houses return and assi back in hospital again....

yesterday we had a bitter sweet day, in the morning maz picked up rob, em, rosie and issac house as they returned for their two year stint with us at the village of hope, we are so looking forward to all that they will add to the team and based on the 10 months they spent with us last year we certianly see the project growing from strength to strength.

the sad news was that our 10 year old boy, assi, was readmitted to the red cross children's hospital as his oxygen levels had dropped dangerously low, barbara wood travelled with him in the ambulance and lisa made sure that he was well cared for during his admission....

...news is slightly better this morning but he still needs our constant prayers.

help with a home

around 1000 people live on a deserted mountain side in grabouw which used to be a pine plantation, this area called iraq has one standpipe and no electricity. the local municipality are currently completing some much needed work to bring basic sanitation into the area but the people living there have been asked to move their own houses to an area slightly (like 200 yards) nearer to town to be nearer to the water!...this is no mean task with no transport, tools or materials.

thembacare make frequent visits to iraq and have a number of people who they are caring for, ensuring that they continue to take their medication, one of these patients is a very sick man (in his 30's) and he was asked to move his home to the new site. we (village of hope) were asked if we could help.

as we had some willing volunteers around we made a visit to the 'home'(a small tin shack)but it was clear to see that this simple structure was in no fit state to be moved....


..what to do?...well with some funds that were donated by the Tim Berger mission team we purchased a brand new wooden home (ok we would call it a shed but to the man and his young nephew this was to provide some welcome comfort in comparison to their previous structure).

there is always a dilemma in how we best hope those in need, we face poverty and disease day in day out but there are some cases which touch your heart and therefore after long consideration we felt that we should bless this man, you should have seen the look on his face as the lorry came along with all the materials, the home was installed and we shared a smile as he stepped over the thresh hold of that 'home'.

as i said this isn't something we make a habit of doing, handouts make people reliant on charity but if you would like to help us bless more of those 'one off patients', or those who have lost a home to fire (which is also a frequent problem) just make a donation of around £600 and we will tell of more stories of hope.

(the photo shows the new home (light orange) against a backdrop of other shacks and the wonderful grabouw valley in the background)

building home, investing in lives..

today we had the honour to provide a 'new' home for one of the thembacare grabouw careworkers, the team from england wanted to bless someone or invest in something whilst they were over, so i arrnaged for a 'shed' (for want of a better word and believe me in our western eyes that's all it was/is) to be made and delivered flatpack into the new squatter camp of xola, rooidakke. the team didn't do much putting together, that was carried out by the guys who made and delivered, however what the team did was invest time, love and money into providing this amazing lady with a safe, secure and water tight home for the winter and we hope many more to come.

well done guys and get those photos onto facebook or flickr soon and we will set up a link for the world to see what you have done.

if others would like to invest in our careworkers lives then please contact me via our thembalitshauk web site and we will make sure that your money is spent well in supporting these wonderful ladies and their wider families.