busy busy busy...

wow i can't believe it was last monday, that's 10 days ago, since i last updated our blog site, having said that it has been crazy crazy busy here and i really haven't had any time to think, let lone create a new post.

so what's been going on i hear you cry.......well the following is a snapshot.

the ukuqala3 team worked long hours into the night to complete the project, some members of the team left at 3.30am one night and others worked through from 8am till 6am (the next day!).

our key sponsor from germany sent a representative to view the project and it was great to show her around the village of hope and other areas of work here in grabouw.

we were also joined by the professor of the architectural faculty in stuttgart, this was his first visit and he was able to see the work that his previous students (ukuqala 1 and 2) had done.

last thursday was a public holiday but there was soooo much work to be completed that both myself, maz, shannon and mel worked tirelessly painting and decorating the new children's unit.

on saturday evening we held our 'unofficial opening' of ukuqala3, with workers, sponsors, volunteers and students enjoying a party like atmosphere, this was an amazing evening and if you would like to see some photos from that evening then please follow this link to the elgin grabouwer facebook page.

there have also been visits from paul cluvers and his daughter who bought some wonderful people to see our project, some friends from sweden visited with a whole group who are on tour, the village of hope was one of their planned highlights before venturing to franschhoek for a wine tour! and we also welcomed on a lady from finland who was visiting the rest of the thembalitsha projects.

and finally we have been able to host our first volunteers into the newly finished ukuqala2 short term accommodation, which still has some work for it to be completed but thank God that flip (yes that's his name) is around to help.

i hope to provide some links to photos etc soon but please bear with us as we seek to get the children's unit habitable but we will post further updates soon, promise!

times they are a changing!

new bedrooms on the back of the childrens unit

taking down the bedrooms which the vineyard team
constructed over 4 years ago!

the architectural team from stuggart, along with their trusted and adopted student, dave knight from england, are making a real impression on all three projects at the village of hope.

saul and nigels bathroom is remodeled!

for those of you who have visited or stayed as a volunteer you will notice a huge difference which can be seen in the few photos which i have posted, the children have now moved into the 'old volunteer' kitchen/meeting room and the team have been busy converting the volunteer bedrooms into our new office space with new entrance/reception area, but the main changes can be seen in the children's unit where the new bedrooms are taking shape and the kitchen and bathrooms have been ripped out to create some extra space for the additional work that we are planning at the village of hope.

our new morning meeting space

the long term team at the village of hope have also had to find a new meeting place and this morning we joined together on the stoop of ukuqalaI to pray around the and plan for the challenges we might face during the day.

german students enjoying a game of netball

it is quite sad to see some of the hard work that has been undertaken by some of our volunteers over the last few years being taken apart but we know that there is a bigger plan and we are excited to see how the new space will be used to enhance the work we are doing both with the children that we are called to help, as well as providing better work space for our long term team and volunteer experience.

we have tried to engage the ukuqala3 team in the work we are doing in the community and it is our desire that each member of the team is able to join us at our sports outreach in the different areas around the town, as you can see some of the team have enjoyed playing netball and even a version of 'duck duck goose' with shannon our longer term volunteer.

duck duck goose with shannon!

please visit the ukuqala web page to keep up to date with the work that is going on this year by clicking on this link and if you would like to see some of the work that the ukuqala2 team undertook last year then please visit their youtube pages here.

electric upgrade!

tim berger enjoying playing!

most of our post are centered around the work we do with the children in our unit or with those we work with in the local community, however today's news is a little more mundane but none the less important as we plan for the future of the village of hope.

men who know what they are doing with
high voltage electrics

i'm no electrician so you will have to bear with the limited amount of detail in this post but basically yesterday we had the completion of the first phase of our electrical upgrade, which included the whole of the supply from ESKOM (our electricity supplier) who increased our current 80amps up to 150amps, we also had to install a new thicker cable for the new power to come through, as well as a large distribution box with new fuse board.....

...most of that will have passed you by, as it did me, but what this means is that firstly tim berger got chance to play with some slightly heavier plant which included a trencher and overall it means that we are now able to connect up the ukuqala II building and plan for the next phase of building work and internal changes to increase the amount of children we can take into our unit.

all in all it meant that we were inundated with men in high vis jackets (well maybe not this is africa after all!), with some very heavy duty footwear to protect them from any danger, plus a large number of vehicles including a crane to install the new equipment.

sorry for that boring post, but news is news!

topping out...or the richtfest

ground floor walls completed

it seems that we go from the sublime to the ridiculous here at the village of hope, our last post contained the info about how we provided some very basic care for a couple of families that had lost everything in a fire that destroyed their home and possessions in one of our informal settlements in grabouw and today i am posting a blog about the wonderful party we had to celebrate the hard work of our stuttgart students as they close on to the completion of our second building that will host our international volunteers.......

richtfest (topping out)

...everything is connected as we wouldn't be able to provide the help to the community without our volunteers and we are so thankful to them and to the amazing german students who have been working so hard to not only build but also provide the design and concept of our new building but sometimes your brain struggles to come to terms with the two worlds in which we seem to live.

the richfest party

however that's the conundrum we live with everyday and we have to deal with that...what we wanted to share with you the wonderful evening and traditional ceremony that we had last night with the students as they performed the 'topping out' or what they call the richtfest of the new building. this is richtfest is only completed once the roof is finished and they have worked hard very hard each and everyday, performing taxing building skills with little knowledge or experience, and having to contend with the warm (if not hot) summer sun to enable that to happen this week.

we had a great time, listening to their speeches, which were set to rhyme in both german and english and we enjoyed a braai and some beer together....with less than two weeks to go before they leave this was a good time to reflect on all that has already been achieved (i am sure the photos show some amazing progress) and gives them renewed energy for the final push.

thanks guys, we truly love, respect and commend all that you are doing to further the work of the village of hope and the wider thembalitsha foundation here in grabouw and south africa.

let the stamping begin!

put the straw in and jump up and down!

builders water!

after all the hard work of getting the foundations dug and established the ukuquala II team have begun the laborious task of creating the walls. this isn't via the traditional brick and mortar method but the more unusual straw and clay mix which needs to be compacted into the shuttering boards.

the guys have a great way of doing this.....by putting on some gum boots and literally stamping up and down until the straw is compact enough.

oh and for your info the international art of builders tea has taken on a new stance, the team still retain the tin cups but have adopted water as their preferred beverage!

firm foundations

each pole set in concrete with reinforced steel frame.

we are encouraged by Jesus to set our lives, what we believe, what we hold to when the going gets tough, on firm foundations. he uses a strong visual image of two men building on different foundations, one sand and the other rock....as the storm and flood comes which one will stand? Jesus says he is the rock, that solid foundation.

the whole concrete base.

like Jesus story we all need to build on firm foundations, whether that be a business venture, our lives or even a charity looking to provide hope via health, education and training. this week the ukuqala II team have been putting this into action as they firstly made sure that the sand stone that they were building on was firm enough to plant the 9 meter posts into the ground (yes we used dynamite to do this!) and then ensured that they were securely set each of the one with concrete and then a wider 'slab' with reinforced metal to hold the whole structure together with further concrete poured over the top to ensure the building would stand firm.

much of what they have put their efforts into over the last few weeks is unseen and as the rest of the team of students from stuttgart arrive it may not look like a lot has happened but without these firm foundations the new building would be susceptible to the forces of nature and eventually crumble to the ground.

well done guys, chris, andy, and til, your hard work hasn't gone unnoticed.