Thank you for being a loyal supporter and friend of Village of Hope and Thembalitsha Foundation! We have recently streamlined all of our blogs into a single website for all of the projects so you can keep up with all things Thembalitsha in one place: thembalitsha.blogspot.com. If you are interested in following our new combined stream, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your up-to-date e-mail address in the "Follow By E-mail" field. And if you still want to view project-specific content, you can choose a project from the drop-down menu at the top! All of our old posts from this blog have also migrated there as well in a full archives.
We hope that this new platform will be incredibly easy for you to use and also show you the full scope of the exciting happenings here at Thembalitsha! If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at any time - we love hearing from our supporters.
We look forward to sharing more of this journey with you!
xx
Team Themba
the village of hope seeks to help children infected or affected by hiv, aids and tb in two different ways: we have a 9 bed children's unit to support those infected by hiv and aids and we also run a community-based sports and lifeskills outreach in the informal settlements and squatter camps each afternoon.
this blog has been set up to allow the key members of the team at the village of hope to share their thoughts, photos and experiences as we work in the community of grabouw in south africa
this blog has been set up to allow the key members of the team at the village of hope to share their thoughts, photos and experiences as we work in the community of grabouw in south africa
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Hellos and Goodbyes (February 2015)
Children’s Unit
Back to school! |
Over
the Christmas period, the children went on bike rides, swimming, to the beach,
played games, made crafts, and lots of exciting stuff. We enjoyed a big
Christmas day altogether which the children loved! They where given some presents,
and it was fun watching their excitement opening them and being so grateful for
all the things they got. When school started back, two of our dear ones started
big school – they looked so grown up in their uniforms!
Also
during the holiday period, we discharged five of our children and had three new
arrivals who came to stay with us for a short time. We said goodbye to three
brothers who went back to their grandmother who was now in a place where they
felt she could look after all three children. We also said goodbye to a baby
boy who came to us at two months old after nearly dying in the hospital. His
mother died shortly after giving birth, but his father remained very involved during
the year he was with us. This tiny baby who came to us so small left fat and
healthy to live with his grandmother in the Eastern Cape. The last discharge
was a little girl who had been with us for 14 months. Her mother sadly died
whilst the little girl was with us. Her grandmother came from the Eastern Cape to
spend a week with us getting to know her grandchild and learning to
administrate her medication. She has now taken the little girl to live with her
in the Eastern Cape.
We were also able to provide care for a new arrival: a young boy who had become very ill
due to not taking his meds. He had developed TB and needed somewhere to build
his strength so he stayed with us for three weeks. His mother was also unwell
and each time she was in hospital the people caring for him did not give him
the meds. Due to this referral from the clinic, we were able to get social
workers involved who are able to monitor the situation, and the mother knows
now that if she has to go to hospital she can call the social workers who will
help support her.
Rainbow Smiles
Farewell pool party for Tim and Maz |
We
kicked off the holiday period by having a great Christmas party with a braai
and a water slide! The children particularly loved racing down the slippy
slide. Following the party, we began a very long break and have only just
started back at the tail end of January when we began the new year by having a
pool party to say goodbye to Tim and Maz.
We
have added two more children to the club, which brings the total to 17 children
– an amazing number for us. Unfortunately, we have had to say goodbye to our
trusted volunteer Johan, but we have gained Greg from France who is helping at
the club. Starting this week, we look forward to two students from Holland
joining our team! Due to the need for more helpers, we have moved the meeting
time to Wednesdays, which we’re hoping works out with the earlier school time.
Lastly,
one of our children who has become young leader has been able to re-start his
schooling at community college after being out of school for over two years.
This is a massive achievement for him, and we are incredibly proud of him. He
is 17 years old and left school after only completing Grade 6 (primary school
level). If he works hard and continues with his adult education, he will be
able to matriculate by the time he is 20 years old.
Sports
A day at the beach with our sports kids |
Village of Hope sports leaders
Greg and Emma combined forces with our community sports mentors to
take 80 kids to the beach at the end of December to celebrate the end of 2014
and the summer holiday. Two busloads of kids got a day of fun in the sun and
swimming in before school started back! Then in January, Village of Hope
collaborated with local Strand-based charity Solid Rock to do a full week of
9am-5pm athletic activities and biblical life coaching at Groenberg School in
Grabouw. More than 175 kids attended per day - an amazing turn out, and a lot
of fun for the kids and our staff alike. Now well into February, we are excited
to return to our scheduled daily sports programme in different
pockets of the Grabouw community. Word is spreading amongst the kids, and we
expect to be operating with full volume by next week!
Labels:
Beach,
christmas,
farewells,
grabouw,
holiday,
rainbow smiles,
Sports,
village of hope
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