arrival of the whirlwind.....

zebra cuddling whirlwind

during the week we have experienced some very strong northwest winds which have battered the western cape, however none of the winds impacted us as much as the little whirlwind of a child who arrived yesterday for some much needed support.

this little three year old suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and is very small for his age, he has already experienced so much in his little life and comes from a challenging home situation where things such as food, electric and hot water are a premium, so you can imagine the joy on his face as he saw the toys, beds and outside play equipment that greeted him and his mother as they walked through the door of our children's unit.

it is a joy to be able to provide a home for him but we do need help in understanding his needs so please pray for this little guy and also our house moms who will have to adapt to having this whirlwind around. please also pray for his mother who we will be working with as we seek to have him placed back with her once the home situation has been stabilised.

our 8th sports club starts.....in the rain!

aphiwe leading the first soccer based lifeskills club
in marikana informal settlement

there is such need in our community and it would be easy to have a scatter gun approach to all the issues that we see and are confronted with on a daily basis, however we are keen to ensure the sustainability of any project that we start and therefore planning and preparation has been the key to our success. 

aphiwe (front) with the boys at our new sports outreach

this approach can be seen as we have developed our sports outreach over the last few years, and within this blog post we are pleased to announce that not only have we taken on two new sports mentors (local young adults from the communities we work in who provide that peer to peer education) but have increasing our clubs from the first one we set up in october 2008 which met the needs of about 20 boys aged about 13 to now our eighth club which sees us work over 400 children each week from the youngest under three's all the way through to boys and girls aged 15 and 16 years.

the new club was the dream of a new mentor (aphiwe) which has been set up in the marikana informal settlement, which sits between two of our existing clubs in north pineview and iraq. aphiwe is being supported by three of our long term mentors as he develops his skills and encourages the children who live around his home to come join the club which is taking place each and every wednesday afternoon.

unfortunately the weather didn't play ball for the first week session, however the overcast and rainy conditions didn't stop around 15 boys attending the new club and we are excited to see if we could introduce a netball club to engage with the local girls at the same location.

the success of our clubs is proof that we provide the knowledge and skills to enable the mentors to run their own clubs, in fact this is the second club where the mentors have taken on the whole running of the club without the need for us to attend at all, this is fantastic news and shows that the input that we have had with these mentors (who have all attended our various clubs as children themselves) is working and sustainable!

March News

Our new admission: Cool Dude!

We are very excited to be receiving more referrals from Caledon and Villiersdorp which is extending our work into other jurisdictions. Its very interesting to see how things vary from one area to another and we are working hard with the district office of Dept of Social Development to find a way forward with these offices that fully complies with the Children's Act of SA.

 Our most recent admission is a gorgeous two and a half year old who is on chronic medication. Unfortunately his strict medical regime has not been kept to during the past two years which resulted with him being hospitalised and very poorly. It is a miracle he is still alive!  He has already improved dramatically now that he is on medication, and being loved on by our team of staff and volunteers works wonders. We will be working closely with his social worker to support his family as they face significant challenges which have resulted in this situation.

Our three-year-old girl is coming on leaps and bounds since starting school. She continues to develop mentally and physically and we really have to thank our German volunteer, Gundi, for all the one-to-one time she has been spending with her. Especially her patience with the potty training!


Our three-year-old boy has also started preschool now too and he is loving his new routine. He is fortunate enough to be at a pre-school where one of our old House Moms works so it’s nice for him to have a familiar face there.


Sports

This month we have started a new training regime whereby we get input from the mentors about how they want the sessions to go eg. They give us the specific drills, warm ups and stretches and then Jasper and Josh put that information in an order for the following week’s sessions.  So far this is working really well and it empowers the mentors to think for themselves. Attendance at the clubs has generally been good, with some clubs up while others fluctuate but we are still working with close to 200 boys and girls each week.

We have three new mentors: Niesa, Supakazi and Wezi who have been working on the netball with the girls, trying to continue the progression that Shana had made, and are fitting in well. Also Boni has recently agreed to extend his stay with us which is another blessing because the work he does with over 200 of the younger children who attend our clubs is fantastic and the extent of his knowledge regarding early childhood development is second to none.

Jasper has only one more week volunteering with us. We can’t believe how quickly the time has gone and wish he could stay longer but are very thankful for the time he has given us and how much he had dedicated to the sports programme and strimming and mowing the Village of Hope site in the mornings!!!


Rainbow Smiles

This month we’ve managed to link up with the councillors at the day hospital to find out other young people who may benefit from attending the group. We have identified a further 7 young people and we are in the process of conducting home visits to talk to the children and the families about the group and seeing if it is something they would like to be involved in.

We have also been undertaking home visits with our current children and have identified that there is so much individual need with the children we work with. One of the biggest challenges that we have seen has been regarding their education. A lot of the children we are working with are behind on their education for many different reasons and there are many children who are 16 years who have not yet graduated from primary school. This has resulted in them being unable to continue their education due to the discrepancy between the grade and their age. Without a complete education they have little prospects for the future so we are looking to help these young and are persevering trying to find a way for them to have some kind of training for the future.

Other News:
The Big Buck$ Charity Bike Ride:
Another chance to get #Active4Hope for Thembalitsha! Our annual cycle in the UK is being planned for Saturday 14th June and is beginning to take shape. It’s suitable for all ages and based around Aylesbury. Keep your eyes peeled on our facebook page for more details.


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!

video of our sports fun day at a local creche

its amazing the relationships that develop from the work we do within the community via our sports outreach, rainbow smiles club and being involved with thembacare, one such relationship led us to put on a simple fundraising event for a creche up in the siteview area of grabouw last saturday morning. 

the leaders of the creche were so impressed with the dedication of our sports outreach programme which we run each monday afternoon near their building,  that they approached us to see if we couldn't help them with organising a sports day for their three to five year olds. 

josh and jasper grasped the opportunity with both hands and set up a wonderful event for the children, over 40 children took part in various games, including an 'egg and spoon' race, a sack race and games involving knocking down bottles of water with a tennis ball. all of the games were designed so that each child participated in every event and as they were split into different teams there were no winners or losers, just lots of happy children.

jasper put together this short video clip of our village of hope team working together, please click on this link and take a moment to watch us in action. thanks goes out to some of our international staff for giving up their time to make this a great event for the kids and supporting the work of this little creche.

  

all smiles at rainbow smiles

its been a while since we updated you about our rainbow smiles adolescent HIV support group which runs each friday afternoon under the amazing leadership of emma podmore, who is ably supported by johan and two of our thembacare care workers.

we have to respect the children's identities and therefore their status which is one of the reasons for the lack of updates about this wonderful group, however last friday we held a special session which celebrated the move to our new venue which is held at sunday school rooms at the elgin united church and it was a chance to welcome some new children who we had identified via the work we do with the local day clinic to our weekly club.

the children enjoyed an afternoon of drumming and dancing which was lead by our security guard, andlie. they had so much fun learning simple (for them but not myself and emma who really struggled!) rhythms and xhosa dancing which was great to watch. it was nice to see the use of music to bring the group together and we hope to do this again in the future, if we can borrow the drums again.

providing new hope to another needy child...

mommy maz reading a bedtime story.

it's wonderful to be able to provide a home to those children most in need and yesterday we received our newest addition to the vast numbers of children that we have helped in the nearly five years since we first opened the doors of our children's unit here at the village of hope.

each child who is placed with us comes with his or her own complex problems, perhaps the child has grown up in a home where the care that they need isn't being provided by the ones who love them, perhaps the child has a chronic illness or is on medication which needs to be monitored to ensure they are stabilised before discharging back to their families.

all of the cases are heartbreaking but we know that we have provided care for around 50 children, sometimes they stay with us for a short while, some a little longer, but each one has been loved and cared for whilst we work with their families or adoptive parents with the desire to ensure that both the child and their families are able to live a healthy and balanced life.

our newest admission has been in hospital for quite some time before he came to us, he is still very malnourished and is on one of the largest programmes of medication that we have seen, however we will now make those first steps with him as we seek to reunite him with his mother as soon as he and she are stable.

another first day at school..

its off to school we go!

its amazing to see the children grow as they spend time with us, there are many mile stones that we celebrate with them and their first day at school or pre-school is one of those most precious moments.

today our little three year old who has been with us for about 18 months made his first steps into the 'education system' which was a real joy, thanks must go out to our social worker, emma, who has been busy trying to find a place at a local creche since the school term started about a month ago.

our little one with pinkie (his new teacher)

the creche/pre-school that he attends is further away from the village of hope than where the other children go, so the school run will be extended by a few minutes but he was reunited with an ex house mom who is now working at the school and will be his teacher....good news all round and it seems like his day went well as maz picked him up around lunchtime all he could talk about was the fun that he had had.