain and then said ‘good-bye’! Thank you Luckley Oakfield for making the effort – it’s much appreciated.


Other News
Volunteers:
We have had a flurry of visitors over the Easter period. Tim’s sister Vicki joined Tim’s parents and, along with her daughter, Faith, and their friend, Liz, came to visit and help out. Jess’ parents, Debbie and Geoff also came to visit along with Hazel and Tony Allen and Pauline Robowtham from Aylesbury. At one of our social gatherings there was a total of 17 English people which was rather strange!

Water of life:
Our project is supplied with water from our very own borehole but last year we discovered that the water was contaminated and not sensible to drink. This is not great when we look after children who have low immune system! Since the beginning of January we have been working on solving this problem. You may remember us previously mentioning our lovely, Dutch volunteer, Stijn (a building student) was constructing a tower to house a new water treatment system. Well, now we have the new system in place and, after the usual teething troubles, it seems to be working very well. We are just waiting for the tests to come back to say the water is now safe to drink which will save the House Moms a lot of time boiling and cooling water before it can be used and hopefully eradicate the random stomach complaints which seem to affect some of our visiting volunteers.

Village of Hope Vino:
It won’t be long before we will have our very own barrel of Village of Hope wine. Our friends at Almenkerk Wine Estate in Elgin offered to harvest the vines that grow outside of the volunteer’s accommodation and, together with some of their yummy grapes, magic them into a wine which we can use to raise some money for the project. This week Joris van Almenkerk and his team came over to pick the grapes. This was a rather hilarious affair because our crop was rather small – the whole process only took ten minutes and the results barely covered the bottom of the crate! However Joris has assured us that this is only the beginning and that next year, now that we have the vines under control, the crop will be more substantial. Although our contribution of grapes will be miniscule it will still be enough to call it a Village of Hope wine and we are excited to taste the results.

New Wheels:
Those of you who have been out to volunteer with us will no doubt have had the pleasure of driving our lovely Toyota Camry. Our relationship with the Camry has been one of love and hate combined. Although it has managed to get us from A to B and Z many-a-time, we have finally been able to upgrade to a ‘proper car’ with doors that open and shut properly, a boot you can open easily, interior lights and even a working radio! – We are definitely moving up in the world. Although we considered holding on to it for sentimental reasons (or as an ornamental planter), we decided to get what we could for it and with the money purchase a lovely Audi A4 from a friend of ours who was selling. It is great for the shorter drivers amongst us to be able to see over the steering wheel for a change and even has leather seats (posh!)


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!!!
• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise £10000s with enough enthusiasm!
• Pray – need we say more?!

For more information contact us fundraiser@thembalitsha.org.za

Up And Coming Events

For further details check out our Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/thembalitshafoundation

We’ve got some energetic events for you coming up!

• British 10k London 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 £250 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. 

• Thembalitsha Bike Challenge 

Can you cycle 10 miles? 100 miles? Either way we’d love you to join us on Saturday 8 September as we challenge ourselves to cycle whilst raising money for Thembalitsha.

 The challenge:

10 Miles: A circular route from Aylesbury on picturesque lanes in the Chilterns, suitable for all kinds of cyclists and all ages and including families, you just need to be able to cycle comfortably for around an hour at an easy pace. Entry fee is £5 for adults, £2 for children.

100 Miles: A wonderful route through the Chilterns and the Thames Valley before lunch at a riverside inn, then on to the South Downs and the sea at Brighton. You’ll be rewarded with a stopover at a farm and a hearty breakfast before being driven home the next day. Suitable for regular or more experienced cyclists, you need to be able to cycle at a moderate pace for most of the day. Entry fee is £25, which includes overnight accommodation, breakfast and return transport.

Whichever personal challenge you choose, our challenge to you is to raise as much money as you can for Thembalitsha in sponsorship. Are you up for it?!

Contact us: office@thembalitshauk.org.uk to sign up!

Volunteering
We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff 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 Thembalitsha please check out our website or email us at volunteer@thembalitsha.org.za.

Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you!

an alternative view!

this village of hope blog was set up to allow all members of the longer term team to share their thoughts and experiences with you (the wider world) and as you will know we are never short of news stories here in grabouw, however on this post we thought it would be good for you to have a look at some of the other blogs that have been set up by some of our shorter term volunteers who are living with us at the village of hope at the moment.

we hope that their stories and views will give a bit of an alternative view of life on the project and will highlight some of the things that have touched their hearts as they serve with us in grabouw and as they venture around this amazing country. if you would like to take a peek then click on the names below which will link to their various blogs, katia, jess and grace.

saying goodbye.....

grete, maz and trondar

debbie, jeff, tony and hazel

we have been blessed with some wonderful visitors over the last few weeks and months, trondar has been visiting from norway and although he has been busy with his writing he has been ever present at the sports outreach in waterwerks on a wednesday afternoon and on the soup run every friday. his wife and son visited for his last few weeks and it was sad to say our goodbyes yesterday.

we have also been visited by one of our longer term volunteers parents, jeff and debbie joined their daughter jess for the easter school holidays and they leave on the same day as some of our very good friends from winslow, tony and hazel allen who's daughter, lizzie, volunteered with us last year. it has been great to show these friends around the projects here in grabouw and to have some time to see the sights in south africa.

we will miss them all and wish them all a safe journey home.

heart breaking again and again...

working and living in south africa is never dull and just when you think you have seen it all life comes up and kicks you in the teeth again........even though we are working in some of the poorest areas of grabouw, and indeed south africa and see life in all it's different elements via our village of hope and thembacare projects.

boys mom, in his school shoes
with remnants of their home behind

today we resumed our sports outreach programme at iraq informal settlement, one of the seven different areas where we work each afternoon, and although i had heard that one of our boys families had been affected by a shack fire over the weekend i was unaware of the devastation that it caused.

it wasn't until the end of our sports session that he mentioned that he and his family had lost almost everything in a fire which not only burnt down his whole home but as his older brother had been in the home when it hit and he had been killed.

the only things that the family managed to save were a single divan bed, an old single bedstead, a small kitchen unit and the boys shoes, upon further questioning i found out that he hadn't gone to school today as he had lost all his school clothes, books, pens etc and couldn't attend without them.

creation of a new home.....to house 7 people!

my heart was moved to go and purchase him some replacement uniform, a shirt, jumper, jacket and trousers but this seemed so little when i took them to him and saw the effects of the fire for myself. the sight of his mother digging the foundation to the new home, which they had constructed out of a simple timber/tin structure, in his school shoes nearly bought me to tears.

the family has been supported by the local community who have helped with the building of the new home, in the downpours that we experienced over the weekend, and they, his mum, dad, sister and three other siblings (7 in total) have been sleeping with neighbours, however they will be moving into their 'new' home tomorrow.....

i'm not sure why i was so shocked, i have seen the effects of a fire on more than one family before, i have seen poverty, death and disease on a number of occasions.....maybe it was due to the fact that none of this will be reported to the wider world, be that via the wider TV and internet media or a simple mention in a local newspaper.......maybe it was the fact that if it had happened in a western home or town at least it would have bought up a topic of debate about the dangers of living with open fires/paraffin stoves in our homes.....

...or maybe it was the realisation that this wasn't the only event that affected this small and tight knit community this weekend that went unnoticed, be that someone dying of AIDS in their home alone, a child being abused but an alcoholic relative, a baby being born into a family living below the bread line, the list could go on and on and that is why i think i feel so bad.........

.......yes we were able to do our little bit but.............there's more to it than that and that is what i'm  battling with.

easter bunny braai

we have had a wonderful easter weekend spending time with our little family here at the village of hope, enjoying some great times at our local church, elgin unitied, with powerful thoughts around the easter story from thursday evenings tenebrae service, visiting the stations of the cross on good friday and our easter sunday celebration and taking time out with some of our volunteers. we also had a last visit from the students from stuttgart.

yesterday we had a braai with the children and moms in our children's unit, katia, jess, grace and heather had arranged an easter egg hunt which tool place in a downpour, we need the rain as we have had such a dry summer but for it to happen on easter weekend was a bit of a pain.

we were joined by some of our visiting volunteers, tony and hazel from winslow, pauline from aylesbury vineyard, jess's parents from huddesfield (yorkshire)....my sister and niece (vicki and faith) and friend liz from northampton, along with my mum and dad, trondar and his family from norway, it really was a big party with easter cake and eggs all round.

the younger children were in bed by early afternoon but the older girls lead us in some songs, both in xhosa, afrikaans and performed an amazing rendition of the south african national anthem, they are really growing up quickly and its such a privilege to be part of their little lives.

trusting your easter weekends were also a blessing to you

Having a ball this holiday

We are on a three week school break here in Grabouw so we have the great opportunity to plan some fun outings for all of our kids. Last Thursday we took them all for a great morning down in Somerset West. We piled all 9 kids, plus 3 house moms and 4 volunteers into two cars and took off to Kidz At the Mall, an indoor play centre. They have two areas that are designated for ages 3-and-under and then ages 4-and-up. We easily filled the 3-and-under section and set the kids loose to play in the pool of plastic balls, slide down the slides, ride the motorcycles and go crazy. Since everything was well padded, we were able to relax and laugh at all of the hilarious situations they got themselves into. Eventually the older children headed over to the 4-and-up section (along with a few volunteers) and they all ran themselves silly on the elevated walkways...adults included.

They all had such a good time and it was fun to be able to take them out to a new environment they could explore. We will definitely go back. This was the first of a few really exciting outings we have planned which we will post about later this week, so stay tuned!