mermaids swim for hope!

there are some amazing people around the world who support the work we do here in south africa, people have walked around islands (no not robinson crusoe), biked to various places in europe (lance?! :-)), jumped out of planes, run marathons, had their heads shaved, put on school productions to name but a few but this time we have a group of crazy students from warwick university who are planning to swim around 10 miles down (or up) the river thames in the middle of an english winter.

we are so blessed to have these wonderful people place their very lives at risk to raise a few pennies to help the cause here in south africa. if you would like to show your support to haddy and her friends then please visit their page on the justgiving web site by clicking here!

we wish you well mermaids and look forward to hearing all about it very soon.

hope to light

maz, house moms and kids with karlien and amanda

amanda already eating karlien's dirt

this morning we said our goodbyes to amanda (the thembalitsha funding manager) and karline who have set off on their epic ride from the village of HOPE to the LIGHT house at cape agullas (the southern most point of africa. their HOPE to LIGHT ride will be made on the gravel roads, taking in such sights as the elgin valley apple orchards and the town of hermanus (home to the southern right whale)....they are cycling to raise awareness of the thembalitsha foundation and are collecting funds for a new mini bus for the village of hope.

love the tee shirt (and balloons!)

if you would like to support them on their journey you could catch them at the everynation church in hermanus tomorrow but should you be unable to cheer them on their way you could make their (and our) day please donate at amanda's givengain page by clicking here!

what would YOU do for charity!

we have been blown away by the extent that some people will go to raise funds to provide our project with the finances that we require to support our children who are living with HIV here in grabouw.

no one is less crazy than our friend ben jiggins, brother of jenny who volunteered at the village of hope last year, i (tim) have know ben for many many years and i'm not sure if i can ever remember him having a hair cut in all that time. however ben decided to put his golden locks on the line and used them to fund raise, via justgiving, for us.

have a look at these wonderful photos which show the before, during and after photos of ben's perm!, i love the photo of him sitting in the middle of the ladies just wondering what on earth he is doing!.....ben what you have raised will almost pay for our 10 house moms salaries for a whole month.....and should you wish to add to the amount he has raised then please visit his justgiving page here.

we also want to thank nasreen who has just set up an new justgiving page, nasreen is running the asics 10k for us later in the year...see the just giving page here.

continued support

the village of hope project seems to be growing daily, whether that be with new children, outreach into the community, extending the land which we are looking to produce our own crops on or just looking to provide our amazing children with new toys or clothes, as with anything the bigger a project becomes the more funding we require.

our amazing friends at everynation hammersmith have chosen the village of hope to be their christmas fundraising project and have updated their web site with links to a new video, (with some footage of me and maz sharing the vision, which is now actual, and some filming that was done on a visit into our local community), which is also on youtube, and our justgiving page where people can donate...please have a look at their page and even if you are not involved in that church maybe this christmas you could perhaps thing of ways in which you could support the work we are doing in south africa.

p.s the youtube footage was shot in december 2008 and it just shows how much we have done on the project, when i was watching it i was a little embarrassed to see what a state it was in when the filming was done!

bike ride and parachute jumps

just wanted to point you to the donation page of our 'old' youth pastor from aylesbury, the young mr chris stoddard and his even younger daughter, louise, are attempting to ride from the top of scotland, yes that bit of land with all the mountains and loch's, to the bottom of england raising funds for thembalitshauk, please visit his justgiving site and support him, and us!....

...we also want to thank viv bailleux, who on the celebration of her 60th birthday, sorry for the mention of your age viv, jumped from a plane, with a parachute attached i hasten to add, to raise funds for the work we are doing in grabouw....thanks to all those who sponsored her as well!