three siblings are reunited

yesterday we said our sad goodbyes to three of our wonderful boys, sibling brothers, who arrived with us in early september. since they arrived the youngest started walking and the older two were able to restart their morning placements at a local creche where they have really thrived.

as with many of our children these boys come from a complex family situation however it's great to see them reunited with their grandmother who is now able to provide a secure and loving home for these three boys.

we will obviously keep close ties with the family, providing help and support where required as they settle into their new surroundings, we will miss these little guys who have kept us entertained and who have really captured our hearts, however a home placement is our best out come for any child so we wish them well and a happy christmas with their family!

another child leaves the village of hope to return home

another story of hope

it's always sad to say goodbye, especially to a child who has become so loved by the staff at the village of hope, however in our sadness there is joy as we know that we have done everything possible to not only stabilise a child who has been placed with us with either complex medical or social problems but also worked so with our local social workers and the child's family to ensure that a successful placement, often to a home which caused the issue which resulted in the removal of the child in the first place, is made with confidence.

this post therefore contains a great story of new hope as over the weekend emma took one of our dear little three year old boys back to his family home, this is incredible and exciting news as he was in such a poorly state, requiring specialist hospital care this time last year. we are so thankful to our house moms, key staff and the persistence of our team to ensure that he received such wonderful care whilst he was with us and that we were able to place him back with his own family who now know how to care for him and meet his needs.

stories of hope!

as you might be aware myself (tim) and maz have been enjoying some much needed family and holiday time in europe over the last few weeks and we are so thankful to the team of wonderful volunteers and staff who valiantly held the fort whilst we were away....to have such a team around us takes away that stress and strain when we are away and the legacy of the project is the fact that the project can run without us being as involved in the day to day stuff which is really cool.

whilst we were away we had the opportunity to meet up with family and friends in england and france and we were able to share highlights and update people on the work we are doing both at the village of hope and the wider thembalitsha foundation. we also had the chance to speak at a couple of churches and a surprise fundraising event with our main focus on encouraging everyone that they can make a difference whether they are called to set up a HIV project in south africa or called to provide a hot meal to a needy neighbour wherever they live!

upon our return we were able to celebrate the amazing news of our successful application for the village of hope to be registered as a temporary place of safety which we have been waiting and praying for over the last year or so, as has been highlighted before much credit for this must go to maz who has been a stalwart in ensuring that this registration came through under the correct government department and within the new children's act, of which she is an expert.

however our successful registration wasn't the only incredible news that we are able to share, what must go down as a true miracle happened yesterday as two of our village of hope children have been officially adopted by an amazing american family, who we were able to join for a celebration braai at the elgin country club last night. the parents, brent and karla, have been visiting our thembalitsha projects for a number of years now and we are so pleased that these two children will now have the opportunity of a lifetime to grow up in a stable loving home with a mum and dad who can provide the basis of a life in the united states.

the underlying success of the village of hope is the fact that around 40 children have now been placed back home with their own families here in south africa and that continues to be desire, however for some that isn't that easy so we are so pleased in the outcome that has happened to these two dear little ones...should you want to read more about this fantastic story then please visit the families blog by clicking on this link, we are sure you will be inspired.

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.

our 28th home placement follows quickly

not only did we place our 27th child home with either their own family or into long term foster care on friday but today we have the wonderful news that we have now found an adoptive family for our 28th child.

we can't say too much about the case as it is a little complicated but please know that whilst we are sad to see this little one go we thank God that a secure and loving home has been found, and we send the child off with the knowledge that we provided the care that was needed at this point of their life and we were able to love and nurture them in our wonderful children's unit

our 27th home placement

loving aunt

saying goodbye is always hard, especially if we have little expectation of seeing our successfully placed children again, however we do rejoice that we have now placed our 27th child back home with their family which is amazing testimony to maz and her team in the children's unit here at the village of hope.

this last little girl, of 2 years, is been taken to stay with her aunt in the transkei, the tribal homelands of the xhosa people. the aunt made the 12 hour journey down to grabouw in a taxi and the girl is now well on her way to her new home, we wish them well and will continue to pray for her.

another story of new hope

mommy maz and nettie signing to discharge docs
with the little girls father!

we had quite an eventful friday afternoon, some of which i will update you on now and some we hope to bring you news of later, but just to say that we really saw the work that the team at the village of hope children's unit, ably lead by mommy maz, come into it's own.

the new hope story (for those who don't know 'thembalitsha' means 'new hope' in the local xhosa language) is that we were able to successfully discharge our 26th child into the care of her father who will be reuniting her with his family in the eastern cape (traditional xhosa tribal homelands around 1000kms from cape town).

this precious little 2 and a half year old girl had been in our care for around 9 months and we had been busy with the local social workers and those in the eastern cape to try to find a solution for her to return home, which is never a easy task, but we thank God for his amazing promises towards us and to the children we care for.

saying goodbye to a child is always a bitter sweet time, on one hand we are so pleased to have provided the secure home, the love and care for the child and we are pleaded to have had some positive input into the next steps of these little ones lives but we do have to trust that all the work that has been done with the family will pay off and we have to place them into their hands with confidence that they will take on the things that we have taught them prior to the discharge....which is never easy!

celebrating our 25th home placememt

gogo leaves the village of hope with our baby boy

arrives at her home ready to start providing
a new life for him

yesterday we had the wonderful experience of our 25th child leaving the village of hope, this beautiful little baby boy is just over 1 year old and due to some complex issues at home has been placed with a dear old lady who has been visiting him for the last few weeks and who loves him very much.






although he has been placed on a foster order, there fore a temporary arrangement, we are excited but the hope this new mom will be able to work with his real mom (who is also very needy) in the near future thus bringing about a amazing  story of new hope to the baby and his mother.

our 23rd miracle quickly follows!

saying goodbye to her little village of hope
brother, so sweet!

what a couple of weeks it's been and all down to the hard work of maz and the local social workers who are seeking placement for our children. today we have the amazing news that so soon after our 22nd child being placed home we have our 23rd to celebrate.

this little girl has been with us for over a year, she was identified to us by our local ARV doctor who had concerns over the compliance of her medication and during her time with us she suffered some major trauma with her being hospitalised on a couple of occasions due to the bought of TB meningitis which hit her soon after she arrived with us. in fact if she hadn't been placed into our care there is a likely hood that she would have passed away due to the seizure brought on by the meningitis.

off home with uncle tim b

however that's all in the past and with some great commitment shown by her mother, who has visited every day for the last two months to build up that bond and to be taught by our team about caring for a child with an chronic illness, we confident to be able to place her home with her mother who will receive support from our thembacare home based care team to ensure that this reunification is fully successful.

please hold onto your seats for our next child to be returned home which should be at the end of this week with another following to a foster mom next week as well. things are really moving on with our children's cases and we want to thank God for his answer to our prayers for these children who are loved and cared for by our amazing team here at the village of hope but our desire is for them to be placed back home with a loving family after they have been stabilised by us and that is happening for so many of our children at the moment!

our 22nd miracle

going home!

for those of you that have been following us since we opened our children's unit in april 2009 you will know that the heart of the village of hope is to see the little ones that have been placed into our care be reunited with their families as soon as we are able. for some of these children that can be a quick process and the three month court orders soon come to an end and without knowing it the child has left us to continue his (or her) life with their family.

however this isn't the case for all of our children, some of whom have been with us since we opened. the village of hope is a step down unit to enable us to stabilise the children on their medication (with medical oversight given by our thembacare sisters), ensuring they meet their hospital appointments and have regular contact with their families to ensure that that bond isn't broken, however the social circumstances of most of those families, who are all either affected or infected by HIV, AIDS or TB, has a huge impact as to how quickly we can make the transition back into their home lives.

since opening we have placed 21 children either back with their maternal family or into foster care, each of those cases were complex and without lots of prayer, and therefore the intervention of God through us, many of those would still be living away from the love of their families.

over the last few months maz has been busy with our local social workers, our thembacare home based care team and his grandmother to ensure that she knows the signs to watch for as she seeks to provide the care that this little life will need under her eye, yes the medication is difficult to understand and it is a huge commitment to take on but we are happy that she has learnt enough to look after him well so today we have the great news that we placed our 22nd child back with his grandmother in an informal settlement in grabouw..

her home is a small tin shack with no running water or electricity but it is full of love and it was a wonderful experience to see her taking her grandson back home today....over the next few weeks and months we will continue to monitor this little life via home visits by the team here at the village of hope and thembacare team to ensure all is going well but we wish the family lots of blessings as they provide a home for this little boy.

another baby leaves

our youngest baby boy, who arrived in july and is aged about 9 months, has been successfully placed with a longer term foster mom in gordon's bay (a seaside town near grabouw). it's always tough to say goodbye, especially for our house moms as they have seen the children develop from a very early age, however it's is our aim to assist in either the reintroduction to the family and or foster care, this child will be joining his siblings which is great news, he is the 17th who has come through our unit since april 2009.

we now have space to accept another child and we hope that God will bring him or her along as soon as possible so we can start another amazing story of stabilisation and reintegration.

the picture shows him leaving with a tight hand on his new mommies jumper, God bless that boy!