a littl' bit a hope this christmastide....

maz and mel putting up decorations
in the unit

during the last week we have been preparing ourselves for the festive season with our annual sleigh rides into the community, christmas gifts to friends and families in the community (including live chickens to some of our mentors) as well as helping the children who live with us understand the 'real meaning' behind all the bright lights and carols.

it's also fantastic to be able to provide the children with some of the traditional pleasures that we have grown up with, its not all about looking forward to the presents but we have lit an advent candle every evening as we count the sleeps to the big day (thanks nana!) along with decorating the unit with some of the decorations we bought from england.

start the sleigh!

however our biggest news this week is that one of our little ones received his Christmas present early as he was reunited with his family in the eastern cape. this little one came to us only a few days old and already with a very sad story. his mother passed away soon after he was born, she was HIV+ but he was blessed not to have caught this devastating disease from her but he did arrive needing some complex medical care which often ended up with us taking him to our nearest hospital (about 25 minutes down the mountain) for days on end. you won't believe it from the photo but he joined us as a really poorly scrap but with the support of his father and the wonderful work of our house moms he has really grown into a delightful little boy.

father Christmas over worked in watereworks!

his father was very proactive and has visited as often as he could, he works on a farm about two hours drive from grabouw but with public transport being such a challenge it often took him half a day to get to us which meant he only had a few minutes to spend with his child before having to walk back to the local taxi (minibus) pick up for a lift to the train station and the long journey home.

boy going home

emma has put in some amazing work to ensure that his family were kept in touch with all that was going on and earlier this week we were able to take him to his father for him to continue on the traditional christmas journey to visit relatives in the eastern cape, where the child will live with his grandmother and continue to receive the care he needs as he grows.

we really do rejoice over this news and as hard as it is to say goodbye we do it with the knowledge that we have been able to provide that medical care when he really needed it, to be a part of this little ones story is a true blessing and we thank God for calling us all here to enable this to happen!

once again thanks for the photos lisa baldry!

summer time fun...

katie and her babies

last week the local schools closed for summer so we have had a bit more time to spend with the children in the unit who are already crawling off the walls and proving to be a bit of a handful to our dedicated house moms, who are also nearing the end of the year and having to plan and prepare for their own family Christmas.

katie has been preparing some morning time activities for the older children but as we celebrated another public holiday on tuesday we decided to take all the children, house moms and volunteers to the local beach for an afternoon of fun. looking back it seems that we have done this each and every 'heritage day' and it's amazing to see the children's reactions as they get time to play in the sand and swim in the sea.

greg's castle

they are such a pleasure to be with and i think every child dipped their toes in the sea with some taking it a little bit further by actually trying to body board!.....greg made a huge and complex sand castle trying to replicate the french island setting of mont saint-michel but one of our more challenging (in a very sweet way) boys had other plans and duly knocked it down before greg managed to finish the moat.

moms it the beach!

beach soccer

on wednesday morning it was the turn of the sports outreach children to have some time at the beach, we work with over 450 children each week so it was a bit of a mission trying to plan for all of them to attend the day that they look forward to all year, however as around 250 of the children are under the age of nine there was no way that we were going to put ourselves under pressure to take them (there will be a 'next time' for those children as they grow up into our senior clubs), so that left around 200 who would have loved to have come.

happy kids

in the end we booked two 60 seater buses and with the help of our sports mentors, volunteers and willing others we end up taking over 75 children from four of our daily clubs, it's always hard to chose how to run these things but as many of our children return to the eastern cape for Christmas we are confident that most of the children who remained in grabouw were able to join us.

fun times for the girls

as you can imagine looking after 75 children on a wide open beach with an inviting sea to entice them is no mean feat but we are thankful to say that none of the children ended up as shark bait and apart from a badly cut foot (which occurred as one boy stepped on a piece of discarded glass whilst playing football) everyone returned to their homes in grabouw in one piece!

greg came up with a novel idea to split the children into ten separate groups with two leaders responsible for that team, we then placed netball bibs on the children, all an array of colours so our team leaders could keep a check on the children in their group. this worked so well and i'm sure it provided the beach with a riot of colour as the children ran in and out of the sea, having the time of their lives.

a riot of colour in gordon's bay

it's always great to see the children playing and being truly free for a few hours, leaving the cares of their complex lives behind and having fun together. this is one of the day we will miss when we leave the project in february but trust that our team will continue to offer both these wonderful opportunities to both the sports outreach children and those that we care for in our 24/7 unit.

special thanks to lisa baldry for the wonderful photos!

three siblings are reunited

yesterday we said our sad goodbyes to three of our wonderful boys, sibling brothers, who arrived with us in early september. since they arrived the youngest started walking and the older two were able to restart their morning placements at a local creche where they have really thrived.

as with many of our children these boys come from a complex family situation however it's great to see them reunited with their grandmother who is now able to provide a secure and loving home for these three boys.

we will obviously keep close ties with the family, providing help and support where required as they settle into their new surroundings, we will miss these little guys who have kept us entertained and who have really captured our hearts, however a home placement is our best out come for any child so we wish them well and a happy christmas with their family!

December News

Children’s Unit
The end of the calendar year also sees the end of the school year here in South Africa so we’ve been busy with various end of year events for the kids. Some of our children are finishing pre-primary and moving into primary school which is a real landmark.

We have also been able to discharge one little boy back to his parents and our little girl with cerebral palsy is doing fantastically – she can now walk with just one stick and her balance is improving every day.

Our relationships with the social workers are continuing to strengthen and Emma now has weekly touch points with them to keep abreast of all the situations.

We’ve been working hard at doing lots of paperwork and getting more policies and procedures in place as well as sorting budgets for next year. Although this is sometimes monotonous and mind-boggling, it is very worthwhile and necessary!

Last week we took the staff to the Caledon Spa for their end of year treat. The destination was a surprise but they all loved it and it was a really fun day. We were thankful to have competent volunteers who could take charge of the children’s unit for a few hours so that all the staff could join in.


Sports
We’re very happy to welcome Greg who has arrived from France to assist with the sports outreach for six months. He’s dived straight in and is a real hit with the mentors. We’ve been partnering with the local day clinic and have been using the sessions over the past few weeks to educate the children on the need for immunisations as well as making them aware of the dangers of diarrhoea - which can fast become a killer in the challenging environments where many of them reside.

Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents
Rainbow Smiles is coming on leaps and bounds:

• We have developed a relationship with the Grabouw day clinic, they will be sending a Councillor to the club once a week and will hopefully be involved in planning and moving the club forward.

• We have managed to find some adult education for our 17 year old young leader and are hoping he can start this in January.

• One of our club members wanted to go to a school prom and could not afford to go, so she asked if we could help her in making things so that she can sell them to raise the money. This is really positive that our young people are not just asking for hand-outs but are looking at ways they can try and solve problems.

• The young people also wanted to give back to the community by singing at an old age home. We did this on Friday and we were extremely proud of all the children who sang, danced, played the drums and wrote and read poems out loud. They all did very well particularly as the audience was not very responsive.


Other News:
Volunteers:
As well as Greg we’ve been able to welcome Katie from the UK. She is a youth pastor so has a wonderful knack with the kids!

Last month also saw a visit from our extended family from InFocus Church in Augusta. We love hosting these guys and each time they come the do wonders for us both practically and emotionally. And Helen from the USA board popped over to visit too which is always lovely!

Emerging Leaders:
The Leadership for Hope course that took place in October seems to have had a really positive impact on the community. Those who were on the course were asked to share what they had learned and they are all very passionate about it. One of our House Moms attended and shared it with her brother which inspired him to decide to complete his education and Tim has been approached to see whether it can be rolled out to all the employees in the local municipality. It looks like the community have finally been given some training which they can apply to their lives which is very exciting so watch this space!

Skydive for Thembalitsha:
If you are slightly crazy and live in the UK, Ii is now possible to take part in a skydive to raise funds for Thembalitsha.
This is the chance of a lifetime – the only way to experience a skydive without spending thousands of pounds becoming a free-fall parachutist.

• Jump and training completed in one day

• Harnessed to an experienced parachute instructor at all times

• Jump from at least 10,000 feet

• Free fall 5,000 feet, falling at 120 mph

• Landing controlled by instructor

• Choose from 1 of 25 British Parachute Association approved centres across the UK.

Cost of challenge:
You don't pay anything; but you will need to fundraise a minimum of £395 in sponsorship money. We can provide you with lots of fundraising support. A minimum of £115 will go directly to Thembalitsha and the rest covers the cost of your jump. Anything raised over the minimum target will also go to Thembalitsha, providing healthcare, education and training to South Africa's poor.

To book your jump, click here: https://www.skylineregistrations.co.uk/parachuting/booking.aspx?&charity=73962

For more information contact Carol at carol@thembalitshauk.org.uk

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!

mission team brings us back infocus

don and his bathroom painting team!

over the last week the village of hope team have welcomed some very familiar faces back onto the project, it is so good to see friends from infocus church in augusta returning year after year to come spend time with us.

six of the team (of ten) have been part of previous mission teams and their willingness to get stuck right in has impressed us once again. it's hard for us to put into words the value that they add during their visit but they have not only been involved in some of the more physical aspects of the daily chores that a six hectare property needs to ensure that things don't get out of hand, such as weedeating and tree felling, but they have added  much value to our spiritual well-being too.

the list of jobs they have undertaken is quite substantial so if you would like to find out more about those and their other experiences during their trip then it's probably best to visit their blog via this link to get their prospective on their time spent with us.

one child leaves and opens a space for us to provide new hope to another

as one child leaves to be reunited with his family the door opens for another child to receive the amazing new hope that we are able to provide via our wonderful children's unit. each child has there own individual story and some are more complex than others.

please pray for this new little boy who has been placed with us to provide some space for his parents to seek the help they need to enable them to gain prospective on their lives and set up a home which will become the secure environment that this little one needs as he grows.

another child leaves the village of hope to return home

another story of hope

it's always sad to say goodbye, especially to a child who has become so loved by the staff at the village of hope, however in our sadness there is joy as we know that we have done everything possible to not only stabilise a child who has been placed with us with either complex medical or social problems but also worked so with our local social workers and the child's family to ensure that a successful placement, often to a home which caused the issue which resulted in the removal of the child in the first place, is made with confidence.

this post therefore contains a great story of new hope as over the weekend emma took one of our dear little three year old boys back to his family home, this is incredible and exciting news as he was in such a poorly state, requiring specialist hospital care this time last year. we are so thankful to our house moms, key staff and the persistence of our team to ensure that he received such wonderful care whilst he was with us and that we were able to place him back with his own family who now know how to care for him and meet his needs.

Year 7: A Time For Rest

tim and maz leaving!

Dear Friends and Supporters

Can you believe that Tim and Maz have just begun their seventh year working full time for Thembalitsha in South Africa? How the time has flown and what a lot has happened in the past six years!

This courageous couple were the catalyst that enabled Village of Hope to be birthed and their perseverance over these years has enabled this essential haven for vulnerable children to develop into a professionally run project which has sustainability and is well respected throughout the Grabouw community and beyond.

As you can well imagine, this kind of result required a significant amount of time and energy from Tim and Maz and, because of this, they’ve requested a six-month sabbatical period to re-charge their batteries and explore possibilities for the next phase of their lives. In order to do this they will be stepping back from their roles as project managers for Village of Hope.

Tim and Maz will remain at Village of Hope until the end of January to allow enough time to hand over to the new project manager.

We have not discussed future roles as yet because Tim and Maz want to be open to all possibilities, but we would be very pleased to welcome them back should they wish to return to Thembalitsha!

As we close this particular chapter in Village of Hope’s life we have nothing but fond memories. We are extremely thankful to Tim and Maz for their dedication. They will be sorely missed by us all, but we are also excited for what is in store, not only for Tim and Maz but also for us as we take on the responsibility for this cherished ‘baby’ and nurture it into its next phase of growth.

Watch this space!

With love from Thembalitsha and the team at Village of Hope.

volunteers galore

seb and chris chipping away

over the last couple of weeks the day to day team at the village of hope have been blessed by a plethora of volunteers who have come to spend time with us from all over the world.

trinity team with matt and seb
(not sure what maz was laughing at!)

firstly we were joined by matt, seb and chris who hail from sydney austraila, these three guys, also known as captain hook, peter pan and tinkerbell, were an absolute God send as they cut, chopped, mowed, chipped and thoroughly overhauled our grounds, giving it a real spring tidy up after the cape winter. they also joined us at our sports outreach where they worked with our sports mentors during our afternoon sports sessions.

then we hosted an amazing team, ablily led by larry, from trinity church in dallas, this was the second time that larry, his wife and son, along with sarah and her son christian had visited us, however this time they were joined by a village of hope newbie called celeste who fitted into their team very well. not only did they help out with sports, some gardening work and playing with the children in the unit they also spent time at the other themablitsha projects and even led the weekly thembacare service here in grabouw.

cozi, lori, with maz, greg, teresa
and agatha

next greg arrived from paris, greg will be interning with us for the next seven months where he will be leading our sports outreach. greg is a pure track and field athlete and we will have to hone his football and netball skills to ensure he fits in with the children that we work with each afternoon.

and finally we had a flying visit from some of our ex-volunteers, cozi and lori, along with cozi's mum and sister, these crazy girls were in cape town for a wedding but couldn't resist coming to spend 4 nights with us, they also bought some much needed netball kit for the girls in our sports clubs. we are really looking forward to using these at our forthcoming sports day at the country club.

as we said, it is a true blessing to be able to host people from all around the work, they really are able to capture the essence of the project and the heart we have for our community, thank you to everyone who takes time to come visit us and use up their valuable time, money and holidays to be with us.

October News

Feeding the horses at Paul Cluver Wines

The past couple of months have not been lacking in drama here in Grabouw. This was particularly highlighted with the service protests in the community that descended into days of violence. The protests left us without any of our usual staff of House Moms as they were not able to get into work safely and the school-age children remained home because the schools had to close.

Although these few days were challenging, we received wonderful ‘back-up’ from the rest of our Thembalitsha family and were left with a reminder of what wonderful ladies we have in our House Mom team – being Mom to 13 kids is a tough job!

As well as the days off because of the protests it has also been school holidays which gave us an opportunity to arrange some outings for our children. Paul Cluver Wines kindly allowed us to come and visit the Zebras that live on their land. Unfortunately we did not see the Zebras up close but they allowed the children to feed, ride and stroke the horses which the children loved! We also took our older children on a 2.5K bike ride in the mountains. The children who taught themselves to ride their bikes loved the adventure! We were extremely proud of their efforts and they had a great time.

We are making slow progress on some of the children’s cases but slow progress is better than none! Some of the kids have been able to have weekend visits back home which is a great step towards reunification and it has been wonderful to work alongside the families and social workers to make this happen. We hope that some of our children will be reunified with their families before Christmas.

The mentors with a captivated audience of eager listeners

Sports
Sports is going well. Although we have missed Josh Houltram’s assistance, the Sports Mentors have been doing an amazing job and even ran each club on their own whilst Tim was away. Our relationships within each of the nine groups are growing each week and we can see that the life skills training is really having some positive impact on the behaviour of the children.

Bonny is doing some great work with the younger children and it's perhaps time to seek some longer term help to ensure that he isn't overwhelmed by the hundreds of children that attend his clubs which are aimed at children aged three to seven years.

The winter weather has challenged us to provide sports every afternoon. The children who attend our clubs often only have one set of clothes and they are for school, especially shoes. If they get wet then there is nowhere for them to dry them out before going to school the next day. The other challenge was around the strike action that took place where we were unable to safely go out into the community. It was so disappointing to hear that some of the children were either caught in the crossfire or used almost as 'human shields' between the rioters and the police who were firing rubber bullets!

Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents
The Rainbow Smiles group was another casualty of the protests and we had to cancel our weekly meeting that week for safety reasons. It was sad to hear that some of the children had been involved with throwing stones in the protests but it was a good opportunity to discuss the issues behind the protests and to talk about different ways to respond. We were impressed by the children's honesty and openness.

There is a boy in the group whom we’ve appointed to join us in leading. He spends one day a week with us helping with planning. Last month we were able to send him on a leadership course which he thoroughly enjoyed and did us proud with the way he listened, behaved and contributed during the course. It also enabled us to understand that he responds well to learning with adults. As he is almost eighteen we have been able to look at an adult learning class for him to finish his education. This is great news as we have been trying to get him into a school for over a year now. He will undertake assessments to ascertain his level and to ensure he is started in the right class and is supported in the correct way.

Emma has also attended a course on running an adolescent support group which provided us with a great teaching resource and enabled us to connect with other professionals as well as learn new skills and gain more knowledge to assist us running this club.

Other News:
Volunteers:
This month has seen the arrival of three lads from Austrailia. Seb, Matt and Chris who are stopping off on their round-the-world trip to do some volunteering with us. We are also hosting the mission team from Trinity Church in Dallas. Trinity send a team to volunteer every year and it’s great to see some familiar faces as well as new ones.

Finally we are looking forward to welcoming a volunteer from France. Greg is going to be arriving to help with running the sports outreach and we are looking forward to the extra help.

Hot Wheels Car Club:
This club from Cape Town collected donations of food and clothes to Grabouw last weekend.

Emerging Leaders:
Trevor and Jane Waldock are basing themselves at Village of Hope as they explore how and where to deliver their grass roots training programme, Emerging Leaders, in South Africa. Having already established this successful programme in many other developing countries around the world, South Africa is next on their list and last week citizens of Grabouw were able to benefit from this training. The training was particularly pertinent in light of the recent protests and encourages everyone to be a leader and to take ownership of their community. It’s been a privilege to learn from their wisdom and to assist them in organising the workshop.

emerging leaders!

break out into small group work

it's been a whilst since we updated the blog and we are thankful to report that things have calmed down since the last posts. in fact since myself and maz returned from our break in england i have been very busy in the local community rallying local leaders to attend a well timed and aptly named 'Leadership for Hope' training session.

are you on the front or back foot?

as i type we have just drawn to a close day two of the three day course which we are hosting in the local community hall with the programme being given by trevor and jane waldock from the charity 'emerging leaders', who work with various partners including 'world vision' around sub saharan africa.

'performance' equals 'potential' minus 'interference'!

it has been amazing to see the local community come along and support this mind changing training session which is looking at encouraging everyone to consider themselves as a leader, whether that be in the home, at the work place, or within their local street or town.

leadership starts with yourself and this wonderful training in enabling people to see that they can write a different story for their own lives and help those around them succeed in being the answers to some of those tough questions, many of which were being asked during the strike action which recently overwhelmed our small town.

we are incredible grateful to trevor and jane, who will be staying with us at the village of hope for the next few weeks as they use us as a base for further travels around the western cape, for coming to share this valuable training with members of our community and we thank God for the connections that have resulted them in being here with us.

The Show Must Go On!

We've had to batten down the hatches over the past few days because the protests over service delivery in Grabouw have descended into riots. The kids can't go to school because the schools are shut, we are struggling to get supplies because the shops are shut, the local hospital is shut making access to medication difficult and the main routes in and out of town have been closed. To top it all off, our House Moms, who live in the community amid the violent protests, are being threatened with death if they attempt to come to go to work. They are extremely scared and have had to witness some terrible things. It is horrendous and tough.

With our wonderful House Moms unable to come in to fulfil their duties it was up to us (the Dream Team as we like to call ourselves: Barbara, Emma, myself, Johan (our trusty maintenance man) and Nigel the gardener) to pick up the baton and keep the unit going.

Yesterday was quite hilarious as we tried to continue the usual routines that the House Moms make out to be simple! - Clothing, washing and nappy changing 13 kids, keeping them entertained and fed and happy. It was slightly chaotic but a lot of fun too and the children were very kind to us!!

We were very relieved when back up arrived in the form of Monica (our MD) and other wonderful Thembalitsha staff from Somerset West  - Who had to drive the long route around to get here safely. I don't know what we would have done if we'd had to cover the night shift too! Thanks guys!!

Yesterday afternoon we had a party because one of the little girls turned two. It was nice to have a bit of normality and a brief respite from thinking about all the tensions that were happening in town.

We are very fortunate to be mostly out of the way of the hot spots and thankful for all the prayers and thoughts that are being sent our way. We have definitely felt a sense of peace and protection about the place.

Please continue to pray for all the Thembalitsha staff and people we know who live in the centre of town and are still in the thick of it. Today seems calmer and the roads have opened again - although there is still a heavy police presence. Heavy rain has also arrived which should help to deter the protesters.

Please also keep praying for resolution - there is a lot of anger and frustration on both sides and no simple solutions.

Thanks

Emily

The View From The Fence

Photo by David Morris

With Tim, our semi-pro resident blogger, away on a break, I am attempting to take up the blogging mantle on behalf of our current and unusually reduced Village of Hope team (Three of the core team, Tim, Maz and Mel, are all abroad at the moment!) So apologies in advance – it is not my natural calling!

We’ve been toddling along relatively successfully over the past couple of weeks, filling in the gaps where we need to and trying to keep the project running smoothly in its routine. Barbara, Emma and Johan have been legends!

The extra challenge today has been continuing the routine whilst negotiating the protests that have begun once more over service delivery. We couldn’t take the kids to school or preschool because the schools were shut and we had to cancel the afternoon sports programme because it wasn’t safe to be in some parts of the community. Switching over the day and night shift House Mom team is also sometimes a bit hairy!

Over the past few years the strikes have almost become part of the calendar so we’ve developed  a plan of action for when they occur and suddenly the fact that it’s happening doesn’t feel unusual or particularly dramatic – and that in itself is slightly surreal.

You don’t have to look very far on the internet before you find reports of what’s been happening here. Hundreds marching, rocks thrown at cars, major roads closed because of the danger, shops in the main road closed either because of risk or purely because the staff can’t get into work, teargas – but we all know that what we read online is only one snippet of one side of a story.

It’s complicated and it’s hard to know what to feel about it. It’s a very uncomfortable place here on the fence!

These people are protesting because of lack of housing and other basic services. We get that. There are plenty of people who we know and love in this community who are living in desperate, desperate situations. People who’ve been waiting for housing (like some of our House Moms) for years and yet get overlooked and overtaken by someone else, sometimes new to the area, who miraculously skips the line. That’s unfair, isn’t it?

Many of these people have nothing left to lose and don’t know what to do but to turn to burning and vandalism to get noticed – and this approach has got them what they want in the past. What would I do if I was in their situation?

However, there are also many desperate people who do not see protest as a solution but are being pressurised by certain members of their community and told that their homes will be burnt if they attempt to go to work that day and not join in. That’s not fair either? Surely a person should have a choice whether to protest?

And how come these protests that are billed as being peaceful deteriorate so quickly into something more violent? How will burning a town and throwing rocks make any difference?

What affect are these protests having on the children in the community? Will they learn that the only way to make a change is to get violent because that’s what they see there elders doing? Will they really benefit from having their education interrupted and compromised further than it already is?

And is it fair, to demand so much from a municipality who has had to absorb so many new arrivals over the past decade, many of whom don’t have the means to pay the rates required to keep a town maintained, let alone developed. What money should they be using to magic these homes and services into existence?

Mainly I’m just left with a lot of questions! I don’t think there is a right and a wrong, this is just another example of the huge disparity between the haves and have nots and quite simply the result of a very unfair, broken and selfish world.

It is particularly hard when you can see the potential of what this town could be if there was a bit more balance and togetherness – a little less politics and a little more loving! But who is going to be the first to hold out the olive branch and say enough is enough?

So I am left with the conclusion that all we can do is our best with what we have been given. We need to protect the children and staff in our care as far as possible, we need to try our best to be mediators and advocates for peace and we have to cling to the glimmers of hope we are privileged to witness in our daily work: The adolescent sports mentors empowering and equipping the younger children in the community and setting good examples, an HIV+ child reunited with their mother or provided with a fantastic foster family, House Moms who are dedicated to their work they make their shift come what may….

Please pray for resolution for this town.

Emily

more birthday celbrations....

our little princess

a party to crown all parties!

with thirteen children in our unit birthdays seem to be a regular occurrence and last week was no exception as two of our little ones had their birthdays. as always we try to make our children feel really special so we go out of our way to ensure that they have a birthday party to remember.



its always hard to think of something new to do with the children but as one of our elder girls turned four auntie mel (kidd) was intent in creating a 'princess themed party' which she (the little girl) enjoyed so much, however i'm not sure the boys thought that was a great idea especially the one who celebrated his first birthday party with her!



obviously i jest as all the children really did enjoy making and decorating special princess (and prince) crowns which they all wore with so much pride and as auntie mel said 'pass the parcel can become a little boring after a while' (i don't know what she means!)

August News

These past couple of months have been jam-packed with visitors and volunteers and we are feeling very loved!!

Children’s Unit
The unit continues to be a hive of activity! Recently one little girl contracted chicken pox and now she has mumps (poor thing!) but she seems very unaffected by it all considering and with the provision of some new walking sticks (sent from England) she is making wonderful progress, she is now able to stand unaided and this is quite remarkable given the fact that the doctors had told us that she would never walk!!! Obviously it is impossible to stop these viruses spreading in a unit full of kids who are always at close quarters but (thank the Lord) it seems that none of the other children have contracted it!

We are always thankful in these situations that the children are in our care when they are sick with these kinds of illnesses rather than in a more typical community environment where it is harder to manage and the likelihood of a child getting seriously ill (especially and HIV positive child) is increased.
The kids have been spoilt with lots of visitors and wonderful, loving volunteers over the past few weeks, which they have very much enjoyed and the volunteers have also been helping Maz to a huge sort and tidy so everything is looking extremely organised for now – not a puzzle piece out of place!

Sports
To celebrate national womens day our friends at Solid Rock organised their annual Soccer (football) tournament in the town of Worcester which sits around one hour north of Grabouw, although its winter here the weather was beautiful as Josh took 8 of our sports mentors in our mini bus to represent the Village of Hope, as usual the boys behaved impeccability and it's a real pleasure to offer them these simple opportunities to break away from the daily grind of life in the informal areas of Grabouw.

You may remember last year that the boys were unbeaten in 7 games but this year they performed even better winning 11 and drawing one of their 12 games. Our goalkeeper won the 'keeper of the tourament' award and one of the outfield players once again won the 'player of the tournament' award, a feat he completed last year as well....we want to congratate our sports mentors on their performance and for the wonderful work they do day in day out week in week out via our sports outreach into the community, these guys really are true hero's to us and their peers who they share life with.

We were also blessed by the visit our the teachers and pupils from the Aylesbury Grammar School who were in South Africa on a rugby tour, one of their teachers, Gary Ramsbottom (or Sir as he likes to be called!) attends one of our supporting churches in England and it was great to be able to welcome him and his students for an afternoon of fun at one of our sports outreaches. It was also a nice surprise for Josh Houltrum as he is an 'old boy' of the school so for him to be able to show some of his peers, who are only a few years younger than him, the work that he has been doing over the last year was a pleasure for him.

The school raised several thousand Rand and bought out some much needed extra kit, training bibs, balls, cones etc, which was a real blessing and we will ensure that we use the funds to benefit more children over the next weeks and months as the outreach grows from strength to strength.


Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents
You might remember in our last newsletter how we had discovered that a girl from our HIV support group was defaulting on her meds. We found that the reason she was choosing not to take them was because of the sheer amount of pills and how hard they were to swallow. Over the last couple of months our fabulous social worker, Emma, has been able to walk with this girl and her family and assist by taking her to the ARV clinic. This has resulted in finding a different type of ARV that can be taken as one pill. This is wonderful as this pill is much easier to take but just goes to prove that this kind of support is really vital for teenagers who don’t necessarily know who else to go to with their issues and often don’t know where to go to find out about their options.

The Rainbow Smiles group is taking a break for a few weeks whilst Emma takes a well-deserved break and visits family back in the UK.

Other News:
Volunteers:
We’ve had a busy time will volunteers and really welcomed the support from Shae and Aubrei (from the USA) and Polly (from the UK) who’ve just been so fantastic with the kids. Those three girls have recently finished serving here, but we were very pleased to have Nakitta and her friend Bex arrive who are volunteering with us for a few weeks. In fact, Nakitta was one of the first volunteers to come to Village of Hope when it opened and was quite bowled over by the change that has taken place within the project since her last visit. Both Nakitta and Bex work in education in the UK so they are also very natural with the children and have been helping to update their developmental charts.

Sandwiched between these sets of girls was a huge mission team from #10Days – an initiative of Every Nation churches in the USA – they came to help on the project and made a huge difference by helping to clear a lot of dead wood from our woodland and turn it into woodchips for the garden areas. Sadly it was very soggy work as the rain came to visit along with them!!! We also received an impromptu visit from a American couple who Tim and Maz bumped in to on the beach one weekend!

Finally, we have to say a special thank you and goodbye to Josh Houltram who has just finished his second stint volunteering with us. Josh coordinated the sports outreach programme whilst he was here, developed a great rapport with the sports mentors and will be sorely missed.

Mandela Day:
Here in South Africa a special day is set aside to encourage volunteering. The idea is to spend 67 minutes of time on that day volunteering (representing 67 years of Nelson Mandela’s service towards the people of South Africa). You may have read on our blog but we received visits and donations from the wonderful folks at Imperial Logistics and Shoprite, The Aleit Group, Pyjamas and Jam, and Appletiser too. The children from Applewood Preparatory reliably made soup and sandwiches which they make year in and year out and we were able to bless our sports mentors with some wonderful home-cooked food in their bellies as a result. We are so SO grateful to have been recognised by so many different groups of people!!

Other Visits:
We’ve also been treated to a visit from AVCC Old Age Home who came to spend some time with the children as well as our board of directors from South Africa and Pastor Joe from the USA board!! It’s always great to know that the people who are working on are behalf are keen to see what’s going on at the coalface!

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!

village of hope sports mentors do thembalitsha proud....again!

shep and aphiwe with their
player of the tournament trophies

on saturday josh (our international volunteer who has been with us for over a year) took eight of our sports mentors to a football tournament in worcester. this has become an annual event and once again the boys were up early as josh made the hour long trip through the beautiful mountain scenery to attend this event which was hosted and organised by our friends at solid rock.

it is so good to write up this post which follows on from the same theme as last years, which can be read by clicking on the link here, as our boys once again performed with incredible consistency winning 10 of their 11 games and drawing the other one.....over the last two years we have now played 18 won 16, drawn two and have yet to lose a match!

i'm not sure any of us can really appreciate the tough lives these amazing mentors live, not all of them have brick homes, some of them live without basic sanitation and have to walk to collect their water, many of them have no father figures in their lives and by looking at the photo of them you will see that many of them had to borrow the very trainers, not even football boots, to play in.

wearing your shirts back to front is apparently the way
to win tournaments these days!

the results of the games speak for themselves but the fact that one of our boys won the player of the tournament for the second year in a row and this year our goalkeeper was recognised for his sterling performances by winning the 'best goalkeeper' award is also amazing news.

however all of this pales into insignificance as we can boast about these eight amazing boys, as well as the other mentors who make up our daily sports outreach team, the dedication and commitment that these school boys make as they give up their precious weekday afternoons to be the peer educators to the children living in the informal settlements in grabouw is simple fantastic, these boys have really tough lives and live in the very areas where we work each afternoon, so whether the boys had won the tournament on saturday or not really isn't the point, these guys are true hero's to us as a team here at the village of hope and are really an inspiration to the hundreds of children that we work with each and every weekday afternoon.

you guys make us so proud and it's an honour to work with you, well done!

a couple are 'bould' over by the work of the village of hope..

kyle, sammar, maz and myself at the christmas
in july event at gordons kitchen last week
we all agreed that this was a very cheesy
family photo!

sorry for the cheesy title of this blog post but all will become clearer the further you read into this post.

a couple of weeks ago myself and maz spent some time 'off site' and decided to go to camps bay and this is where the story of the 'boulders couple' started.

as many of you who know us will testify the work we do at the village of hope runs through our veins, this isn't so much of a job or even a calling the project is at the very heart of all we do. it's hard to box our lives into separate specific times, we don't so much as go to work we are always at work and for some this is hard to understand, we are advocates for the thembalitsha foundation and agents of change for good and our God 24 hours a day seven days a week, even when we return home to england or take a trip to madagascar for instance the work and the impact that we are having is on the very tips of our lips.

with this in mind its not hard to see the story of our meeting with 'the boulders couple' unfold but to give this blog post a twist i have provided a link to their blog in which they capture the meeting and therefore the heart and the work that myself and maz do, with the help of our amazing staff, both local and international, so please click on the link below to go read about sammar and kyles experience at the village of hope.

click HERE to visit the blog post which will bring some light to the ramble above.

happy moves into new homes and challenges with old homes for our sports mentors

the brothers home

we live in a world that doesn't seem fair and as you know life throws all sorts of challenges at us, however the bible says that we should praise God in the good times and the bad and it also calls us stand with those who mourn and celebrate with those who are happy. late on friday afternoon and during the weekend we had the opportunities to fulfil both of those God given mandates.

mentors old home

the first situation we were faced with came up during our weekly sports meeting, which due to the shocking weather we had to do at each of our peer educators (sports mentors) homes.

two of our mentors are brothers and when we arrived at their home the wind was howling and the rain had turned to hail in the cold cape storm. inside their small bedroom (please don't have any western idea of what this might look like) the rain was pouring through the plastic sheet which made up their simple roof.....

mentors new home

...it's hard to know what one can do during times like these and the fact that the boys told me that their mother hadn't returned from a local farm with her wages meant that there was no food in the tin box and they didn't have any means of fuel to heat their small stove which also acts as a source of heat.

myself and josh returned with an old sail sheet which we placed over the holes but by saturday morning this had blown off and so we started again!

-we were mourning with those who mourn!

the second situation was as follows...from the dire straights of one family to the joy of another of our sports mentors who informed us that he and his family had been granted a new government built home, after ten years of waiting their dreams had come true..he asked if i was able to come and help them on sunday move from their tiny tin home (just up from where the brothers stay, and were sheltering against the storm) to their new home....i gladly said yes and rejoiced with him as his eyes grew with excitement of taking the blessing that he had been praying for for all those years.

- we were rejoicing with those who rejoice!

two very different stories from two very similar situations, and that i suppose is what life is like, this afternoon i will go visit the brothers with a further piece of black plastic sheeting and see what difference we can make to the roof over their bedroom and we will also be picking up the other mentor from his new home and take him to his sports club where he will share this weeks bible story with the children who will join him at that club....

..is it a coincidence that this weeks story that all our mentors at their various clubs will be sharing is all about acceptance and the fact that God loves everyone, black or white, rich or poor, those who feel blessed and those who really really wanna cry?.....

mandela day visitors....for 67 minutes!

the aleit group with
 maz (and wind)

three of our sports mentors

today, 18th july, was nelson mandela's birthday and it's a day where the people of south africa have been encouraged to spend 67 minutes helping others...why 67 minutes i hear you ask, well nelson gave 67 years of his life serving his country so we should all be able to spend 67 minutes thinking of others less fortunate than ourselves.

as with other years we have found this to be a very busy day but it's well worth hosting the various people and organisations who are keen to come and see the work we are involved in day in day out and it's always a blessing to receive the wonderful donations that people often come with.

the shoprite team

this morning we welcomed a team from 'the aleit group' who bought up some wonderful materials, including colouring pens and paint pots, as well as bright coloured tables and chairs on which the children will undertake to create some masterpeices. (as you can see from the photo the wind almost blew them and maz away)
three of our sports mentors came up to do their bit for 67 minutes, it's amazing that these guys give of their time so freely each and every afternoon but they were still keen to come and make a difference. josh took them into the woods where they collect wood ready for chopping and burning on our fires, this was very thoughtful and helpful too.

girls modeling the wonderful glasses

four ladies from imperial came up with food and hosted a small party for the children, which they thoughly enjoyed.

the local shoprite (supermarket) came up with various donations which mel, barbara and jenny are busy sorting, with some degree of fun, as i write this blog post, see photo below of the fashionable eyewear which we found in one of the boxes.

imperial party!

frank christie kindly came up the windy mountain path with 67 cupcakes baked by the folks at 'pajarmas and jam' in somerset west, most of these have already been eaten and taken out to our 'rainbow smiles' adolecent support group which runs every friday afternoon.

and finally a large team from appletiser arrived bearing gifts and took time to look around the unit and play with the children.

we really have been blessed today and thank everyone for coming up and engaging with our children and wonderful project.

delicious cup cakes

to cap off the activities emma was busy last night making cakes which our rainbow smiles group will be icing and then taking out to local creches, old age homes and even our thembacare staff in town, this is a great way of those children seeing the difference that they can make in their own community and we trust that emma has a good time!

the team from appletise

world cup based sports outreach

with the world cup underway, we decided to stage a tournament for a hundred of the local children living in the various communities of Grabouw. these are some of the most needy children in our town, and with their home lives so unstable, it’s nice to offer them a break from the hardships they face every single day.

we divided our existing 9 sports clubs into 9 teams that each represented one of the countries playing in the world cup. we also taught them some information about the country they were representing in the week leading up to the tournament.

then, on the morning of Friday 4^th July, we held the contest at a local school’s playing field. the weather was wild, and setting up was made difficult due to the strong wind, but with the help of both dedicated volunteers (emma, shae, aubrei, polly, jenny and barbara) and of course our sports mentors, we were soon ready to play.

the sun had now come out, and the sight of a hundred kids doing one of the things they enjoy most was heartwarming. the competition was intense, but always played in a fun spirit and most importantly they had a great time. food was provided by barbara, as well as another local school cooking lunch for all the kids.

unlike the current world cup brazil came out as the eventual winners, and the enthusiasm of the kids ensures that there will be many more days like this!

written by josh holtrum

tim and maz celebrate in holland

tim with some of the sports students

tim and maz have been away in europe for a couple of weeks now and during their stay they had the opportunity to travel to holland to join the celebrations at were taking place at the HAN university that the village of hope have relationship with.

maz with some of the social work students

the celebrations were around the 10 year partnership that the HAN university have with our local theewaterskloof (TWK) municipality, the local grabouw town manager as well as other people from south africa had made the trip to holland to meet up and share with some of the students that had completed their internship in grabouw.

it was a joy for tim and maz to catch up with so many of the students who had spent their internship at the village of hope over the last five years and it was interesting to here about their career moves since graduating from university.

the automotive facility at the HAN

it was funny to see all the students together in one place and as they were all from different year groups they really didn't know each other that well so we gathered the sports management students, social work or nutritional students together and introduced them to each other!.

during the day they were shown round the vast university campus, made up of over 28,000 students, and the tutors explained some of the subjects that the HAN offer, including automotive development, water management and design technology.

towards the end of the day we gathered in one of the huge lecture theaters where students gave their thoughts around the time that they had spent in grabouw, which was very insightful and the day ended with a braai for over 200 of us who shared our stories and caught up on the things the students were doing.

if you would like to read more about the day and the partnership created between the university and the municipality then please follow this link.