The winter has certainly arrived here bringing wind, rain and even some snow on the mountains. It’s very cold and makes conditions for the poor in our community even more challenging.
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| Scubba diving anyone? |
All the children are progressing very well and seem jolly and happy. We have an occupational therapist who comes once a month and she is very pleased with all children which proves that our wonderful House Moms are doing a grand job!
One little one in particular is a boy who’s been with us for a year. When he came to us he was just a year old and was unable to sit unsupported. Now he is meeting all his developmental mile stones which is fantastic news. The other great news we have recently been able to discharge him home. His parents have visited him constantly since his placement here and have worked well with the social workers and us. He went for a weekend visit two weeks ago and he was positively glowing when we collected him. We are always sad to say goodbye but we are also happy to know that we’ve done our best for him.
We are also further a long with the case of our six year old girl. We’ve have found a foster family for her and it now depends on the upcoming court case to see if the order will be granted so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Sports
With the arrival of winter in South Africa this month, our sports outreach programme has suffered due to the severe weather. We’ve major storms but, when the weather has permitted, we have continued running our clubs with energy and enthusiasm.
Our ninth and most recent club continues to grow under the leadership of Aphiwe, 18, and he now mentors to over 30 children each week.
The World Cup has given us an opportunity to put on something special for the children and teenagers of Grabouw, resulting in a tournament to be held on 4th July at one of the local schools. This hundred-person event will run in tandem with the actual World Cup, allowing the children to play while keeping track of the scores in Brazil.
Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents
We now have 15 children at our Rainbow Smiles Club which is amazing. We seem to have more younger children being referred which is giving opportunities to our older children to support and help the younger ones. One of the new children is a child who used to stay at Village of Hope and now lives with his grandparents. It is great to see how we can continue to support our children after they are discharged and as they grow up.
This group also reminds us of the constant challenges these children face. In the last week we’ve been alerted to one girl who is purposefully defaulting on her medication – a serious issue. We are grateful that her parents wanted to confide in us and make us aware of the issue so that that we might be able to help get the situation resolved quickly preventing too much damage to her health, but also to ensuring that we support this girl with the love and care that she needs.
The Themablitsha Big Buck$ Bike Ride
What an amazing success with a fantastic turnout! The final figures aren’t in yet but it looks like the team smashed their £5000 target and everyone enjoyed the day getting #Active4Hope! Big thanks go to the team of volunteers who worked so hard to get this event off the ground, to all the cyclists who’s blood, sweat and tears made the event as well as to all those who sponsored the athletes!!!
Volunteers:
We’ve had an unusual few weeks without any short-term volunteers but as of yesterday we’ve been able to welcome Polly from the UK who is spending 2 months of her gap year volunteering for us and next week we have Shae and Aubrei from USA coming to volunteer and assist in our school holiday sports programme so it will feel a little bit more normal again!
Gardening:
Big thanks to the team from Every Nation Somerset West who came and slaved hard on their weekend to help improve a garden at one of our long term volunteer houses. They worked like trojans and have really made the space much nicer for Rob and Emily (who are staying in the house at the moment) and for all the volunteers who will stay there after them!
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!
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