rainbow smiles for a rainbow nation

as you can imagine the news of nelson mandela's passing on thursday evening has dominated the thoughts of all here at the village of hope, the news feeds, not only here in south africa but all around the world are full of thoughts towards him and the name he was, its quite strange being part of the national outpouring of love and support that this country is going through at the minute and we are aware that that will probably heighten during the next few days as we lead up to his funeral this coming sunday.

yesterday morning we gathered with the rest of the congregation at elgin united church to hold a special memorial service for nelson mandela and we had the privileged to hear from two men who were very close to him following his release and creation of the new government. the stories they told really captured the essence of the man the world has come to revere and as a nation we are now standing at the precipice of a new era, he has gone but as he so rightly said in one of his amazing speeches 'the future is in our hands now' and we need to build upon the work he so freely gave his life to.

its at times like these when we realise that the work that we are involved with at the village of hope and the wider thembalitsha foundation comes even more in line with mandela's fight for the rights of the poor, the overlooked and those who have or are missing out on basic healthcare and education that that most of us reading this post would take for granted and its amazing to be deeply involved in an organisation that has the essence of freedom at its heart.

rainbow smiles children enjoying the time at the beach
(photo by susie erwin)

therefore it was continued vigor that we set out after our regular morning meeting on friday as we sought to continue to bring new hope to those we are called to serve. the day (as with many of our days) was a busy one with runs to drop of the weekly rubbish, collect and distribute the soup to the two communities we support, the picking up of the sports mentors from their training week away in tokai, however the highlight must have been was our year end rainbow smiles event which ended up with a trip to the beach followed by a meal at the spur restaurant in strand.

for weeks the excitement around the trip had been building and as last friday came closer and closer these HIV+ children, who attend our weekly support group, were almost climbing off the walls. by 1.30 (it should have been 1pm but TIA) we completed the collection from their homes in the two thembalitsha bakkies and set of over the mountain to find the nearest beach. upon arrival we found some much needed relief from some breeze and changed into our swimmers and enjoyed some time splashing around in the sea and playing some ball games on the beach.

it was great to see these beautiful kids, who we have come to love and see as friends since starting the rainbow smiles group a few years ago, just having fun and it was an honor to join emma, johan and andiswa, in this special afternoon.

the highlight of the trip must have been seeing the children's faces when they received the christmas presents that emma had so thoughtfully bought and gathered together for each of them, it was a wonderful and humbling afternoon and quite a fitting end to an eventful day for all here at the village of hope.