looking back at 2013 and forward into 2104

well where did that year go?....2013 certainly seemed to fly by, this is a trend that we have become accustom to at the village of hope as we pack so much into each day but it's frightening when you realise that a whole 365 days have passed in the blink of an eye.

its hard to put into words all the things that have happened during the year, just taking a look at our blog posts there are many fond memories, some sad moments and a few disappointments, but overall we made lots of new friends, increased our service to the community, celebrated the completion of the new children's and volunteer units, we've hosted many wonderful mission teams and single volunteers, and put on some amazing sports events for the children that we work with.

our relationships with our local community have been strengthen, just think about the amazing events that we have already hosted at the hope@cluver amphitheater, we are able to host more children at the project, we have a stronger social work side, we have employed a part time sports coach to work with the under 8's who attend our daily sports clubs, the sports mentors have increased in numbers and have all been on a number of training days which has enabled them to work even better with the huge number of 9-15 year olds in the community and to cap it all the 'Rainbow Smiles' HIV support group is flushing with some more bible based teaching for those children living in the community with what continues to be a disease surrounded by stigma.

i suppose some of the heart ache has been around those who we have had to say our sad goodbyes to this year, at the forefront must be the passing of dear little assi who went to be with his heavenly father in january, we speak of him often and he is in our thoughts daily.

it was also with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to a member of the thembacare grabouw staff who had also been our (tim and maz) housekeeper when we first arrived in 2008, and the news of the passing of three of the moms of our children from chronic but manageable diseases was a shock but bought home the realities of the community in which we live, work and serve.

we are very much looking forward to 2014 with open hearts and minds and want to finish this year by thank you for all the support, be that spiritual, physical or financial, that you have given towards our vision for the village of hope over the last year. so we wish you a very happy 2014 and hope that we will see you all very soon!

shedding a tear or two....

i feel enormously proud and honored to be part of the thembalitsha foundation, each one of our projects is doing some amazing work as we seek to provide new hope via our healthcare, education and training projects.

today i would encourage you to take 10 minutes to sit down in a quiet space and watch the new video that has been put together for our sister project thembacare athlone....click here to follow the youtube link....

my words cannot express the way this team of doctors, sisters and careworkers have impacted the lives of literally thousands of children who are infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB since they opened 10 years ago, so i will let the video do the talking, but please be inspired by the work, put your hand in your pocket to pledge to give or your hands together to pray for this work and the work the wider foundation are involved in.

and lastly i am sure you will find it hard not to shed a tear or two when you see the appearance of a certain little man at the end of the video, his life really captured the essence of the work that is done at thembacare athlone!...God bless him!

assi touching people from around the world

click on the article to read
pastor neils thoughts around assi

we always knew that our little assi was a world changer, but it's been incredible to see that amount of people who have either posted on our facebook pages or sent emails with regards to the impact that he had on their lives. these people aren't confined to just grabouw, or the western cape, or even south africa, we have had literally messages from the ends of the world....from norway in the north, new zealand in the south, korea in the east and the USA in the west, he really did impact everyone he met.

the thembalitsha foundation have put together a short story of his life, which appears on facebook but i understand that even if you haven't got a facebook account you can read his amazing story by clicking here!

the news of assi's passing even appeared on the front page of our local paper with a short thought from our vicar, neil meyer, on page three, who highlighted that assi touched people across racial, religious and political views and united people from many various nations and languages...if only we could be as tolerant as this dear little 12 year old boy, maybe the world you be a much better place.

it's time to say goodbye...and hello!

all that stuff for two little angels!...time to say goodbye
 after three years with us at the village of hope
(sorry i cut your head off mommy mel!)

these last few weeks have been a bit of a roller coast ride, what with the farm workers strikes which meant that we were unable to provide services to over 450 patients via our thembacare hospice in grabouw, including the temporary closing of our six bed inpatient unit and obviously the passing of our dear little assi, who's memorial service was so well attended yesterday afternoon. however today we are also dealing with another change here at the village of hope.

we have been so blessed to be able to provide a home to two wonderful children for over three years, but as part of their next steps we have had to say goodbye to them this morning. we know that God has a very big plan for their lives and we are very excited about what that might look like but i wonder if we could ask you all to continue to pray for us as a team, especially mommy maz and mommy mel, as well as our house moms, who are almost mourning their passing too!

all that stuff for a six month stay!, welcome shannon.

with these two little ones leave that now means that we have placed our 31st and 32nd children either back with their biological family or into other care which will enable them to receive the loving and support that they need. we are  so privileged to have been used to provide a home for these little guys and we look forward to the next stage of development here at the village of hope.

and on that note it's great for us to announce the arrival of our latest volunteer who will be joining our team for at least the next six months, and although shannon arrived on tuesday evening, from some random place in california, her baggage was lost by the airlines and only arrived this morning. we trust that her time with us will be fulfilling and we are also excited to see what that might develop into over the next few months.

the passing of our wonderful assi...and facebook page

words can't really express the feelings i have as i write this short post but i'm sure many of you will now be aware that our wonderful little assi passed away at our sister project thembacare in athlone last friday morning.

assi was not just your ordinary young kid, those who came into contact with him will forever have been touched by this little life, it was a blessing for me to have known assi, to have laughed, cried, fought and played with him was a true privilege.

the whole of the thembalitsha foundation also had a huge soft spot for assi and his passing will not only be mourned by us here at the village of hope, but also at thembacare grabouw who had the opportunity to impact his life on many occasions and we thank thandi and especially joyce for the work that they did with him. however it will be thembacare athlone where his presence will be most missed, he spent time with noma and her amazing team both prior to his stay with us at the village of hope and he obviously passed away under their care last week, bless you noma and your team from providing a loving home for him there during his last days.

obviously there are loads of people who have fond memories of assi and we are sure that they would like to say their special goodbye's maybe share a memory or two via photo, video or just using words, so we have set up a page on facebook for them to do so please follow this link to assi's virtual memory board and lets tell the world about this amazing young man and in doing so thank God for his life.

God bless you assi, missing you already, but knowing that you are now at peace and maybe having a little too much fun up there....hope you got a lekker moooto (bakkie) and are enjoying an endless feast of inyama (meat)...see you soon....uncle tim x

praying for our children

just chilling in the kitchen before dinner,
her favorite time of the day

on tuesday morning maz took our little two and a half year old girl into tygerberg hospital where she will stay for a few days whilst the team get her started on her ARV (anti retro viral) medication for her HIV. normally there's no need for our children to go to hospital to start this treatment but due to the fact that she is also on TB medication and has had TB meningitis then the staff want to observe her before sending her back to stay with us at the village of hope.

she is such a dear little (well not so little) thing, she copies everything anyone says and has really developed since she has been with us. please pray for her as she stays on her own and that there wont be any complications with the different types of medication.
we are longing to see her happy smile back with us again soon.

an update on our 11 year old boy is that he has now been discharged from the red cross children's hospital into our sister project, thembacare athlone, mommy maz visited him yesterday and he is doing a little better but he is still a poorly boy!

assi in again....

sorry that these updates aren't about better news but we must remember that most of the children that we provide a home to here at the village of hope are either infected with HIV and or TB, others like our wonderful 11 year old boy have even more complex medical conditions.

unfortunately the news on assi isn't great, after being discharged from the red cross children's hospital on his last visit, he was placed at our thembacare unit in athlone, cape town, which cares for more chronic cases, however his health has deteriorated so much that he has been readmitted to the hospital for further care and tests.

we are now in a place where we are asking what is the best for his future and although we never want or wish for any of our children to pass away we must ask God to hold him in His hands as we are coming to the end of our understanding of his case and we don't want him to suffer much more.

please pray for us and for assi who is a dear dear boy...

eldest boy back in red cross

unfortunately our eleven year old boy has been readmitted to the red cross children's hospital following a routine visit last monday. for around a month now he has become increasingly reliant on oxygen and towards the end of last week his saturation levels started to dip even when he was on his machine, therefore the visit was in fact a God send. he has been kept in to monitor his lungs, heart and liver but we have had encouraging news to say that he is now off the oxygen machine and breathing normally.

there is some concern that due to the altitude of the village of hope, grabouw sits along the edge of a wonderful mountain range, and the damp conditions, it rains a lot in the winter and the town has the highest rate of new TB infections in south africa! that if he is discharged he might not be able to come home to us, but we have a couple of plans and thembacare in athlone is a wonderful home and where he was prior to being placed with us.

please continue to pray for him and also the team at the village of hope as me and maz are flying back to england today for a couple of weeks holiday, to see our new grandson!.....

boys boys and more boys!

we are so glad to update you with the wonderful news that our 10 year old boy, who has been suffering from another lung infection, has returned home to the village of hope after over 2 weeks in the red cross children's hospital in cape town.

whilst he was in hospital he has been treated with more specific antibiotics which we hope will have cured the most recent infection, however his little body has suffered so much in his short life and we need you to continue to pray for his complete healing as we have already had to place him on oxygen since his return!

we are also please to let you know that we have also been able to provide a home for another boy, this time a 16 month old baby who's mother is suffering from a complicated bout of TB, hopefully his stay with us will be short as he does have a loving family in the community, however once again your prayers would be appreciated to ensure the speedy recovery of his mom who will be going into hospital in cape town to receive some more intense treatment.

we now have 6 boys and 2 girls staying with us and the number of boys placed back into the community over the last two years far outweighs the girls!

pray for our 10 year old....again

please could we encourage you to pray for our 10 year old boy who has been readmitted to the red cross children's hospital in cape town with another lung infection, you may remember last august that we almost lost him but thanks to your prayers he has had another 6 months of fulfilled life, in that time starting his new school, enjoying christmas with a local family and being loved by everyone who visits the village of hope.

please also pray for us as a team as we seek to have a carer with him at all times, cape town is a good 2 1/2 hour round trip and we will have to do that twice a day for the duration of his stay.

the village gets pigs

yes that's right the village of hope have now taken two little piggies into their care, well not exactly our care as we are hoping to fatten them up to reduce our food bills in our children's unit, but they have come to join us in our wonderful surroundings for a few months!

arron is still to name them but i will keep you up to date with their little lives on the blog over the next few weeks...they have already made their dash for freedom by evading both the electric fence and the 'pig proof' fence which arron has placed around their home....arron and bruno (our little jack russell) weren't so lucky and both felt the full force of the electric fence...that'll teach them!

all the children have been down to visit the pigs this evening, the picture shows arron with on of our little girls...lets hope the children don't grow too fond of them!

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.