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.

into the thirties with another home placement

goodbye uncle rob.....

life at the village of hope can be very fragile, relationships come and go, be they with the volunteers who come to spend time at the project or the children we are here to help, and as we have said before it's never easy to say goodbye.

last week we had another goodbye to go through, this time we said our sad but in some way happy goodbye's to a three year old little girl who had been with us for around three months, and whom we have seen develop beyond recognition since she has been with us.

we didn't have much time to plan for her departure as thing had moved on a pace during the recent unrest but she is a feisty little character who likes to have her own way, and in one way that will prove very useful in the future as she returns to a family in the local formal settlement (township)...the last thing we were able to do before she left was sort out her schooling and she will be starting pre-school on monday morning, where she will be joining two other children from the village of hope, so we are confident that our paths will cross again!

wonderful news of our 29th home placement

opening her memory box

yesterday we experienced the end of one of the most amazing stories that we have seen at the village of hope and what we trust will be the start of the next part of the story for our wonderful 5 year old girl who has been with us since almost the opening day back in early 2009.

...in fact this little girl, who is HIV+ and also suffers from foetal alcohol syndrome, has spent most of her life within the thembalitsha projects, we were blessed to provide a home for her after our sister project, thembacare athlone, had stabilised this little one who came to us needing to take her fluids via a tube into her stomach.

her development has been a joy to watch, from her first day at pre-school to the time when we found a long lost great aunt who said she was willing to provide a stable home for this little girl following the death of the mother from AIDS earlier in the year.

the work that was done not only my mommy maz but also sister portia from thembacare grabouw, who has been visiting the great aunt to ensure that she is happy with the complex ARV medication that needs to be given every twelve hours to make sure she stays healthy and well, and our the social worker from thembacare in athlone, has enabled this family reunion to happen in what we never dared to dream would be the best outcome in this situation.

the staff and volunteers made her a memory box for her to remember us by which she opened once the court had made the placement legal.....it doesn't really need me to say that we will miss this little bundle of fun, as will all her peers, here at the village of hope but we know that God has an amazing plan for her life, a new school and family and we pray that she fulfils all the exciting things he has  for her to enjoy!

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!

our 7 year old boy leaves the village of hope (our 24th!)

well what a week we have had and to cap it all we have some further wonderful news to share. after over 2 and a half years with us our little 7 year old boy has now left us to start his new life with his grandparents on a local farm.

this boy was placed with us at very short notice in september 2009, his mother had been a patient at our thembacare grabouw facility and although the amazing team there were able to stabilise her she is unable to care for the little boy herself. you could read about his arrival during a film shoot here.

the news of his departure is due again to maz, the house moms and mommy mel who have not only worked with him but his grandparents to bring this reunification back into his family home, he becomes our 24th child to be placed home or with foster care.

over the last few weeks he has been counting down the sleeps till he was able to go home and such was his hurry on friday evening to get into the car we were unable to capture a decent photo capturing the moment, but that in a way is great news and we are so glad that he was happy to 'go home'.


we would ask you to continue to pray for him, that his family will continue to work with him, ensuring that he attends his monthly counseling meetings and hospital visits and although he has gone home he will spend every school day afternoon with us at the village of hope as we provide his grandparents with some after school care.....

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!

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!