trot to adopt

our good friend, tom digsby, from augusta in the USA who has been part of a few mission trips here at the village of hope is organising the second annual  trot to adopt . the event happens this sunday and if you are in the area you can sign up to run the 5k or you could donate/sponsor someone who is running and some of that money will be coming directly to the village of hope to help in our work with the children infected by HIV that we work with.

follow this link to the trot to adopt web site and find out more.

Y'all come back now, you hear?!



WeedEat Your Heart Out


Well, the cats might be away working hard in the UK, but whilst they are we mice are scurrying around trying to keep the Village of Hope battleship afloat! - It gets a little crazy at times but we are hanging in there!

Last week we were very excited to welcome a team of 10 amazing people from InFocus church, Augusta, Georgia. InFocus not only support us regularly through an Adopt-A-Cot scheme but also bless us with  mission teams every year and they never fail to disappoint. Last year the team knocked down an old braai and built a make-shift access road for the 'poo-truck' and this year they were just as effective. They were out in all weathers strimming and taming the out-of-hand grass and weeds. They repainted the entire outside of the children's unit and laid a stunning tiled floor (DIY SOS-style) for the day room at ThembaCare Grabouw.....all in five days! On top of that they were also able to spend time visiting outpatients with the ThembaCare carers and playing with our kids in the children's unit and in our sports outreach.

The whole team were great fun to have around and we enjoyed their banter and attempts at the British accent.

Thank you, guys! - And don't stay away too long.

To read more about what the team got up to in their time here visit their blog:

http://thetrackingblog.com/lovebeyond/

helpful americans

last week thembalitsha were blessed to welcome an amazing team from the infocus church augusta georgia, USA, the team worked on various projects, including graceland pre-school, thembacare grabouw and the school of hope. on thursday evening we had them stay over at the village of hope, it was great to get to know pastor brent and his team, they made a real impression on us and we hope we did the same.

friday morning we woke early for morning prayers, which was a truly wonderful time, then we had a quick orientation around the village of hope and finally split into different teams to complete work around the farm. the girls took it upon themselves to do some much needed deep cleaning in the new kitchen and bathrooms of the childcare unit and guys split into two teams, one started to put the new (new to us) tool shed/workshop up, whilst the others created a dam in the 'stream' so we could sink some concrete rings which will become the sump for us to pump water up the hill to the holding tanks to allow us to irrigate the land.....man this was a mission.........the four rings, of which i procured from a guy in town who just happened to have them left over from a job, weighed a ton and we had to 'roll' these down the hill through the pine wood to the 'cliff' overhanging the stream, we then set up a winch to lower these into the water....see our flickr account for more photos...man we wish that all the teams we receive on the village of hope will be as pumped as these guys....thanks guys..