all smiles at rainbow smiles

its been a while since we updated you about our rainbow smiles adolescent HIV support group which runs each friday afternoon under the amazing leadership of emma podmore, who is ably supported by johan and two of our thembacare care workers.

we have to respect the children's identities and therefore their status which is one of the reasons for the lack of updates about this wonderful group, however last friday we held a special session which celebrated the move to our new venue which is held at sunday school rooms at the elgin united church and it was a chance to welcome some new children who we had identified via the work we do with the local day clinic to our weekly club.

the children enjoyed an afternoon of drumming and dancing which was lead by our security guard, andlie. they had so much fun learning simple (for them but not myself and emma who really struggled!) rhythms and xhosa dancing which was great to watch. it was nice to see the use of music to bring the group together and we hope to do this again in the future, if we can borrow the drums again.

rainbow smiles for a rainbow nation

as you can imagine the news of nelson mandela's passing on thursday evening has dominated the thoughts of all here at the village of hope, the news feeds, not only here in south africa but all around the world are full of thoughts towards him and the name he was, its quite strange being part of the national outpouring of love and support that this country is going through at the minute and we are aware that that will probably heighten during the next few days as we lead up to his funeral this coming sunday.

yesterday morning we gathered with the rest of the congregation at elgin united church to hold a special memorial service for nelson mandela and we had the privileged to hear from two men who were very close to him following his release and creation of the new government. the stories they told really captured the essence of the man the world has come to revere and as a nation we are now standing at the precipice of a new era, he has gone but as he so rightly said in one of his amazing speeches 'the future is in our hands now' and we need to build upon the work he so freely gave his life to.

its at times like these when we realise that the work that we are involved with at the village of hope and the wider thembalitsha foundation comes even more in line with mandela's fight for the rights of the poor, the overlooked and those who have or are missing out on basic healthcare and education that that most of us reading this post would take for granted and its amazing to be deeply involved in an organisation that has the essence of freedom at its heart.

rainbow smiles children enjoying the time at the beach
(photo by susie erwin)

therefore it was continued vigor that we set out after our regular morning meeting on friday as we sought to continue to bring new hope to those we are called to serve. the day (as with many of our days) was a busy one with runs to drop of the weekly rubbish, collect and distribute the soup to the two communities we support, the picking up of the sports mentors from their training week away in tokai, however the highlight must have been was our year end rainbow smiles event which ended up with a trip to the beach followed by a meal at the spur restaurant in strand.

for weeks the excitement around the trip had been building and as last friday came closer and closer these HIV+ children, who attend our weekly support group, were almost climbing off the walls. by 1.30 (it should have been 1pm but TIA) we completed the collection from their homes in the two thembalitsha bakkies and set of over the mountain to find the nearest beach. upon arrival we found some much needed relief from some breeze and changed into our swimmers and enjoyed some time splashing around in the sea and playing some ball games on the beach.

it was great to see these beautiful kids, who we have come to love and see as friends since starting the rainbow smiles group a few years ago, just having fun and it was an honor to join emma, johan and andiswa, in this special afternoon.

the highlight of the trip must have been seeing the children's faces when they received the christmas presents that emma had so thoughtfully bought and gathered together for each of them, it was a wonderful and humbling afternoon and quite a fitting end to an eventful day for all here at the village of hope.

happy to help.....

simple bottle tops,
used as washers on the plastic roof

yesterday morning we received an early morning call to inform us that there had been a fire in one of the informal settlements in grabouw. these are areas where some of our children come from, where we run sports outreach and where our thembacare palliative home based carers work day in day out and we were more than happy to help out where we could.

with the support of a few of the congregation from the elgin united presbyterian church who donated some funds we were able to purchase some basic items to help reestablish the two families who had lost everything in the fire. the more immediate needs of food etc were provided by the local community who rallied round to help their neighbours but with the money we collected we were able to buy a small stove, buckets, crockery, cooking utensils and we were able to make good use of the volunteer mattresses which we had recently replaced to ensure that the families (of 8 people) could sleep off the floor.

friends helping to rebuild.
see burnt tree in foreground.

it was amazing to see how well the men had done, rebuilding their simple timber structure home, which was covered with black plastic sheeting and insulated with card board. the municipality had provided some basic building materials but much of it was made from locally sourced materials....like the washers that were used to stop the nails pulling through the plastic sheeting, (see the photo showing the 'bottle top washers').

we know that we only provided a part of what is needed to ensure these families get back on their feet and we need to continue to support this and other families like them, we are happy to have put them in touch with other like minded NGO's (charities) who will be able to help them in other ways, such as sorting their ID books which were burnt in the fire and other important documents that may take months to replace but are required to enable people to live each and everyday.