sports outreach year ends at the beach....

kids eating pancakes at strand

our rooidakke and iraq clubs at gordons bay

the children who attend our sports outreach programme are now on their summer holiday's and to celebrate the end of another amazing year we have taken around  70 of the 250 children who attend our seven weekly clubs to the beach over the last four afternoons...

...i know that sounds idyllic but to have the worry to ensure that not only do the children travel safely down the long and winding mountain pass that we have to negotiate between grabouw and the seaside town's of strand and gordon's bay but also make sure that they all have a great time playing in the water, which for some it might be the first time they have ever visited, then its not all plan sailing!

beach 'water' football!

however everything went well, the weather was fantastic, the sea a perfect temperature for the kids to enjoy a dip and food provided by the dutch students, pancakes (pannenkoeken), which for some children were the first time they have eaten such a delight was all very special.

our amazing HAN students yoram and annemeik did such a good job throughout the last five month and it was great to share this time with you guys, we will miss you both loads! thanks must also extend to our longer term volunteers, tim and jacque who made sure that the children enjoyed their special days.

digging holes to holland!

it was a great end of the year for our sports mentors as well, we have been working hard with these guys as they serve us so well through the year, you guys rock.....we will now be taking a well earned break from the sports outreach until the middle of january!........

pancakes on the beach!

....more news will follow then as we seek to extend the work we do into new areas to bring 'new hope through sports' into our poorest communities of grabouw.

lots of 'rainbow smiles' at the beach...

which colour are you gonna choose?

snacks on the beach

on friday we spent an eventful afternoon with the children from our HIV support group, 'rainbow smiles', as we took them to the beach at gordons bay...eventful in many ways, for some of the children this was the first time at the beach, somewhat crazy to think that it's less than 20 minutes from their homes but in their world it's a million miles from their day to day surroundings. eventful as hardly any of them had a change of clothes, let lone swimming kit and a beach towel, not an everyday item when you live in a home with no running water or electric, eventful as we blessed them with a visit to the ice cream parlor and gave them the option to chose a flavour....not something that many of them have ever had the chance to do before, eventful as some of the ice creams ended up in the sand!.....eventful in the fact that rob's faithful landrover broke down just as we arrived at the beach and we had to not only tow that to the garage but also try to work out how we to get the number of children back up the mountain, all with seat belts, and safely back to their homes.

too much choice!

for us at the village of hope these are some of the items we have to deal with on a daily basis, the disparage between those that have and those who have never had, the fact that most of our vehicles break down at least once a month and with the cost of repairs and fuel rising this is an increasing drain on our resources, in fact the toyota bakkie is back in the garage after a week off the road with gearbox problems!.....but none of these things seem to matter for that short couple of hours when we were able to bless these 15 children who attend our weekly club with some fun and games at the local beach...

..the lives they live are very complex, living with HIV comes with it's obvious health issues but the social and economic issues that surround and overwhelm them as perhaps unseen by many, but to see the joy in their eyes at the sight of the sea, the sand beneath their feet and the happiness at being able to be a child for just a moment as they splashed around in the water was another amazing experience and its great to be able to invest in their lives in this small way. so we want to thank all our supporters for the funds that are donated so we can do what we do for these very special kids.

being a blessing and being blessed!

the girls netball team from rooidakke

during our journey into the unknown here in south africa our western thoughts and minds are being constantly challenged. today was another one of those days as we were able to bless around 20 children from our local community with a day at the beach and a burger and chips, which most of us would think nothing of doing either during a summer holiday or if you live 20 minutes from the beach here in grabouw on a weekend afternoon, however for these children this was a very very special experience of which they may have never known before or ever have the chance to experience again in the very near future.

beach cricket south africa style!

a game of 'beach tennis'

we all really enjoyed the luke warm sea, the hot sun and delicious burgers whilst having the opportunity to play some beach cricket, tennis and a game football, including a mixture of other people from the beach joining in our impromptu game which was a major success.

the day was made possible by some of our wonderful volunteers, from england, holland and an australian who provided us with her lifeguarding skills.

tomorrow we will be taking the some children from a local farm, whilst on thursday we will be taking two further groups from our local community sports outreach.

all the above is wonderful however what really hit me was the fact that about 20 minutes after i had dropped the children to either their tin and wooden shack or simple breeze block homes in the informal settlements in grabouw, i was able to take a shower to help cool me down and remove some of the salt and sand which had attacked my body during the day, with the knowledge that many of these children, and thousands like them in our town, live in homes with no running water or even electricity let lone a shower.

however i thank God that we were able to bless the kids, whilst also remembering we are constantly receiving blessings ourselves and giving thanks to God for that is the important thing!

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