newsworthy stories...

it's always nice to have the profile of the work we are doing raised in the media and last week the village of hope project, and the work we are involved with via the thembalitsha foundation, made the news in two papers around the world.

for those of you who don't live in grabouw the story of our fifth birthday celebrations made the news in the elgin grabouwer, see photo attached and for those who live outside of the aylesbury vale (the area where myself, maz, rob, emily, barbara, emma and josh hail from) we appeared in the local newspaper, the bucks herald, and if you would like to take a look at the electronic version of that piece then please click this link.

  

visits from local dignitaries

thembacare grabouw make the front page

sorry that we have been so quiet since we returned home, but for those of you that follow us via this blog or have visited the village of hope project here in grabouw you will know that our days and therefore weeks seem to run away with us. added to that but just before we returned from england my (tim) laptop's hard drive gave up the ghost so i have been without my own internet connection which has hindered my prolific blogging!....however that is a poor excuse so whilst maz is enjoying an evening at the school of hope awards i thought i would share a bit of news, prior to the october newsletter which will be out soon, this majors around our appearance on the front and middle pages of last weeks local newspaper, the elgin grabouwer.



major visit with the HAN and UWC delegation at the
village of hope (in the rain!)

i say we appeared as in the royal we, meaning both thembacare and the village of hope, but news is news and we are so closely linked to our sister project that the we is really we....anyway the front page news was the fact that following their mandela day visit to our two projects in grabouw staff from the cape town parliament felt led to purchase a much needed hoist to help our staff manage the lifting and movement of the patients in our inpatient palliative care unit.

the major and maz

the other news, which took up the middle pages, and included a nice little article about the work that our former volunteers, daz and lisa, are doing with a little creche, was all around the visit of our major, chris punt, to the town. the visit was initiated by the HAN university team to showcase the work that their students are involved in.

the village of hope are currently proving placements for 2 sports students and a social work student, as well as a past HAN social work student who is volunteering with us at the moment and therefore a visit by the HAN delegation and therefore the major was always on the cards.

the delegation also included tutors and facilitators from the university of the western cape who we not only showed around our children's unit but also informed about our work in the community via our sports outreach and thembacare home based care team...the major also enjoyed lunch with us and had a long chat with myself and maz around the needs of our town and the ways in which the thembalitsha foundation are helping local and national government, and their departments, to provide much needed help in the health and education sector.

although some photos were taken for the paper it is very hard to see maz so therefore i have added a photo with her and the major together.!

kayak day makes the news

as you may have read last week we took 50 children who have been the most regular at our weekly sports outreach clubs to the local dam, read story here. well the story has been reprinted in our local paper, see image to the left and if you would like to read further click onto it for a larger copy.

another front page....

last week we launched our schools based sports outreach which takes place on monday and tuesday afternoons, from 2.15 at two local schools, pineview and katherine murray.

one of the HAN (dutch) students is working with a local township paper 'ons bekkie' during her placement and she wrote this 'front page story' which reads.


"Keep the children out of trouble

By Maaike Cnossen

Keeping them busy, working on their self-esteem and learn to respect each other. That is what the after school activities of the Village Of Hope are all about. Four times a week they organize all kind of sports and games for the children.

The Village of Hope started the program two years ago. At first it was only for kids who caused trouble in the classrooms. They started to teach them to have respect for each other and their self by doing activities with them in the neighborhood. “In the beginning some of the kids weren’t even used to saying thank you. But by learning them to have respect for me during the activities, they’ll get used to that,” tells one of the founders of the Village of Hope Tim Walker.

And now he even have more kids to say thank you. Nowadays it’s not only for the problem children anymore. A lot of children wanted to join the after school activities. Luckily, the Village of Hope recently arranged something with two primary schools. Kathleen Murray Primêr Skool and Pineview Primêr Skool let them use their fields and facilities. And that means a much bigger play ground than before, which leads to more room for more kids.

And it is a win-win-win situation, because also the primary schools benefit from it. “I am really grateful for the Village of Hope”, says deputed-principal Jeremy Ess of the Kathleen Murray Primêr Skool. “We do not have our own trained coaches, so I am very glad with the help we get from the Village of Hope.” He sees the kids really benefit from it, because it keeps them busy after school and out of trouble.

Tim Walker also wants to make a change in their lives. He always tries to get a message out each week by having different themes. This week is all about being together and looking out for one and other. They learn this by doing team sports like soccer. “They have to understand that they are a team. Playing soccer here is not about finding the new Beckham, but it’s about achieving something together”.

But the Village of Hope can’t do it all by itself. Every year they get some students of the Netherlands, who help them. “It’s always nice when new students come to join us. They are always really enthusiastic and come with new ideas. That also keeps us fresh to rethink about some activities or add some new ones.”

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