celebrating 5 years since the opening of the children's unit - its a family affair!

 barbara, maz mommy francis and mommy nettie with the cake!

on saturday we celebrated the fifth birthday of the opening of the village of hope children's unit, this was a momentous occasion and one where we wanted to use it as a time of thanksgiving to God for his great provision towards the project and those that we have impacted over the last five years.

children playing and adults worshiping in the garden

our intention was to host an 'open day'for all our friends, partners and community projects but the numbers would be so huge that we wouldn't be able to cope. so although we have other outreaches into the community via our sports and rainbow smiles clubs this was just for the children, their families and some key staff both past and present. saying that we must have had around 60 people come join us for a time of worship, tea, cake and an easter egg hunt.

the children on an easter egg hunt!

our friends from wholehearted leading worship

the weather was so hot that we had to throw up a makeshift sail to provide some shade to those who joined us, including some of the first children that filled our unit, those boys and girls who were around two years old when they stayed with us and are now six or seven years old and had all grown so much. although not all of the 45 children who we have provided care in the unit for were able to join us we had a great time as we looked back at the family tree and remember those who aren't with us now.

the worship time was led the amazingly talented 'wholehearted' band from somerset west and we want to thank them for their incredible support, however their leading was complimented by some of our house moms who sang some traditional african songs which really embraced the 'rainbow nation' feel of the village of hope.

after we had sung some songs people were able to share some of their stories of hope and gave thanks for the work that has been undertaken by our amazing team, it was great to hear these stories, shared in english, afrikaans and xhosa, of how God had blessed people both children, staff and parents via the support that we were able to provide, proving that we can be Jesus hands and feet in all situations we find ourselves in, be that praying for someone in a supermarket, to giving a life to a person at the side of the road, or providing a safe and loving home to some of the most sick and needy children in our community.

so we celebrated our first five years, we wonder where God will take this project in the next five years...watch this space!

arrival of the whirlwind.....

zebra cuddling whirlwind

during the week we have experienced some very strong northwest winds which have battered the western cape, however none of the winds impacted us as much as the little whirlwind of a child who arrived yesterday for some much needed support.

this little three year old suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and is very small for his age, he has already experienced so much in his little life and comes from a challenging home situation where things such as food, electric and hot water are a premium, so you can imagine the joy on his face as he saw the toys, beds and outside play equipment that greeted him and his mother as they walked through the door of our children's unit.

it is a joy to be able to provide a home for him but we do need help in understanding his needs so please pray for this little guy and also our house moms who will have to adapt to having this whirlwind around. please also pray for his mother who we will be working with as we seek to have him placed back with her once the home situation has been stabilised.

providing new hope to another needy child...

mommy maz reading a bedtime story.

it's wonderful to be able to provide a home to those children most in need and yesterday we received our newest addition to the vast numbers of children that we have helped in the nearly five years since we first opened the doors of our children's unit here at the village of hope.

each child who is placed with us comes with his or her own complex problems, perhaps the child has grown up in a home where the care that they need isn't being provided by the ones who love them, perhaps the child has a chronic illness or is on medication which needs to be monitored to ensure they are stabilised before discharging back to their families.

all of the cases are heartbreaking but we know that we have provided care for around 50 children, sometimes they stay with us for a short while, some a little longer, but each one has been loved and cared for whilst we work with their families or adoptive parents with the desire to ensure that both the child and their families are able to live a healthy and balanced life.

our newest admission has been in hospital for quite some time before he came to us, he is still very malnourished and is on one of the largest programmes of medication that we have seen, however we will now make those first steps with him as we seek to reunite him with his mother as soon as he and she are stable.

welcoming new children

emma and our other special girls feeding
the new baby

the recent official registration of the village of hope with the department of social development has meant that our phones have been busy with calls from our local social workers as they seek to place children with us, which is obviously great news and the reason why we exist, however with any new admission the realities of the communities we work with are highlighted and the need for the services that we provide become even more evident.

highlighting this fact was the arrival of our second new admission in as many weeks and this afternoon we received the second of two girls who need our care, the newest arrival is a beautiful little 3 week old who has been placed with us from some very trying circumstances and she joins a very malnourished and needy seventeen month old who was been with us for just over a week.

please pray for us, the team of wonderful house moms, the social workers and our volunteers as we all try to work together to understand the needs of these, and our other children, to ensure that the best care is provided for them and that their families get the best support during the times these children are with us.

new things a foot...including a new child

mommy brenda and the new baby

we are really sorry for the lack of communication via the blog over the last few weeks, but it has been a little bit manic here. i'm not going to say too much on this post as our monthly newsletter is due out this week but just to say that we have taken in a dear little baby boy who needs our support whilst we regain his weight and place him onto his HIV medication.

more to follow in the newsletter about the other new stuff.

providing new hope to another child in need...

the first meal for our new child, given
by our house mom at the village of hope

some days the day to day chores that come with running a home for 9 children infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB, along side our daily sports and health awareness programmes into the local formal and informal settlements, can become so overwhelming that we have little time to really stand back to see the ways in which we are really making a difference to the people we have been called to work with..

...however there are some days where our eyes are opened to the amazing work that is undertaken at the village of hope, and today is one of those days as we successful see the fruits of the work of placing stabilised children home with families.....what do i mean by that?....

...well due to the recent successful placements of some of our longer term children (see their stories by clicking here, or here, or here) we have been able to create some more bed space to provide accommodation for more needy children, and today we are back up to our full compliment as we have welcomed another 2 year old girl into our home.

this dear little girl will be loved and cared for by our wonderful house moms and we hope that she will soon be back home with her family after we work with the local day hospital in addressing her immediate medical needs.

a new child and new student

it's always exciting for our house moms to
welcome little ones into our care

this seems to be a season of new things, today we bring you the exciting news that we have been able to provide a new home to a little boy (around 16 months old) with a very complex home situation. unfortunately his home (tin shack) was burnt down with a fatality and the young mom is unable to cope with everything during this trying time.....it is wonderful to be able to provide a place of safety for this child whilst his family situation is sorted by our local social workers.

marlise our new social work student

speaking of social workers we are pleased to tell you of our most recent dutch student from the HAN university who will be with us for 10 months as we host her as a placement for her social work studies. the help and support that we receive from these students is invaluable and we look forward to the work that marlise will be providing the children who stay with us at the village of hope and also those who attend our rainbow smiles HIV support group.

new baby with new volunteers

amanda with our new arrival

on sunday afternoon we welcomed justin and sue, our friends from aylesbury gateway church, along with their friend amanda, also from aylesbury. they will be with us for just one week but as always things are never quiet here at the village of hope and by monday afternoon they had been able to welcome a new baby girl into our children's unit.

we are hoping that this cute little girl will be with us on a short placement, but as with most of our children things are never that simple. that said she is settling in well and the other children are making her feel welcome, we will keep you updated on her progress.

birthdays and a new child

party time at the village of hope, again!

once again we are back up to a full compliment of 9 children here at the village of hope, it's wonderful to offer a child in desperate need a home but there is always a sense of the depth of the problem that created the need for that child to be placed with us. this new 18 month old girl comes from the iraq squatter camp area of grabouw and the family are struggling to keep her on the anti rectro viral treatment that will suppress the HIV that is attacking her immune system.

we have already been to visit the mom and dad at their home and we are expecting them to make their first visit to see their child this morning. we hope that the time that this little girl spends with us will enable us to not only stabilise her condition but also help her family understand her complex needs.

yesterday afternoon we were able to throw a party for a new little two year old girl, who not only celebrated with her new friends but her mother bought up a cake which is fantastic news and shows the commitment that she is making towards her child which is very encouraging.

boys boys and more boys!

we are so glad to update you with the wonderful news that our 10 year old boy, who has been suffering from another lung infection, has returned home to the village of hope after over 2 weeks in the red cross children's hospital in cape town.

whilst he was in hospital he has been treated with more specific antibiotics which we hope will have cured the most recent infection, however his little body has suffered so much in his short life and we need you to continue to pray for his complete healing as we have already had to place him on oxygen since his return!

we are also please to let you know that we have also been able to provide a home for another boy, this time a 16 month old baby who's mother is suffering from a complicated bout of TB, hopefully his stay with us will be short as he does have a loving family in the community, however once again your prayers would be appreciated to ensure the speedy recovery of his mom who will be going into hospital in cape town to receive some more intense treatment.

we now have 6 boys and 2 girls staying with us and the number of boys placed back into the community over the last two years far outweighs the girls!

village of hope provides new home for sisters

yesterday we were able to provide a home for 2 sisters (aged 4 and 2 years) who's mother is receiving hospital treatment for TB, unfortunately the mother has defaulted on her meds twice and is on her last chance...this is the reality for many people in grabouw and we are happy to help this family as they seek to make a road to full health.

we hope that the girls will settle well with the other 7 children that we are currently looking after and that during their stay with us they will receive the love and care from our house moms that they are missing from their mother.