the village of hope seeks to help children infected or affected by hiv, aids and tb in two different ways: we have a 9 bed children's unit to support those infected by hiv and aids and we also run a community-based sports and lifeskills outreach in the informal settlements and squatter camps each afternoon.

this blog has been set up to allow the key members of the team at the village of hope to share their thoughts, photos and experiences as we work in the community of grabouw in south africa

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Perfect Reason To Celebrate!

Last week, our little girl, who has been living at Village of Hope since we opened three years ago, celebrated her 5th birthday! It is hard to believe she is so big! She truly is a reason to celebrate because, even at 5 years old, she is one of life's survivors. Not only is she living with HIV but she also was a foetal alcohol syndrome baby. Her mother came from a farm that used the dop farm system (where workers were paid in alcohol rather than cash) and drank heavily during the pregnancy which has stunted her mental and physical development. When she arrived at Village of Hope she was severely malnourished and neglected and had to be fed via a tube in her stomach. Goodness knows what would have happened to her if she had not been discovered by the social workers! Now, although she is slightly smaller than the average five year old and has a short attention span, you would not be able to see there is anything wrong with her. She is such fun to be around and a cheeky little monkey to boot!


Maz and the rest of the team have been working very hard to progress her case. Despite all the hard work there is still a long way to go. Please join us in praying for the future of precious girl.

1 comment:

  1. Praying for you all and esp our precious 5 year old!.....God has a plan, that is evident by the way in which we have helped her so far, lets continue to trust in him and not man!......timx

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