Hellos and Goodbyes (February 2015)

Children’s Unit 

Back to school!

Over the Christmas period, the children went on bike rides, swimming, to the beach, played games, made crafts, and lots of exciting stuff. We enjoyed a big Christmas day altogether which the children loved! They where given some presents, and it was fun watching their excitement opening them and being so grateful for all the things they got. When school started back, two of our dear ones started big school – they looked so grown up in their uniforms!

Also during the holiday period, we discharged five of our children and had three new arrivals who came to stay with us for a short time. We said goodbye to three brothers who went back to their grandmother who was now in a place where they felt she could look after all three children. We also said goodbye to a baby boy who came to us at two months old after nearly dying in the hospital. His mother died shortly after giving birth, but his father remained very involved during the year he was with us. This tiny baby who came to us so small left fat and healthy to live with his grandmother in the Eastern Cape. The last discharge was a little girl who had been with us for 14 months. Her mother sadly died whilst the little girl was with us. Her grandmother came from the Eastern Cape to spend a week with us getting to know her grandchild and learning to administrate her medication. She has now taken the little girl to live with her in the Eastern Cape.

We were also able to provide care for a new arrival: a young boy who had become very ill due to not taking his meds. He had developed TB and needed somewhere to build his strength so he stayed with us for three weeks. His mother was also unwell and each time she was in hospital the people caring for him did not give him the meds. Due to this referral from the clinic, we were able to get social workers involved who are able to monitor the situation, and the mother knows now that if she has to go to hospital she can call the social workers who will help support her.

Rainbow Smiles

Farewell pool party for Tim and Maz

We kicked off the holiday period by having a great Christmas party with a braai and a water slide! The children particularly loved racing down the slippy slide. Following the party, we began a very long break and have only just started back at the tail end of January when we began the new year by having a pool party to say goodbye to Tim and Maz.

We have added two more children to the club, which brings the total to 17 children – an amazing number for us. Unfortunately, we have had to say goodbye to our trusted volunteer Johan, but we have gained Greg from France who is helping at the club. Starting this week, we look forward to two students from Holland joining our team! Due to the need for more helpers, we have moved the meeting time to Wednesdays, which we’re hoping works out with the earlier school time.

Lastly, one of our children who has become young leader has been able to re-start his schooling at community college after being out of school for over two years. This is a massive achievement for him, and we are incredibly proud of him. He is 17 years old and left school after only completing Grade 6 (primary school level). If he works hard and continues with his adult education, he will be able to matriculate by the time he is 20 years old.

Sports

A day at the beach with our sports kids

Village of Hope sports leaders Greg and Emma combined forces with our community sports mentors to take 80 kids to the beach at the end of December to celebrate the end of 2014 and the summer holiday. Two busloads of kids got a day of fun in the sun and swimming in before school started back! Then in January, Village of Hope collaborated with local Strand-based charity Solid Rock to do a full week of 9am-5pm athletic activities and biblical life coaching at Groenberg School in Grabouw. More than 175 kids attended per day - an amazing turn out, and a lot of fun for the kids and our staff alike. Now well into February, we are excited to return to our scheduled daily sports programme in different pockets of the Grabouw community. Word is spreading amongst the kids, and we expect to be operating with full volume by next week!

a littl' bit a hope this christmastide....

maz and mel putting up decorations
in the unit

during the last week we have been preparing ourselves for the festive season with our annual sleigh rides into the community, christmas gifts to friends and families in the community (including live chickens to some of our mentors) as well as helping the children who live with us understand the 'real meaning' behind all the bright lights and carols.

it's also fantastic to be able to provide the children with some of the traditional pleasures that we have grown up with, its not all about looking forward to the presents but we have lit an advent candle every evening as we count the sleeps to the big day (thanks nana!) along with decorating the unit with some of the decorations we bought from england.

start the sleigh!

however our biggest news this week is that one of our little ones received his Christmas present early as he was reunited with his family in the eastern cape. this little one came to us only a few days old and already with a very sad story. his mother passed away soon after he was born, she was HIV+ but he was blessed not to have caught this devastating disease from her but he did arrive needing some complex medical care which often ended up with us taking him to our nearest hospital (about 25 minutes down the mountain) for days on end. you won't believe it from the photo but he joined us as a really poorly scrap but with the support of his father and the wonderful work of our house moms he has really grown into a delightful little boy.

father Christmas over worked in watereworks!

his father was very proactive and has visited as often as he could, he works on a farm about two hours drive from grabouw but with public transport being such a challenge it often took him half a day to get to us which meant he only had a few minutes to spend with his child before having to walk back to the local taxi (minibus) pick up for a lift to the train station and the long journey home.

boy going home

emma has put in some amazing work to ensure that his family were kept in touch with all that was going on and earlier this week we were able to take him to his father for him to continue on the traditional christmas journey to visit relatives in the eastern cape, where the child will live with his grandmother and continue to receive the care he needs as he grows.

we really do rejoice over this news and as hard as it is to say goodbye we do it with the knowledge that we have been able to provide that medical care when he really needed it, to be a part of this little ones story is a true blessing and we thank God for calling us all here to enable this to happen!

once again thanks for the photos lisa baldry!

December News

Children’s Unit
The end of the calendar year also sees the end of the school year here in South Africa so we’ve been busy with various end of year events for the kids. Some of our children are finishing pre-primary and moving into primary school which is a real landmark.

We have also been able to discharge one little boy back to his parents and our little girl with cerebral palsy is doing fantastically – she can now walk with just one stick and her balance is improving every day.

Our relationships with the social workers are continuing to strengthen and Emma now has weekly touch points with them to keep abreast of all the situations.

We’ve been working hard at doing lots of paperwork and getting more policies and procedures in place as well as sorting budgets for next year. Although this is sometimes monotonous and mind-boggling, it is very worthwhile and necessary!

Last week we took the staff to the Caledon Spa for their end of year treat. The destination was a surprise but they all loved it and it was a really fun day. We were thankful to have competent volunteers who could take charge of the children’s unit for a few hours so that all the staff could join in.


Sports
We’re very happy to welcome Greg who has arrived from France to assist with the sports outreach for six months. He’s dived straight in and is a real hit with the mentors. We’ve been partnering with the local day clinic and have been using the sessions over the past few weeks to educate the children on the need for immunisations as well as making them aware of the dangers of diarrhoea - which can fast become a killer in the challenging environments where many of them reside.

Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents
Rainbow Smiles is coming on leaps and bounds:

• We have developed a relationship with the Grabouw day clinic, they will be sending a Councillor to the club once a week and will hopefully be involved in planning and moving the club forward.

• We have managed to find some adult education for our 17 year old young leader and are hoping he can start this in January.

• One of our club members wanted to go to a school prom and could not afford to go, so she asked if we could help her in making things so that she can sell them to raise the money. This is really positive that our young people are not just asking for hand-outs but are looking at ways they can try and solve problems.

• The young people also wanted to give back to the community by singing at an old age home. We did this on Friday and we were extremely proud of all the children who sang, danced, played the drums and wrote and read poems out loud. They all did very well particularly as the audience was not very responsive.


Other News:
Volunteers:
As well as Greg we’ve been able to welcome Katie from the UK. She is a youth pastor so has a wonderful knack with the kids!

Last month also saw a visit from our extended family from InFocus Church in Augusta. We love hosting these guys and each time they come the do wonders for us both practically and emotionally. And Helen from the USA board popped over to visit too which is always lovely!

Emerging Leaders:
The Leadership for Hope course that took place in October seems to have had a really positive impact on the community. Those who were on the course were asked to share what they had learned and they are all very passionate about it. One of our House Moms attended and shared it with her brother which inspired him to decide to complete his education and Tim has been approached to see whether it can be rolled out to all the employees in the local municipality. It looks like the community have finally been given some training which they can apply to their lives which is very exciting so watch this space!

Skydive for Thembalitsha:
If you are slightly crazy and live in the UK, Ii is now possible to take part in a skydive to raise funds for Thembalitsha.
This is the chance of a lifetime – the only way to experience a skydive without spending thousands of pounds becoming a free-fall parachutist.

• Jump and training completed in one day

• Harnessed to an experienced parachute instructor at all times

• Jump from at least 10,000 feet

• Free fall 5,000 feet, falling at 120 mph

• Landing controlled by instructor

• Choose from 1 of 25 British Parachute Association approved centres across the UK.

Cost of challenge:
You don't pay anything; but you will need to fundraise a minimum of £395 in sponsorship money. We can provide you with lots of fundraising support. A minimum of £115 will go directly to Thembalitsha and the rest covers the cost of your jump. Anything raised over the minimum target will also go to Thembalitsha, providing healthcare, education and training to South Africa's poor.

To book your jump, click here: https://www.skylineregistrations.co.uk/parachuting/booking.aspx?&charity=73962

For more information contact Carol at carol@thembalitshauk.org.uk

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 accepted. Thank you!

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!

2013 to be full of hope.....

christmas day chilling with a coke!

we are sorry for the lack of blog posts over the last week or so but we have experienced some inconvenience with our internet service being cut off and us having some really great family time with the kids and house moms, as well as tim's family being over which has been nice.

on Christmas day we were welcomed to the home of some friends from elgin united church where we and all the kids, house moms and volunteers descended into their space, it was a wonderful time, the house moms and kids swam in the pool and we enjoyed some lovely food together.

waiting for the new pool to fill!

the children received a new paddling pool which has entertained them for many an hour, it's great to see the joy that a simple pool of water can bring.

we also ventured to the beach on new years day, again the house moms and kids enjoyed a chilled time, splashing around in the sea and making sand castles. this is such a wonderful time of the year in cape town and we have been truly blessed with some fantastic weather.

collecting water with mommy maz

not every one's 2013 started with such festivities, 4 children from our local community have died from the effects of diarrhea, which seems incomprehensible in this day and age, however with little access to clean water or basic sanitation the situation can quickly lead to death for these little ones.

i (tim) was able to assist with the funeral transport and support towards the family of a very close friend of mine who's 7 month old sister passed away on Christmas day, the family who have nothing (and i mean nothing) have had a little piece of their joy taken from them and we mourn the passing of their daughter with them.

things have also been interesting around the village of hope as well, with a large section of fencing being stolen over a number of days, we have managed to find some of it in the local community with the police being involved in finding those who are causing havoc around the town. our neighbour has been broken into 3 times over the new year and we praying that he will remain upbeat in a dire situation.

so it is into 2013 we look with hopefulness, we pray peace and joy over all of you and whatever 2013 holds for you we continue to thank God for your support towards the work we are doing here in south africa.

January News

Happy New Year from all of us here at Village of Hope. As we enter 2012 we are full of excitement at what God has in store for us this year…We are also rather hot! The summer has decided to kick in and it has been in the mid-30s for the past week…phew! Anyway, we intend to grab 2012 by the horns, seizing every opportunity and continue our fight to restore hope to the communities we work with.

We want to invite you to join us in our quest and use this year to make a positive change . Why not sign up to volunteer or take on a personal challenge to raise funds for us? Two of our Thembalitsha staff might inspire you. Together with their friends they have organised two initiatives in aid of our Foundation. Frances from our sister project Bosom Buddies is completing 6 physically grueling trail runs within a month – for those of you who don’t know, these runs are actually like racing up and down a mountain! (Sponsor her here) And Amanda, our funding manager, is going to cycle from our Village of Hope project around the coast to the most southern point in Africa: Cape Agulhas.

Together we can make a huge difference. For more information on how you can get involved email us: info@thembalitsha.org.za…..Start now!

Village News
Tim and Maz returned back safely from their exciting tour or Europe – That might be a slight exaggeration but they did cover a few countries on their trip! The tour proved to be busy but very successful. It seemed a fantastic mixture of talks and presentations, worship events, radio interviews, plane flights and visits to past volunteers. They also managed to spend some quality time with their family too!

The rest of the team here were very relieved to receive them home! There were no major incidents whilst they were away, the project didn’t burn down and remained pretty much as Tim and Maz had left it! – Always an achievement!

The children opening their gifts from Operation Shoebox
(Isaac ably assisting!)

Children’s Unit
The Children in the unit had a most enjoyable Christmas time. This year, for the first time, all the children were able to spend at least Christmas day with either a House Mom or a relative. This was a really special time for the children. They all came home very happy and with huge grins on their faces. It must have been great for them to be so spoilt and have the sole attention of a normal family for a change. Our 11-year-old boy was the only one who was unable to go to a family. Unfortunately for him he had to remain at our sister project, ThembaCare Athlone, because he had just been discharged from hospital after yet more health battles. He is still there now. We have tried to bring him back to the children’s unit in between times but it just hasn’t worked – he isn’t stable enough and needs more medical support. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Christmas also saw a flurry of parties and celebrations for the children in the unit. This year our party, in conjunction with the day hospital and ThembaCare, was very generously funded and meant that we could have a magician: Mr Fu Lin Yu (get it?!) The kids loved it.

The new year brought in a new child who has come to stay whilst his home environment gets sorted. He is yet another little one suffering with HIV and TB but is a happy little soul and has made himself at home here very quickly.

Those kids who are old enough to attend school are back. Our 6 year old boy has started ‘big’ school and now has to wear uniform – he looks very cute and is very proud of his new attire but is a little overwhelmed by his new environment. Also, our 3 year old girl started preschool for the first time. She is loving it and is especially insistent on carrying her own rucksack despite the fact that it’s almost as big as she is!

Our Dutch and Australian volunteers with
some of the kids from our sports clubs

Sports Outreach and Community Work
We were able to take the children from our sports clubs out for their annual trips to the beach again which is always good fun. It’s such a special experience for these children who, although they only live 20 mins drive from the sea, hardly ever get to visit the beach and for some it was their first time. We were also able to take them to a local restaurant to have burgers for lunch. The expressions on their faces really were priceless when they saw their lunches arriving. It really makes you realise how blessed we are to consider eating out as a normal activity.

These beach days were the final flourish of action from our fantastic interns from HAN University in Holland. Stephan and Weike really have helped to develop and refine our sports outreach, taking it to the next level, and we were very sad to see them go last week. They were so dedicated to us in their time here and really embraced the project as a whole. They go leaving a legacy and a high standard to retain – so no pressure for the next two students who arrive in February then?!


Other News

Volunteers:
Where would we be without volunteers? This year we have so many bookings (right through to July already!) and we are so thankful because if it wasn’t for these fantastic specimens  we would really struggle to keep our heads above water. This month we were sad to say goodbye to Heather, whose solid, level-headedness  and hard work was so valuable over her three months of service – especially with Tim and Maz being away. We also said goodbye to Stjjn who was with us for a month including Christmas and new year. He was a building student from Holland and helped to construct a new water tower on site so that we can install a new filtration system to purify the borehole water. We will miss trying to pronounce his name and his big hair!
Thankfully we’ve also been able to welcome some new volunteers. Jess Trigg from Yorkshire is with us for six months and is already getting stuck in with the Children’s Unit. She is revising all the activities and bringing in some fresh ideas. She is already looking a lot less pasty that when she first arrived thanks to the heat wave we’ve been having recently!
We are also very excited to welcome Tim Berger back. Tim has served here numerous times by bringing over and leading mission teams from America. This time he has arrived to serve us for 2 years and we can already see that he is going to be a great asset to the team – even though he’s another American so with him and Mel here us Brits are rapidly losing ground!

New Year, New Building:
Yes, you did read correctly! –Guess what? We have another group of students from Stuttgart, Germany, arriving to build another building on Village of Hope. The advance party of three has already arrived and another twenty-five will be joining them mid-February. The university are keen to build a long-tern relationship with us and will be putting a plan in place to return annually to add more structures. Once again they have raised the funds to do this themselves which is staggering. Our thoughts at the moment are that, hopefully, we will be able to build enough accommodation so that we can move the volunteers out of their current place and free up that space to develop the work of the children’s unit to include counseling rooms and a staff room for the House Moms as well as meeting rooms….but this will all take quite a while. We will be posting regular updates on the blog as to the progress of this next building. It looks like now we really are going to have a village of the land!


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!!! You can download a standing order form from our website – don’t forget to sign a gift aid form if you are a UK tax payer

• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise £1000s with enough enthusiasm! We also have annual walks, runs and bike rides. For more information contact us office@thembalitshauk.org.uk

• Pray – Sign up to the prayer newsletter. Prayer is just as vital to us (if not more so) than money! We can’t have enough people committing to pray persistently for us. Sign up at prayer@thembalitshauk.org.uk


VOLUNTEERING

We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff out 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 the Village of Hope please download the INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERS documents from the Support Us page on our website (www.thembalitsha.org.za). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you

info@thembalitsha.org.za

father christmas visits grabouw again...

santa (johan) and his little helpers!

during last week we made the necessary changes to our heavy duty trailer once again converting it into santas sleigh. the plan was to tow it into the community on thursday afternoon but with a little unseasonal drizzle we postponed it until friday afternoon.

this was the third year that we have taken santa into our community and this year johan, our maintenance man, was chosen to play the role as father christmas, following in the footsteps of my dad who played him last year and our wonderful norwegian volunteer, trondor played him the first year we were here.

kids chasing father christmas and his sleigh

we decorated the bakkie, toyota hilux, with tinsel and balloons, fitted a new speaker system which enabled us to play some traditional christmas hits at a louder volume than we had been able to do previously. johan was joined by some of our longer and short term volunteers in the sleigh where they 'gave' out sweets to the excited children that we passed by.

kids in the community, followed by a local taxi
trying to sneak in on the celebration!

its great to see the reaction of both the children and also the adults as they saw father christmas coming past their homes. this year we took a slightly longer route to enable us to reach more children, the joy on their faces was a sight to behold and the sweets were an added bonus.

if you would like to see a short video of last years venture then please click on this link which will take you to youtube, or if you would like to read more about our previous years stories then please click on these links for 2010 here and 2009 here

a happy christmas from the village of hope

johan as santa as we prepare the bakkie to tow
the sleigh into the community!

we just wanted to thank all of our wonderful friends for their support this year, whether you are family, have volunteered (which automatically makes you family as well!), given funds, arranged an event, hosted us during our trips to europe, you know who you are and we really do appreciate you.

the children who live with us at the village of hope will be going to spend christmas with our house moms, thus giving the moms an extra few days with their families, the children a bit of a holiday and the volunteer team a little time to chill and enjoy the festive season.

so from the village of hope team, the house moms, the children in the unit and those in the community we want to wish you all a very happy christmas and a peaceful and prosperous new year.

unfortunately we can't post a photo of us with the children, but if you would like to receive one then we would be more than happy to email you one, so please get in contact, either through the blog or facebook and we will arrange that for you!

please could we ask you to remember our little 11 year old boy who is out of hospital but still very sick, he will be staying at thembacare in athlone over the weekend and we pray that he will soon be well enough to come back to stay with us, his family, here at the village of hope. thanks.

beach trips and christmas parties...

moms, volunteers and lastly kids enjoying
a day at the beach

this could be somewhat of a reoccurring post over the coming few weeks as we enjoy some of the blessings that our children will be receiving during this christmastide and with the fact that the local schools close for their long summer/christmas holidays this means that our sports outreach into the community, which we run each and every school day afternoon takes a bit of a rest and we are able to do some more fun stuff with those kids and the others we support in our community.

in september we started a new club for children living in the local community who are HIV+ and known to either the day hopstial, thembacare grabouw or village of hope, and on friday, as part of their C
christmas surprise, we were able to take them to our local country club for an afternoon filled with fun and food, which they really enjoyed.

we were also able to take our own children (those that live with us at the village of hope) to the beach over the weekend, which was enjoyed by the children but more so by our house moms and the volunteers who are with us at the moment. we had a picnic at gordons bay, enjoyed some ice lollies and encouraged the children to take their first 'swimming lessons'!

over the next few weeks we will be able to share further with you about the ways in which we have been able to give these children some wonderful experiences, i must say that i'm not looking forward to taking 50 of our sports outreach children to the beach in early january, given the headaches of making sure everyone is safe, happy and accounted for, but i am sure they will all have a lot of fun.

could we also remind you to pray for our dear 11 year old who is back in red cross, not feeling to well at all and obviously missing this festive time of year with us! thanks

a very positive party...

johan (sponsored by white squirrel) and
mother christmas hold court!

we (tim and maz) arrived back to find that the village of hope was still standing, we want to thank rob, em, mel, johan, our house moms and other key volunteers for doing such a wonderful job when we were away.

as with most things we found that there were a plethora of activities set up for the children to enjoy, which can be increasingly busy around this time of year as people want to bless our children and those that we support in the community with presents and parties, which are all wonderful but take time to arrange and run.

yesterday we had the pleasure of taking the children from the village of hope, along with those known to thembacare (grabouw) and our day hospital to a party, hosted at agape but organised by mel from the village of hope, a sister from the day hospital and marlene from thembacare. mel also had help from our longer term volunteer heather who had sorted a magician to keep the children entertained whilst they waited for their food.

around 80 children attended, along with all our thembacare community based workers and village of hope moms and some voluteers....father christmas (well it was a lady, which provided some hilarity all around) turned up with presents for all the children, johan and hinrich also kept the children busy with games etc and a great day was had by all.

christmas in the squatter camps

i don't think anyone can really appreciate the poverty that surrounds our town until they have visited the poorest of the poor, not just on some township tour but walking, talking, sharing time and conversation in the very homes of the thousands of people who live in some of the worst conditions in the world. the contrast between the have and have nots is somewhat brain challenging but God has provided us with a platform to not only help but really engage with these people.

on fridays we are provided an amazing pot of soup from our local resturant (the rose and bull) which we normally share with a local soup kitchen that cares of the needs of a small number of people in the rooidakke informal settlement, however last friday (christmas eve) the centre was shut but we still had the soup to give out...therefore rob (house) called me to see who we could bless with it.

we made our way to the iraq squatter camp, which sits above rooidakke, in my bakkie and encouraged everyone to go and collect their pots where we then ladled out soup into litrelly hundreds of bowls...it was an amazing sight to behold as the rains fell on the tin shacks people were blessed with hot soup, full of meat for their christmas eve meal...

i thank God for the opportunities he places for us to be his hands and feet in some of the most shocking places of this amazing country of south africa.

santa hits the big time!

for the second year running the village of hope hit the front page headlines in the christmas edition of our local newspaper, the elgin grabouwer. see story as image and click for a larger version.

but this year santa has gone one step further by appearing on youtube, see link here . emily house, our wonderful film tech guru, put this clip together to give you all a flavour of the event, include the assembly by johan, decoration by tim and rob, our santa played by tim's dad, and elves fran, kate, jess and mel giving out sweets from the sleigh, unfortunately you don't really see arron, josh, chris or dan who were playing crowd control!!!...hopefully you will see the joy that was bought to hundreds of children who can be seen running after the sleigh in the waterwerks squatter camp.

next year we will have to go one step further, but for now we want to wish you all a very happy christmas from the team at the village of hope, grabouw, south africa.

christmas decorations

this afternoon the boys, arron, josh and dan, with the help of a few friends, put up the christmas decorations in the children's unit...i know we are late but better late than never!