busy busy busy...

wow i can't believe it was last monday, that's 10 days ago, since i last updated our blog site, having said that it has been crazy crazy busy here and i really haven't had any time to think, let lone create a new post.

so what's been going on i hear you cry.......well the following is a snapshot.

the ukuqala3 team worked long hours into the night to complete the project, some members of the team left at 3.30am one night and others worked through from 8am till 6am (the next day!).

our key sponsor from germany sent a representative to view the project and it was great to show her around the village of hope and other areas of work here in grabouw.

we were also joined by the professor of the architectural faculty in stuttgart, this was his first visit and he was able to see the work that his previous students (ukuqala 1 and 2) had done.

last thursday was a public holiday but there was soooo much work to be completed that both myself, maz, shannon and mel worked tirelessly painting and decorating the new children's unit.

on saturday evening we held our 'unofficial opening' of ukuqala3, with workers, sponsors, volunteers and students enjoying a party like atmosphere, this was an amazing evening and if you would like to see some photos from that evening then please follow this link to the elgin grabouwer facebook page.

there have also been visits from paul cluvers and his daughter who bought some wonderful people to see our project, some friends from sweden visited with a whole group who are on tour, the village of hope was one of their planned highlights before venturing to franschhoek for a wine tour! and we also welcomed on a lady from finland who was visiting the rest of the thembalitsha projects.

and finally we have been able to host our first volunteers into the newly finished ukuqala2 short term accommodation, which still has some work for it to be completed but thank God that flip (yes that's his name) is around to help.

i hope to provide some links to photos etc soon but please bear with us as we seek to get the children's unit habitable but we will post further updates soon, promise!

another successful sports saturday...

last saturday morning, into the early afternoon, we held our most recent sports saturday, this time with help from our german students who are busy building the extension to our children's unit acting as managers for the boys soccer and girls netball teams.

trying to get everyone's attention

once again the event was held at the magnificent elgin country club, with the wonderful scenery providing a stunning backdrop to the games being played by over 180 children who were split into 25 teams, playing soccer and netball under the guidance of our dutch student, eric, who did a sterling job in managing the other volunteers and local sports mentors.

heniz the manager of one of the 25 teams!

there isn't much that hasn't been said before about these amazing events (click on these links to see other posts around our sports saturdays, nov 2012, oct 2011, mar 2011) however it must be said that it is one of the longest but most exciting days, the joy on the children's faces as they board the 65 seater coaches for the short journey to the club, the fun that is had by playing sport against other children from the 6 different clubs we run and the 'thank you's' that we receive whilst giving out prizes or for the meal which ends the day are sights and sounds to behold.

the amazing volunteers for the day
(minus a couple of local girls and ladies who
had already left!)

after the children have been safely returned home it has become the custom for sports mentors and the volunteers to play a large soccer match, unfortunately this time there weren't enough german's make up a team, so we played europe verse africa, with a few ringers from the USA and grabouw making up the european team. for once it was nice to be on the winning side especially to come from 0-2 down to beat our wonderful sports mentors (peer educators) who really should have won!

i am hoping to put up a few more photos but i have included a couple that were taken of myself trying to sort the kids as they arrived on the buses and then a team picture, less some local help, of the helpers who made this day possible.

March News

Another whirlwind month has whipped us up and spat us out like Dorothy’s house leaving Kansas and landing in Oz. But we hang on, flying by the seat of our pants, waiting to see what God has in store for us next!

The whole of Village of Hope has been turned on its head and transformed by the hardworking team of German students. They really do work from dusk till dawn and their commitment and diligence is a lesson to us all. We are so excited to see how it is all going to come together, with less than two weeks to go before they are due to be complete there is a lot still to be done!

Children’s Unit

We are very pleased to have finally obtained a birth certificate for a little girl who has been with us for over two years. We have always had difficulty keeping track of her mother but this week our social work student, Marlise, managed to find her and did a fantastic job in pulling all the information together and got it sorted. Trying to progress this girl’s case without a birth certificate is pretty much impossible so this is a big deal!

The Moms and children have been enjoying the change of scenery because at the moment they are ‘camping out’ in what was the volunteer accommodation. However, a couple of weeks ago they were broken into by four masked men who threatened them with screwdrivers and stole their valuables. Thankfully no one was hurt but, as you can imagine, it was a very traumatic experience for the Moms on duty and they were signed off work for a week as well as being sent for counselling. We have also had another section of our perimeter fence cut. Since these episodes we have temporarily contracted a security company to post a guard overnight and on weekends.

Sports

Mabel has joined us as a sports intern. She is 20 and lives in Strand which is a town 20 mins away. She travels over 2hrs each way to come and mentor to our kids because she has to rely on public transport. We are so grateful for her dedication and are really appreciating having another girl who can speak the language and be a role model for the girls in our clubs. She is with us for 3 months on a probationary period but our hope is that we can offer her a full time salaried post (dependent on funding). 

Since Mabel joined we’ve had to stop one of our farm sports clubs due to poor attendance but we have been able to start a new one in another area of town and over 40 children have turned up after only 2 weeks of working there which is fantastic.

We are in the process of planning our next Sports Saturday which we try to hold a few times every year. It is basically a mini tournament where we bring all our sports clubs together to experience some healthy competition. We have given out 200 invitations to the children we work with each week and last time we decided to mix the teams up instead of keeping each club in separate teams. We were nervous how this would work because there had been a bit of hostility in the past but the kids loved it! We are looking forward to bringing all the children together and blessing them with this fun day. Shannon, our most recent American volunteer, has been very busy sorting out all the different kits which is a mammoth job in itself!

Other News

Volunteers -

We sadly had to say goodbye to Dave Knight who has kindly served us over the past month. He has experience as a builder so has been very helpful whilst all the building work has been going on and he has worked just as hard as the students themselves. He left earlier than expected because old injuries were flaring up and causing him a lot of pain. Nevertheless he was a fantastic asset in the busy time and we are sorry to see him go.

In memory of Assi-

We all know that a boring old plaque on the wall is not what represents Assi so we were overwhelmed when a previous volunteer, Katrin, and her husband, Matt, donated this amazing rocking horse. It is a beautiful toy that will bring joy and laughter to the children’s unit for years to come and is a perfect reminder of Assi to us. Thank you so much Katrin and Matt! 

Fundraisers-

Andy Gilbert, our fit friend who also sits on the Thembalitsha UK board is running the Reading Half Marathon with some pals to raise money for us. Please spare a little cash to support his efforts. 13 miles of running is not to be sniffed at and we know he wants to try and finish in less that 2 hours. Go Andy! http://www.justgiving.com/C2three

Also – one simple way you can give is by buying our charity single It doesn’t matter what country you are in. Everyone can benefit from this! The fantastically generous and talented folk of up and coming British band, Being Buffalo, have released a track especially for us! And it sounds great too! We get 50% of every sale so please let your friends and family know about this! You can find the track for download here: Charity Single

Up for a challenge?

We are planning our annual ‘Cycle To The Sea’ bike ride to raise some funds for the project. If you would like to find out more details and register your interest please get in touch. We will be offering a long and short distance cycle so there are no excuses not to get pedaling.

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 R10000s with enough enthusiasm!

· Pray – need we say more?!

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

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!

in the news....

stuggart students in local paper

thought you might like a short update on the work that the amazing team of student from the university of stuttgart are up to here at the village of hope, i could go into the long working hours that they are keeping (at least a 12 hour shift, 8am till 8pm) or the crazy designs that they have created for both the extension of our children's unit or volunteer accommodation  i could speak about a workshop that was held with some green/ecofriendly capetonians over the weekend but i would be here all day explaining so what better way than let others do that explaining.

therefore if you would like to see some recent photos then visit the ukuqala web page by clicking here, or to see how the newspaper reported our recent break in against a back drop of outreach and support then click on the article for a better look.

a new area for our sports outreach

first week at our new north pineview club

you may be aware that we run sports outreach clubs to over 250 children each week and over the last 18 months we have been working at a second local farm providing our life skills and health awareness via sport programme to their children, however due to other commitments, such as school work and family commitments we have only been getting between five to 10 children at each club.

we know that each child is special and needs to be given the same chance but we had to reevaluate our resource and we felt that traveling over 50 minutes there and back on a thursday afternoon was not a good use of time, petrol or money so it is with sadness that we say goodbye to those wonderful children. we trust that our impact will be long lasting and if we were able to employ a full-time sports outreach coordinator we are sure that this could open up again.

but as with anything as one door closes then another opens and our sports mentors from the informal areas of town were keen to start another club to serve the children from the zola/north pineview end of the informal settlement which is continuing to extend due to the building works in rooidakke.

therefore it is great news to announce that we now have a new club, which has been running for two weeks and is already attracting over 40 children, the space we run the club from is very limited and has been littered with glass and dog poo however there are patches of grass which we thank God for!

We pray that these children will benefit from the weekly clubs which are designed to provide them with some basic physical exercise, as well as providing them with skills which will help them to grow into well balanced human beings who are keen to work together for a brighter south africa.

shedding a tear or two....

i feel enormously proud and honored to be part of the thembalitsha foundation, each one of our projects is doing some amazing work as we seek to provide new hope via our healthcare, education and training projects.

today i would encourage you to take 10 minutes to sit down in a quiet space and watch the new video that has been put together for our sister project thembacare athlone....click here to follow the youtube link....

my words cannot express the way this team of doctors, sisters and careworkers have impacted the lives of literally thousands of children who are infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB since they opened 10 years ago, so i will let the video do the talking, but please be inspired by the work, put your hand in your pocket to pledge to give or your hands together to pray for this work and the work the wider foundation are involved in.

and lastly i am sure you will find it hard not to shed a tear or two when you see the appearance of a certain little man at the end of the video, his life really captured the essence of the work that is done at thembacare athlone!...God bless him!

some unwelcome visitors

we have often posted about the amazing people who come and spend their time here at the village of hope, our visitors normally range from international volunteers who have been with us for nearly 3 years to people making a quick visit whilst on holiday in the western cape, however in the early hours of thursday morning the peace that surrounds the village of hope, and especially the children's unit, was broken by the arrival of four masked men who made an unwelcome entry into the unit, waking the house moms and placing them under pressure to hand over their valuable cell phones and jewelry.

its hard to put into words the trauma that was caused to our two house moms who were sleeping gently whilst looking after the children that have been placed into our care and it's hard not to worry if the same events might happen again, however we a not so blind to notice that we live in a world that is full of violence let lone a country that has some of the highest crime rates on earth and a little town that has seen violence erupt over the lack of service delivery around education or higher pay for the work that is undertaken on the local farms over the last couple of years.

our home was broken into three years ago, we have lost personal belongings, our fences have been stolen, many times, and our cars have had their radios stolen but i think the hardest thing to come to terms with is the fact that a unit which has been the haven for over 35 children during the four years we have been open was violated, thankfully the children slept through the whole event and we trust that this was a one off opportune event rather than something that was planned. in fact we thank God that he protected the moms and children, as well as all of the other volunteers who stay at the village of hope.

unfortunately we have to live with the fact that possessions were taken not to be used by those men but to be sold, maybe for food, maybe for drugs and that the plans and four years worth of work were lost when the stuttgart university laptops were stolen during the incident.

God calls us to love one another, even those who we see as our enemies, so we continue to pray for those who felt the need to bring this angst to our team and ask that they might know that we will continue to bring 'new hope' to the town of grabouw via our village of hope and thembacare outreaches and that God has a plan for both our and their lives!