village of hope sports mentors do thembalitsha proud....again!

shep and aphiwe with their
player of the tournament trophies

on saturday josh (our international volunteer who has been with us for over a year) took eight of our sports mentors to a football tournament in worcester. this has become an annual event and once again the boys were up early as josh made the hour long trip through the beautiful mountain scenery to attend this event which was hosted and organised by our friends at solid rock.

it is so good to write up this post which follows on from the same theme as last years, which can be read by clicking on the link here, as our boys once again performed with incredible consistency winning 10 of their 11 games and drawing the other one.....over the last two years we have now played 18 won 16, drawn two and have yet to lose a match!

i'm not sure any of us can really appreciate the tough lives these amazing mentors live, not all of them have brick homes, some of them live without basic sanitation and have to walk to collect their water, many of them have no father figures in their lives and by looking at the photo of them you will see that many of them had to borrow the very trainers, not even football boots, to play in.

wearing your shirts back to front is apparently the way
to win tournaments these days!

the results of the games speak for themselves but the fact that one of our boys won the player of the tournament for the second year in a row and this year our goalkeeper was recognised for his sterling performances by winning the 'best goalkeeper' award is also amazing news.

however all of this pales into insignificance as we can boast about these eight amazing boys, as well as the other mentors who make up our daily sports outreach team, the dedication and commitment that these school boys make as they give up their precious weekday afternoons to be the peer educators to the children living in the informal settlements in grabouw is simple fantastic, these boys have really tough lives and live in the very areas where we work each afternoon, so whether the boys had won the tournament on saturday or not really isn't the point, these guys are true hero's to us as a team here at the village of hope and are really an inspiration to the hundreds of children that we work with each and every weekday afternoon.

you guys make us so proud and it's an honour to work with you, well done!

happy moves into new homes and challenges with old homes for our sports mentors

the brothers home

we live in a world that doesn't seem fair and as you know life throws all sorts of challenges at us, however the bible says that we should praise God in the good times and the bad and it also calls us stand with those who mourn and celebrate with those who are happy. late on friday afternoon and during the weekend we had the opportunities to fulfil both of those God given mandates.

mentors old home

the first situation we were faced with came up during our weekly sports meeting, which due to the shocking weather we had to do at each of our peer educators (sports mentors) homes.

two of our mentors are brothers and when we arrived at their home the wind was howling and the rain had turned to hail in the cold cape storm. inside their small bedroom (please don't have any western idea of what this might look like) the rain was pouring through the plastic sheet which made up their simple roof.....

mentors new home

...it's hard to know what one can do during times like these and the fact that the boys told me that their mother hadn't returned from a local farm with her wages meant that there was no food in the tin box and they didn't have any means of fuel to heat their small stove which also acts as a source of heat.

myself and josh returned with an old sail sheet which we placed over the holes but by saturday morning this had blown off and so we started again!

-we were mourning with those who mourn!

the second situation was as follows...from the dire straights of one family to the joy of another of our sports mentors who informed us that he and his family had been granted a new government built home, after ten years of waiting their dreams had come true..he asked if i was able to come and help them on sunday move from their tiny tin home (just up from where the brothers stay, and were sheltering against the storm) to their new home....i gladly said yes and rejoiced with him as his eyes grew with excitement of taking the blessing that he had been praying for for all those years.

- we were rejoicing with those who rejoice!

two very different stories from two very similar situations, and that i suppose is what life is like, this afternoon i will go visit the brothers with a further piece of black plastic sheeting and see what difference we can make to the roof over their bedroom and we will also be picking up the other mentor from his new home and take him to his sports club where he will share this weeks bible story with the children who will join him at that club....

..is it a coincidence that this weeks story that all our mentors at their various clubs will be sharing is all about acceptance and the fact that God loves everyone, black or white, rich or poor, those who feel blessed and those who really really wanna cry?.....

our 8th sports club starts.....in the rain!

aphiwe leading the first soccer based lifeskills club
in marikana informal settlement

there is such need in our community and it would be easy to have a scatter gun approach to all the issues that we see and are confronted with on a daily basis, however we are keen to ensure the sustainability of any project that we start and therefore planning and preparation has been the key to our success. 

aphiwe (front) with the boys at our new sports outreach

this approach can be seen as we have developed our sports outreach over the last few years, and within this blog post we are pleased to announce that not only have we taken on two new sports mentors (local young adults from the communities we work in who provide that peer to peer education) but have increasing our clubs from the first one we set up in october 2008 which met the needs of about 20 boys aged about 13 to now our eighth club which sees us work over 400 children each week from the youngest under three's all the way through to boys and girls aged 15 and 16 years.

the new club was the dream of a new mentor (aphiwe) which has been set up in the marikana informal settlement, which sits between two of our existing clubs in north pineview and iraq. aphiwe is being supported by three of our long term mentors as he develops his skills and encourages the children who live around his home to come join the club which is taking place each and every wednesday afternoon.

unfortunately the weather didn't play ball for the first week session, however the overcast and rainy conditions didn't stop around 15 boys attending the new club and we are excited to see if we could introduce a netball club to engage with the local girls at the same location.

the success of our clubs is proof that we provide the knowledge and skills to enable the mentors to run their own clubs, in fact this is the second club where the mentors have taken on the whole running of the club without the need for us to attend at all, this is fantastic news and shows that the input that we have had with these mentors (who have all attended our various clubs as children themselves) is working and sustainable!

mentors bafana bafana trip and retruning HAN student as volunteer

teams line up for the national anthems

on sunday evening we were able to take our 15 sports mentors to watch bafana bafana, the south african football team, play against nigeria in the group stages of the african nations championship which is being hosted in cape town throughout the month. the trip was a christmas present for the mentors from myself and maz however as the national team were on the end of a 3-1 thumping the mentors probably didn't enjoy it as much as we had hoped!

sports mentors take up a whole row before the game
(sive, 3rd from left, looks really happy, not, and that was
before they lost!

saying that it's great to be able to take these amazing young people to special events like that, its definitely not something they would ever be able to do and as with similar trips we have made before to see norway and manchester united play its a sight to behold to see the joy on their faces and the excitement in their eyes as we walk through the v&a waterfront in cape town and enter the stadium to watch their hero's.

as well as the mentors we were able to bless a few of our volunteers with tickets to the game, and although they were working, helping us keep an eye on the boys and girls is somewhat similar to herding cats, especially after the game when the crowd is at its height, they say that many hands make light work and we hope they enjoyed their time.

emma, shana and jasper enjoy the pre-match atmosphere

over the weekend we were also blessed with the return of our first long term volunteer from our partnership with the HAN university in holland, jasper spent 6 months with us in 2011 and its great that he has decided to join us full time for two and half months, we are really looking forward to him helping to develop our sports outreach, mentor our mentors and generally assist shana, bonny and josh, when he returns, each afternoon at the clubs we run in the local community.

and finally can we ask you to please lift our mentors in prayer, lots of them are going through some tough times at the moment, what with them moving to new classes, or new schools, some have major social issues which make it hard for them to commit to our outreach as often as they would like. thanks

back to school...

here in south africa the school year starts in january and for those children who passed the end of year exams (which means that they can progress to the next grade) it can be an exciting time, however going back to school means a lot of expenditure which can put further pressure on families, school uniforms, books, stationery and school fees need to be bought and paid for and for those who are already living below the poverty line this can be a tough time.

one of our elder girls has started grade R this morning, which is a big step for her with two of our other children starting their first pre-school at the age of three tomorrow.

our 16 sports mentors are also going back to school and this year we have been able to assist them with some much needed stationary packs, which were kindly put together by a family who had recently volunteered with us from the united states (thanks susie and family). it was amazing to be able to give these 16-20 year old boys some welcome supplies and the joy on their faces as they opened their packs was a sight to behold.

however, and this is the real focus of this post, we have had some very heart wrenching stories from a few of our mentors who are really struggling with family issues which can really comprise their schooling.

on monday for instance i had to play dad as i collected one mentors 2013 report, his mom has moved out of town and he now lives on his own in some accommodation that we sorted for him in the community. three other mentors asked for help in finding uniforms, white shirts, pale grey trousers, white socks, black shoes and a back pack. its embarrassing for these guys to ask for such a hand out and as a foundation we don't make a habit of doing that randomly, however these boys are key players in our sports outreach programme and give so much to help support our work within the community.

i'd like to finish this blog by posting an edited letter that i received from one such boy, i hope that it gives you an idea of the types of situations these boys live in and it was our pleasure to be able to help him with the supplies he needed and today he started school with his other friends with a smile on his face.

i have changed names and dates but kept the grammar, he is xhosa speaking and english is his second language..(and by the way he calls me 'team' so i haven't changed that!)


Team, its me Paul, 

things are going bad to me, my mother doesn have money to buy a school clothes and school shose. my mother at 21/12/13 had use all the money to his father for funeral and now i am stay alone its just i write this lettar i need you help me please help me and i am stay alone the things that i was eat are finished, at 15th janury 2014 kids are going to school but i no God will make a plane for me and i am happy because i am going to grader 9. enjoy 2014 Team and also a school bag.

from Paul


these stories have highlighted a great need to us so it is our intention to address this situation next christmas and have those people who would like to give a present to focus their giving to be around the basic school supplies that we would take for granted, a fancy toy at christmas is great but what the children in our communities really need is help to get them to school with the right uniform and supplies.

beach days, new babies and mentors help....

happy christmas meal

house moms and our eldest girl enjoying the sea

nana on the beach!

we have been enjoying some balmy summer weather over the last week or so and fittingly after the funeral of nelson mandela on sunday the country celbrated its annual public holiday, 'the day of reconciliation' on the 16th december.

mommy maz building castles in the sand

grace with our newest baby boy

helping mentors

on the 15th we held our 'christmas dinner', which was cooked for us by barbara and my mum (tim) and on the public holiday it was a chance to take our wonderful children, our house moms and some members of the thembacare grabouw staff for an afternoon of fun and games at the local beach. the weather was great and the kids had a great time digging sandcastles and jumping in the surf.

after our sad goodbyes to two children on friday, see earlier post here, it was fantastic to be able to take in our newest child, a seven week old baby boy who has been placed with us after some very trying home circumstances.

who's got the frog eyes

the weeks seem to be flying by at the moment and although the schools have broken up we have been holding our sports outreach during the afternoons as normal, however with the mentors at a loose end in the mornings we have been able to provide them with a chance to earn some extra pocket money as they have joined us at the village of hope, clearing wood, cutting grass and generally tidying up around the place.

its been great working with the mentors, they are an amazing bunch of guys, willing to learn and keen to make a difference, we are blessed to know them.

an amazing sports saturday

last saturday we held another of our amazing sports saturday's where we hosted over 160 children who joined us at the elgin country club on what was a very sunny and happy day, we therefore firstly need to thank God for the provision of the good weather, the finances and abilities that each of our team has which enables us to run an event as big as this.

the children who came are part of our sports outreach clubs which run every term time weekday afternoon, weather permitting, in seven different areas around grabouw and it was a real pleasure to see the joy and excitement on their little faces as we met them at each bus pick up points with an expectation of a morning playing sports.

the day is a celebration of the children's commitment to our weekly clubs and is a place where they can show us the skills that they have learnt on the sports pitch as we organise an under 11 and over 11 soccer (association football for all those living in europe!) and netball competitions throughout the morning. however during this time together we are able to see the life skills, and even the health awareness, which we teach at each club, come to the fore, where both teamwork, sharing, communicating, courage and even patience with others is evident as we split the boys and girls into mixed clubs enabling them to work with others as they seek to win the prize!

the event isn't without its complications, just to get 160 children to the event involves early morning bus journey's as we pick every child up from around the various formal and informal settlements of grabouw, but it doesn't start there as there are so many jobs that need to be completed to ensure that this runs as smoothly as possible, from delivering and installing the 12 soccer and netball goals and setting up the pitches on the friday afternoon, to sorting 160 shirts and shorts to ensure that every player feels like a premiership star, to cooking the hotdogs and delivering them on time, it has taken a while but the preparation that is undertaken by the 'sports outreach team' ensures that the day runs like a well oiled machine and enormous thanks is sent to them from me (tim!).


during the morning we played over 20 ten minute soccer games and held a netball tournament which was attended by over 40 girls, the biggest yet!, each child was part of a team which was managed by either one of our sports mentors (peer educators) or a willing volunteer, no names but you know who you are, these managers make the children feel really important, with fair play and encouraging teamwork being the main elements to a successful manager at these events.

we could continue to write about the amazing time we had but we know that sometimes pictures speak louder than words therefore we have placed as many photos as possible which we do hope capture the spirit of the event and shows the joy that a morning of sport can bring to some of the poorest children in our communities.

new sports outreach starts in xolanaledi

i am feeling a little frustrated at the moment as my laptop has had a big breakdown so i am having to use other computers to post on the blog and uploading photos, even a simple task like completing our village of hope internet banking is providing difficult as i don't want to sync my cell phone with devices that i'm not going to be using in the future, however that said i have found a way of posting this blog and i am so encouraged about the story that i am prepared to work around my technical challenges!

we have been so busy over the last few weeks, which you will have read about in our august newsletter and even today we are wanting to share about the new landscaping that is taking place around the entrance to the project as well as another birthday party, the end of which is still taking place as i write this (i can hear the music to the 'pass the parcel' as i type), however the photos and stories around those items will have to wait for another day as i am wanting to update you all on the wonderful news about our new sports outreach club which started today.

our four sports mentors full equipped to run
 their new club

as you will be aware we are having a huge impact on over 250 children each week, those are the 9-15 year olds who attend our older club, there are hundreds of little ones, aged two to eight who have been ably entertained by boniface who looks after those children, with our bible based sports outreach and lifeskills programme. the main area of growth over the last year has been with our local 'sports mentors'/'peer to peer educators' who we have developed to assist and even run some of the more established groups.

the mentors sharing the lifeskill and bible story to
over 20 new boys who joined them at the new club

today was a real testimony to how well the new sports mentors are doing as i challenged them to seek a new area where they could run their own club, with our full backing and support (both physically with the sports equipment and spiritually with our continued mentoring programme towards them), so it was with great joy that i dropped off four of the mentors to an open piece of ground, equipped with their bible cards, footballs, training bibs and cones.

the sight of over 20 children joining the guys for the training session, which they led from start to finish, warm up, drills, lifeskill and bible story, was amazing and i must thank them for their dedication to see the very programme which has bought them to this point in their life being shared by them to the younger children in the community.

i am very proud of them and this is a real testimony to all the hard work we have put into the clubs and the lives of these young people, well done boys!

small steps make such a difference.....

as many of you will be aware thembalitsha is the xhosa translation of the english words 'new hope' and its amazing to work with a charity where we see new hope being provided in various different ways via our seven projects throughout the western cape.

it's easy to miss the stories of hope that surround us each and everyday so we have made a point of sharing some of these stories around the morning meeting table as we start each day, one as an encouragement of the things that we have seen from the days before and one to challenge us to see the small things that bring hope to those we are working with.

the new hope we see at the village of hope comes in many different forms and expressions, some are obvious as we see the development of the children who are placed with us, be that in their physical, emotional or even spiritual growth or less obvious as we see the slight changes in behaviors of the children that attend our daily sports outreach clubs.

the story of hope that i want to share on this post is one that i saw in the life of a 21 year old boy who has attended our club in the waterworks informal settlement since we set it up over four years ago, he has gone from a child attending the club to a sports mentor who has led the club on his own or with one of his big best friends with little input from us other than him attending our weekly planning sessions.

anyway he is keen to extend his studies at a local university in cape town as he comes to the end of his compulsory education but there is the small issues around the university application process, this might not seem like newsworthy information and something that should take up space on our blog, but just to be able to complete an online application isn't as easy as many of us would think.

take a moment to think about it, to complete an online application you firstly need to have to have access to a computer, which also has to have access to a phone line and most importantly of all have an electricity supply, basic stuff i know but for thousands of children in our town this something that isn't available in their own homes, and that's just for starters as we progressed through the online application form it asked for the young man's email address, again something that we take for granted but for him was a new concept. it was amazing just to be able to help set him up with his own google account, using his full xhosa name to gain a personal address that many of us with familiar european names would only dream of!

there were other highlights that included submitting a postal address, living in a tin shack in an informal settlement with no street names or even postmen is a challenge, what was he to put? this story could run and run from filling in his household income to thinking about transport to and from the university or whether we were too far away for him to be hosted on the campus were real challenges, but we managed to get the application through with the only further small problem of the online payment option (the only option by the way), which needed to be filled in with a credit card, something that this boy and his father don't have so we will have to use mine for the moment and trust he pays me the R100 application fee to cover my cost!

this is a very simple story and only part of his walk, it was indeed one small step for this guy but one giant leap as he seeks to better himself and the prospects of his family and one are where we can see new hope budding in the amazing children we are working with at our sports outreach.

its all about the training...

pierre shares some info on the detailed training document

we are in the middle of our winter school holiday season at the moment and for our sports outreach team this is normally a time for some much needed rest. however this year we wanted to make the most of the time that we have with our sports mentors, who are all very enthusiastic young people who are still in school, so this was the ideal time to 'up skill' them with some new training and ideas around how we deliver our programme and engage with the local children who attend our daily clubs

some of the team in their new jersey kits and boots!

since starting our sports outreach in 2008 we have based our programmes around the already existing ubabalo soccer programme, which was created for the 2010 world cup, with some tweaks by our volunteers and dutch students over the last few years, however more recently we have been building great relationships with one of the guys who created the original ubabalo sports programme.

therefore it was a true blessing to have pierre and three of his team come up and join us at the elgin country club, which provided a splendid backdrop, to the two days of training and giving us new material which will hone our outreach to the 250 or so children who attend our clubs.

it was all a little daunting for our sports mentors who were encouraged to show off their existing skills on the soccer pitch and deliver a new training session, which we had prepared in the classroom via some team building and interactive video, to the group whilst receiving some 360 degree feed back on the things they did well and those things that they perhaps needed to work on, but they

it was a time for them to bond together as a team, have fun and receive some goodies which we had been saving up for such a time as this. we must thank franny black for the tracksuits which we gave out on the second day as well as lance and travis who will be delighted to know that the soccer boots which they bought over from canada were so well received by the mentors.....thanks guys.

a helping hand (near and far)

well, we have been extremely busy over the past weeks so apologies for the intermittent posts! we are still trying to get the building works finished which seem to be taking forever!

wood for our mentors before the rains came

and then the rains came

from our previous post you will have read that winter is starting to set in and with it comes stormy weather and rain. even a dusting of snow on the mountains! although the snow looks pretty, these harsher weather conditions make life in the township even more challenging than usual.

helping with a sports mentors new roof

as always we do our best to go the extra mile at this time of year, whether it’s organising extra soup to be provided to some local creches or donating scrap wood from our recent building projects that can be used by our faithful sports mentors as fire fuel. with such overwhelming need in this community it’s very easy to get distracted from our ‘day job’ (?) and consider setting up a soup kitchen or start another equally worthy project…but we have to remain focused on what we are already doing and build on that, trusting that God will fill in where we cannot. we cannot always do more… 

however, if you feel like you DO have room in your busy schedule to do more then we’ve made it really easy for you to help to restore hope through Thembalitsha wherever you are! 

the clever bods (yes, we have a few believe it or not!) in our marketing team have come up with a wonderful plan... it’s called #Active4Hope and it is very easy to do!

1.      get active:

run, cycle, walk, row, jump, skip, craft, sew, dance, make music…..whatever you love to do you can create awareness for our cause and be #Active4Hope.

2.      wear:

they’ve got a very smart t-shirt to go with this (thanks to mel who designed this for us) which you can download and print onto your preferred white t-shirt. the idea that you wear this shirt whenever you are active and become a walking (or running, crafting, rowing etc) billboard for us! (download it here)

3.      join or enter:

lisa modeling the new active4hope tee shirt

to take this concept further you can even decide to enter an event and fundraise for us too or create a social or training club where each member of the group wears the shirt for meetings/training sessions.

4.      tweet:

we just ask one favour, that you tweet us (@thembalitsha using hashtag #Active4Hope) and send us a pic of how you are being #Active4Hope to keep us informed of what you are up to!

if you need to be led by example then look no further than the wonderful lisa baldy who’s doing a number of sporting events for us over the course of the year. she is the first to own an #Active4Hope t-shirt and has raised nearly £500 for us already. also krissy clark has began a cycle group to train for events in south Africa called ‘a freakin’ cycle’. they are sure to be famous throughout the western cape of south africa before too long!

we hope that this will be the beginning of an online movement and we can build a whole community of people who are joined together in being #Active4Hope.

by doing this one simple thing, you can make a difference wherever you are in the world and whatever you do! be inspired!

new sports shoes for our mentors

guys and girls with their new sports shoes

well once again a week has passed since the last blog post, things are so crazy busy here at the minute and what with that and the Easter break, during which time myself and maz celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary (yes i know we don't look that old!), i haven't had time to update on all that's been happening so here goes with some latest news.

this afternoon i was able to bless our 12 sports mentors (yes i know there's only 11 in the photo but one couldn't make it) by buying them some much needed sports footwear, this was due to a wonderful donor (you know who you are and the team say a big thank you) from the USA who after visiting our sports clubs late last year wanted to ensure that the guys had proper shoes, or even a pair of shoes, as they coach the other younger children.

the shopping trip was a bit of a whirl wind as i gave the boys and girls free reign of a couple of sports shops, however i did set some boundaries and made sure that the shoes were within budget and suitable for playing soccer. some tried to get some fancy school shoes, others wanted proper football boots with studs in, however we compromised on a couple of requests and it seems that they were happy with their purchases.

it is so great to be able to bless these amazing mentors, who coach at our sports clubs/outreach every afternoon and to ensure they are fully kitted out is so important as they share their skills with others!

theres nor way that norway can win!l

view from signal hill

the title of this post refers to the banter that the sports mentors and older sports outreach kids were having with me before the bafana bafana game in cape town's greenpoint stadium last night, however for those of you who follow international football (that's the real european type, sometimes wrongly called to as soccer, and not the american style 'football', which is more like rugby with padding!) then you will know that in fact the little country of norway turned the tables on the south african national team and did indeed beat them 1-0.

can i take a picture

the game was of little importance as a sporting spectacle due to the fact that it was only a friendly, providing some much needed match practice for the south african team before they host the african cup of nations (similar to the european championships and not to be confused with anything which might be referred to as a world series, which would only include one country!) later this month. but saying that it was of great importance to our band of sports mentors who had never seen their countrymen play in the flesh before.

watching the warm up

although the game didn't start until 8.15pm, later changed to 8.30pm for some reason or another, we set off in rob's trusty land rover and the village of hope's hyundai H1 at around 3 o'clock and picked up 14 boys and 2 young ladies from the various areas, informal and formal settlements of grabouw, and set off down the mountain to cape town to enjoy an afternoon of fun before the big event.

another corner to bafana bafana

it is a real privilege to take these young adults anywhere, many of them have a very limited knowledge of anything outside their home, or home town, so to show them the sights of cape town, the magnificent table mountain, the harbour, beaches, tall office blocks and the waterfront is somewhat eyeopening on both sides.

our first view of the greenpoint stadium was from the rump of lions head, commonly know as signal hill, this little tourist spot provides a wonderful vista over the beaches of sea point towards robben island, of which the boys seemed very pleased to see as well! we then ventured down into cape town's waterfront where we enjoyed a meal at mcdonalds. all of this was a revelation to some of the boys who were keen on taking photos of each other eating their quaterpounder with cheese meal!

after the meal we had one of the most memorable experiences, we had entered the first floor restaurant via the stairs but as we left to go down towards the stadium two of the boys created quite a scene when confronted by a moving staircase (an escalator to me and you) which they were very skeptical to step onto. it's incredible to think that these older teenage boys had never taken the ride down an escalator but that in a way is the conundrum that we live with in south africa. for a few it is a country of western standards which people take for granted, for the majority it is a land that basic housing, sanitation and services are something to long for and things that one takes for granted are new, exciting and sometimes scary to others. (for further experiences please visit our previous posts entitled supporting mentors and sports mentors united in cape town)

excitement was building as we entered the stadium, we found our seats after being searched at the security point which was another point of hilarity, and the boys faces lit up as they saw their hero's warming up right in front of them.

the game was a bit of a mixed bag and you can visit sports sites to read up on what the reporters had to say about the tactics, the abilities and perhaps the prospects of bafana bafana in the upcoming tournament, all i will say is that south africa had all the possession with little fire power upfront, norway played well, shut down in midfield and scored with perhaps their only real opportunity of the game.

our journey home was almost as eventful as they boys were keen to stay together, never being in such a large crowd my hand was gripped by a 17 year old boy who was so worried about getting lost in the dark in the middle of a big city (and rightly so), the bright lights of the city reflected in their excited eyes, win, lose or draw they were going to have an amazing time and i feel honoured to be able to serve these guys who support our work week in week out as we try to bring a little highlight into the lives of the 200 or so children we work with via our sports outreach.

a great time was had by all, arrived home just after midnight where many boys went back to their simple shacks and the conundrum started all over again as i dropped them off into those homes with no electricity or running water knowing that my house was just up the track and a security light would brighten my way to my soft bed.

we wish bafana bafana all the best for the cup of nations and we hope to be able to provide other children with experiences like our 16 mentors had last night.

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.

our biggest sports saturday yet!

fun at the huge netball tournament

on saturday we hosted our biggest sports day ever at the elgin country club. our weekly sports outreach clubs have been growing in number over the last 6 months and the investment we have made with our sports mentors being a huge influence on that. as has become custom we like to bring all the children that we work with at the different clubs together for a whole morning of fun and games, based around our soccer (football) and netball teams.

it's a goal!

i hope that i'm not taking anything away from any of the other sports saturday's that we have run by saying that this was not only the biggest, with a total of 198 children attending, around 140 was our previous highest, but also the best organised. as with all things you hope to improve and some of the lessons we have learnt in the past were overcome and even with a smaller team of volunteers compared to the past we were able to host a bigger event which is a real testimony to those who helped.

awaiting the prize giving

a big thank you must be given to the dutch students who are on placements with various projects around grabouw via the HAN university, especially yoram who is our sports intern and who took the main lead in organising the event. our volunteers at the village of hope also helped and were assisted by our wonderful sports mentors (our local 16-20 year old's who assist us at our weekly clubs) in managing teams,  refereeing the games or keeping an overview on the whole day.

the winners!

winning girls receive their funky sportswear

we took a different approach to the way that we ran the soccer tournament  having all ages playing together instead of an under 13 and under 15 tournament, and with boys being split up from their normal weekly clubs to play in mixed teams. this worked really well, uniting teams, old boys caring for the younger ones, and working together as they played. we had a total of 16 soccer teams split into 4 leagues with the winners of each group playing in the semi final and then final.

headbands for all!

the girls played in their normal weekly groups but with over 60 girls playing it needed to be organised and refereed really well and we want to thank lori and cozi for sorting that with the help of jaqui.

in the past we had used just one bus to transport the children from the various areas around grabouw, with the two sets of farm children arriving via their own transport, but such was the numbers seen on saturday that we had to set up a second bus to ensure that the children had seats. as you can imagine there was such joy as we firstly pick up and then journeyed to the wonderful country club, many of the children visiting for the first time.

thankfully we were blessed with no major injuries but with our system of indemnity and contact forms we are always ready for the worst......the only down side of that system is that some of the children had forgotten or had incomplete forms which meant disappointment for them as we were unable to ensure their safety whilst in our care!

a great day was had by all, with the winning sides being blessed with some amazing sportswear which was donated by our latest american mission team..we hope the photos will show some of that joy!  

the kids enjoyed a russian and chips (pork sausage) before they left and the day culminated in a big braai at the country club for all our helpers, and even the house moms were able to join us with the children in our care from the village of hope. the weather played its part and we thank God for that too.....

.....bring on the next one in 2013....can it become any bigger or better run?