can you fill these spaces?

could you be sitting here this time next year?

as you may be aware the village of hope is run by staff of 13 full time paid workers, ranging from our house moms to a maintenance team but these key people are supported by a team of full and mid term volunteers who oversee the management of the project, run sports outreach, invest in the house moms, do the finances, write policies around the care of the children, complete the school and shopping runs, take the children to their medical appointments and assisting in running our adolescent HIV support groups, the list is almost endless and this all takes time and dedication to undertake the running of such a large project which is also linked to our sister project, thembacare grabouw where there are other opportunities to serve.

these mid and long term volunteers also oversee the short term mission teams who join us for 10-14 days throughout the year and who are an invaluable resource to carry out the larger tasks much like this weeks team from augusta have undertaken with the repainting of the children's unit.

we have never been short of volunteers and with the amazing support of the HAN students from holland we are able to undertake the day to day running of the project most of the time.....however we currently have a couple of opportunities for the right people to come and join our team for a mid to long term period.

our sports outreach is growing and with our 40 week programme now in a format which can be rolled out into other areas we are seeking a longer term volunteer/s who can help run and coordinate our sports outreach programme which currently takes place in 7 different areas of grabouw each and every weekday afternoon. this could be an opportunity for an intern or recently qualified student, however before you get too excited there are a few things that you must consider, firstly you must be able to drive a 4x4 vehicle, this is how we transport most of the sports equipment to the clubs, many of which are run in areas where a normal car wouldn't be able to access, you would also be able to lead and stimulating an existing team of willing local mentors (volunteers), and finally and most importantly you would have a passion for children, especially those aged between 9 - 15 years, who we work with bringing life skills, health awareness and the love of Jesus via sports!

...there are other opportunities around social work and our wider children's work, this post or posts would involve supporting the current children who live with us at the village of hope as we seek to place them back into their homes in the community, most of our children have complex medical and social issues which means that this is a job with lots of pressure but is also so rewarding when it comes together with a successful reunification back into their families. with this in mind there is a need for this person/s to complete home visits to ensure the 20 or so children who have already been placed home are still healthy and being looked after by their carers in the community. helping out with support groups and stimulating the children who live with us at the village of hope is also a key area of this role.

if you are interested in coming to live in grabouw, south africa, and are keen to help support our work with those infected and affected by HIV, AIDS and TB in an area which is rife with these health issues, if you are someone happy to share their lives with our other volunteers in the self contained volunteer unit, and are self motivated and have a love of kids and empowering people then we would love to hear from you!