another story of new hope

mommy maz and nettie signing to discharge docs
with the little girls father!

we had quite an eventful friday afternoon, some of which i will update you on now and some we hope to bring you news of later, but just to say that we really saw the work that the team at the village of hope children's unit, ably lead by mommy maz, come into it's own.

the new hope story (for those who don't know 'thembalitsha' means 'new hope' in the local xhosa language) is that we were able to successfully discharge our 26th child into the care of her father who will be reuniting her with his family in the eastern cape (traditional xhosa tribal homelands around 1000kms from cape town).

this precious little 2 and a half year old girl had been in our care for around 9 months and we had been busy with the local social workers and those in the eastern cape to try to find a solution for her to return home, which is never a easy task, but we thank God for his amazing promises towards us and to the children we care for.

saying goodbye to a child is always a bitter sweet time, on one hand we are so pleased to have provided the secure home, the love and care for the child and we are pleaded to have had some positive input into the next steps of these little ones lives but we do have to trust that all the work that has been done with the family will pay off and we have to place them into their hands with confidence that they will take on the things that we have taught them prior to the discharge....which is never easy!