The children and House Moms have been able to remain warm and cosy in their new unit and are getting to grips with the new layout. They feel much happier and secure in this new environment – We have stronger doors and locks and also have a security guard on night watch.
We are now on the Department of Heath’s schedule for monthly visits from an Occupational Therapist. This is a fantastic new extra we are able to offer the children in our care. The therapist will be training up the House Moms on specific exercises and routines that they can put in place for the children. We already have some new movements we can do with the little girl who is struggling to walk from this first visit so we are looking forward to seeing improvements!
Sports
With the winter weather setting in our sports programme has been a bit sporadic. We’ve had A LOT of rain already and any wet weather stops play because the kids don’t have nice warm houses or hot baths to go to after a session. The club in Iraq is proving particularly challenging due to the lack of pitch (because the municipality have reclaimed it for building works).
Other News
We’ve just waved goodbye to our most recent Dutch students. Marlise was our social work student and Eric our sports student. Once again we’ve been very blessed by these two and we are sad to see them go but excited for what they will do next. We’ve also been able to say hello to Barbara Wood. This is her third time with us, this time with a commitment of a year! We are so excited to have her back and know she is going to be a fabulous addition to the team. She is already getting stuck in, using her background in catering to coach the House Moms. By next month we will also have another returning volunteer, Emma Podmore, who is a trained social worker and will be able to pick up where Marlise has left off.
Shannon, our volunteer from the USA has also asked to stay longer so is extending her stay to at least December. She is now our in-house worship leader extrordinaire and we’ve also got her coordinating our weekly HIV support group for adolescents, Rainbow Smiles. She is doing a great job and really investing in the kids.
Get #Active4Hope –
You may have seen in our blog posts earlier this month about the new #Active4Hope campaign. If you didn’t you can read more about it here. You can choose how far you get involved in it but if you would like to sign up to some sporting events organised by us then we’ve got two suggestions for you: Go The Distance For Hope and Cycle To The Sea. Check out our Facebook page for all the details.
Hope@PaulCluver-
This is another initiative which is able to happen thanks to the generous folk at Paul Cluver Wines which is a local wine estate. Please see here for more info: (www.paulcluver.com) We are so excited about this opportunity and any profits made will come directly to us and our sister project here in Grabouw, ThembaCare Grabouw. Emily is in charge of organising the venue from now on so she is going to be a busy bee!
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 acce
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