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!

hope is here

if you have been following this blog for any amount of time you will know of the strong link we have with the wonderful band from the every nation church in somerset west called 'wholehearted' and you may also remember that at the end of last year we were blessed to 'tour' the uk with them as we visited churches and schools to share about the work we do in grabouw via our thembacare and village of hope projects.

just before we made the trip we were involved in the shooting of the new music video to accompany the bands new song 'hope is here'. the video was shot in a couple of the informal settlements where we work, with people and children that we know and serve on a daily basis and whilst the song is very powerful the images on the video give it some depth and meaning.

as you can imagine seeing those people on a screen with the band playing the song 'live' in the background bought me and maz to our knees, tears flowed and our hearts were humbled to think that (through the work that we do) we have had a positive impact on so many people since God called us to serve in south africa.

lots of people came up to us after the gigs to ask when they might be able to see the video and download the song, so we are very pleased to be able to share the 'unofficial video' with you now. please click on this link to see the video and if you would like to find out more about what the song and wholehearted are about then click on this link, both will take you to youtube.

we hope that this song will inspire you to either support the thembalitsha foundation financially, get involved physically via our volunteer programme or hold all of the staff up in your prayers as we seek to bring the love of Jesus to those in physical or spiritual need via our thembalitsha health projects.

for more info on how you can get involved follow this link to the thembalitsha foundation web site. and for more info on the wholehearted band please follow this link to their blog site

for your info everybody in the film was happy to be involved, no one was paid and the band give genersuly to the thembalitsha foundation to enable us to make a bigger impact with those infected or affected by HIV, AIDS and TB.

February News

‘Hope is Here’ is the new single from Wholehearted and is inspired by the work of the Thembalitsha Foundation.

If you caught us when we were in the UK you will have had a sneak peak. The single in available for free download (click here) and the video, that was filmed in Grabouw, shows some of the work of Village of Hope and ThembaCare. Those that are subscribed to our email newsletter (sign up here) get an exclusive preview of the video which will be released officially later on this week. We will post here and on our facebook page when it's released. Make sure you check it out - You might even recognise a few faces!

Through everything that we do as a Foundation our main aim is to bring New Hope and we hope that the video gives you a taste of just that. You can also see more stories of hope within our news this month – because we have been very busy and have lots to share! We hope the stories inspire you to join us in our quest to create positive change in our communities.


This month has very much been the month of birthdays with many of our staff, volunteers and children celebrating another year. It’s at these times we really do come to appreciate life and what a blessing it is – particularly when it comes to the children in the unit, whose lives could look quite different if they weren’t here with us.

Children’s Unit
We had one little boy turning two. He has been staying with us while we stabilised him on his ARV and TB medication but we are very excited to be placing him back home with this Mother. His Mum has been in to get all the training and advice she needs to look after her little boy and we are very hopeful that this will be another successful placement. On the flipside the other birthday we celebrated was for one of the girls who has been with us since we opened three years ago. She became four this month and her case has been a lot more complicated to work out – and is still on going.  It is hard to know when she will ever move on to find a home of her own. Of course, she has been with us for so long now that Village of Hope is the only home she knows and she had a fantastic time celebrating with all the German students (28 of them!) coming in to sing to her. Her face was a real picture! We are also pleased to welcome back our two year old girl from hospital. She has been in under observation whilst she was put onto her ARV medication. This little cutie has TB too so it was important she was monitored because TB can flare up when combined with the HIV medication and last time we had a real scare. This time we are pleased to report that it all went smoothly and she is happily settling back in here at the Village of Hope.

Our House Moms are also looking very pleased with themselves at the moment thanks to some new uniforms. The uniforms are in the Thembalitsha colours and, along with the nice new name badges, certainly bring an air of professionalism to the unit! They were provided by one of our old volunteers, Jennifer Hunt, who has visited the project a number of time. Thanks Jenn!  The attire is comfortable to work in too - which is a necessity when working with little ones.


Sports Outreach and Community Work
Our community outreach is still going strong. We have welcomed our two new interns from the HAN university in Holland, Angelique and Marijn. It’s the first time we’ve had two girls but, of course, they don’t seem to be phased by the football (and the boys have been very welcoming as you can imagine!) and seem to be at home with their roles already.

The girls already have two new boys who are keen to make the commitment and train to become mentors. This is really exciting because it shows that the strategy that Weike and Stephan set up is working: the older boys in the clubs are seeing how rewarding it is to be a mentor and wanting that for themselves.

The other exciting news is that we have been approached by the Waitrose Foundation, who visited the project earlier in the year, to see how we can role out our sports programme to all of the farms that they invest in. We are so pleased to see that Waitrose see the value in the work we are doing and are keen to be able to share the programme with as many people as possible. It’s still early days and we have a lot of logistics to sort out before anything can become definite so please pray that God shows us the right way to go about this.

Rainbow Smiles, our support group for HIV+ teenagers is doing well too. Our volunteers, Jess and Grace are doing a brilliant job of pulling activities and ideas together along with the support of Tim Berger and Johan. ThembaCare are also providing their wisdom in how to educate the kids on HIV and this month Jess and Grace have been roping in all the adults to become antibodies (or ‘soldiers’) to dramatise the battle that does on in the body when the HIV virus attacks!


Other News
Volunteers:
Our volunteers continue to do sterling work. Jess and Tim are settling in well and since then we have welcomed Grace Perret and Niall O’Loghlen from the UK – Grace is here for three months (and is a link from Aylesbury) and Niall for five weeks. We’ve also welcomed three young men from Canada: Travis, Lance and Andy. Andy is only with us for a week. He is actually Tim Walker’s cousin and it’s always good to meet more of the family, however briefly. Despite the brief stay, he has still managed to come face to face with a puff adder and a hornet’s nest! He also led the mid-week church service at ThembaCare so I think we can safely say he’s had a good glimpse of Africa! Travis and Lance are staying on till mid March and are getting stuck in on the farm, felling trees and chopping wood and also exercising their sports skills in our afternoon outreach. It’s good to have them here – even if they did have to bring their own emergency stash of Cheerios all the way from Canada!

Although Niall is staying with us, he is here to serve ThembaCare and will be training them in how to use syringe drivers for the next five weeks. Please check out ThembaCare’s blog (click here) to read all about the difference he is making – it is so exciting and he does know what he is doing because he’s a doctor! It’s nice to be able to host someone who is here to bless another project and good for us at Village of Hope to feel like we are working more closely with our ‘sister’ in town.

The New Building:
Well it’s all go, go, go on site. If you have been reading our blog you will be up to date with all the details! The German students are all here and getting well and truly stuck in – this time with hard hats (which is a relief!). The two-story building is coming on quickly and they already have the door and window frames in. As well as the building the students are also working more closely in the community by providing some shading area for a crèche. The shade is an intricate pattern cut out of a old sail and it is a very complex jigsaw to complete – each piece is unique in shape taking ages to mark and cut out and then having to (some how) bring it all together. We can’t wait to see it finished and we are sure the staff and kids at the crèche will be blown away!


Events
It’s that time of year again when we are recruiting runners to for our 10k run. We have six places available and the run takes place on Sunday 8th July. This really is a fantastic race – you get to run past major London landmarks like Big Ben and St Paul’s cathedral. It costs £30 to enter and you need to be willing to commit to raising at least £500 for us. So, whether you are new to running and looking for a challenge, or an old hand looking to beat your personal best, this is a great opportunity to get into training and to run for a great cause. Contact us at office@thembalitshauk.org.uk for more information.



How You Can Help
We are never short of ideas on how you can help us out!!!!
• Give - Become a regular monthly giver - Regular givers are like gold dust to us!!! You can download a standing order form from our website – don’t forget to sign a gift aid form if you are a UK tax payer. Or nominate us as your charity of choice within your church or business.
• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise £1000s with enough enthusiasm! We also have annual walks, runs and bike rides. For more information contact us office@thembalitshauk.org.uk
• Pray – Sign up to the prayer newsletter. Prayer is just as vital to us (if not more so) than money! We can’t have enough people committing to pray persistently for us. Sign up at prayer@thembalitshauk.org.uk


Volunteering
We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff out here in South Africa. It can be a fantastic way to give (and receive!) However, we do have some criteria you have to meet in order to apply. For more information on volunteering for the Village of Hope please download the INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERS documents under the ‘Support Us’ page on our website (http://www.thembalitsha.org.za). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you!

a wholehearted walkers update III

yes handri its ice!

if you have been following us recently you will know that we have been busy with a tour around england with a wonderful worship band called wholehearted, we have had an amazing time and we just wanted to capture a few highlights of the tour with you. 


last monday morning we met the band at Gatwick at 7am and were joined by 'tour manager/driver/sound enginer' and wanna be drummer, mr james porter, after the first of many coffees we exposed the band made up of charl folscher, pierre and helena smith, handri and jaqueline de villiers and daniel botha, along with danni's wife sanmarie (who worked her magic with the multi media presentations during the evening) to the icy cold english weather, which was nice and frosty. we then drove down to Bath (taking around 3 hours!) and settled them in....later we met up later in Bath to show them the christmas market, but it was shut by 7pm! (typical!)


tuesday we met up for prayer and then ventured down to taunton for an evening event at the living light church, during the set up we were able to see the new video that had been shot in grabouw to accompany the bands new song 'hope is herre' which with the video images is very heart wrenching and certainly made an impact to those who saw it during the rest of the tour. the evening went really well, sound was great and we had a lot of people there, we even managed to get the text message service working linked to our justgiving page which was good, we shared about the work we do in grabouw, which i think touched people and the worship was also amazing.

at monkton combe

wednesday we had the day to spend with our son chris and wife claire and their two boys, the UK was on strike so it was busy everywhere so we chilled and then went to a farm with the kids...was nice, the band had a few issues with procuring equipment for the evening event which was to take place at 6pm at Monkton Combe school, around 130 kids who attend the school came along, plus my friend Mal and his wife, and chris and claire and the kids, me and maz gave a brief overview of our work in south africa and after a meal in the 'harry potter style' dinning room we hosted another event for the older more committed kids this was a more chilled event where charl shared and we ministered.


on thursday we met up for lunch in bathhampton with the band and left for Aylesbury, we arrived to set up for the event at aylesbury vale vineyard which was great, our UK marketing team made up of ellie and jess, ably supported by andy were wonderful, there were loads of people from different churches, some we knew and some we didn't and we raised a huge amount on the night!

river boat ride down the thames

our friday started with prayer and communion with mick at the vineyard, where he was also able to show the guys around their storehouse project which they were very impressed with, we then made our swift drive to london for the first gig at EN hammersmith, a great venue in a old church, no pews!, band were a little tired but we really enjoyed the cheese and wine on what was a bit more of a chilled out evening, where we once again raised quite a large amount for thembalithsa and we also had good conversations with new and old friends from wolfi's church.

wholehearted worship

now for our day off......well we were up and out by 9 for our tour of london, we managed to fit in lots of interesting things and had great fun with the band, we were in westmister at 12 noon for big ben, then onto horse guards and down to see the queen, the band we introduced to the london underground as we got on the tube to covent garden (the band were disappointed that there were no flowers!), then another tube to tower bridge, tower of london, then ferry down the thames back to the london eye for a quick spin, we then took a wander down south bank christmas market to a pub overlooking the river for a pint or two....then back to the station and home!...nice relaxing day off!


sunday had a bit of a different feel, i went to slough and shared with about 50 people at the EN church

charl sharing his highlights!

there, i gave the talk and finished at 12, but we took another hour to pray for people who were moved by my talk, which was great, maz and the band were at hammersmith, where they lead worship and maz spoke, it sounded like they had a good time, then i drove back to london to meet met maz and wolfi and spent the afternoon with them. the band went off to play at EN Stratford for their 3.30 service. me and maz then shared at the EN6pm service at Imperial College London, which went really well well.


we all met up in richmond for our last supper together and in true village of hope style shared our highlights and low lights of the trip, which was very touching.





it was an amazing time, we shared joy, fun, laughter, shed a tear or two and celebrated the new hope which thembalitsha are providing via the 7 projects in the western cape....thanks for joining us guys.

world aids day event/s

if you have been following our blog for the last few years you will know that today, 1st december, is special day in our year.....working with people infected or affected by HIV and AIDS is what we do here in south africa and today is world AIDS day and we invite you to join us in raising the profile of our work in what is still a disease with a huge amount of stigma.

whilst we (tim and maz) are over here in england we have an opportunity for you to come and join us in aylesbury this evening where we will be hosting an event with the wonderful south african band, wholehearted. for more info on the event then please follow this link to both their facebook site and tour blog.

for those of you unable to join us then we are also hosting a day of prayer with the wider thembalitsha foundation where we are asking you to pray for the work we are doing with those infected by this disease.  please follow this link to the news and media page on our website for our prayer requests.

or should you wish to donate to our wonderful work then follow these links to the donation pages which link to giving sites and accounts in south africa, england and even the USA!

walkers tour update.....

we (tim and maz) have enjoyed a busy week here in england speaking at various events around the country, doing radio interviews and sharing our story about the work that we are involved with in south africa.

to give you a flavor of where we have been and who we have seen we thought that it would be good to provide a short update with some further news of future events where you could come and hear us speak.

last sunday morning we spoke at holy trinity ashby de la zouch with our good friend tim phillips and his wonderful church. we had the pleasure of catching up with an old volunteer from the village of hope, harry hoggarth in loughborough in the afternoon and then stayed the night with tim and sarah where we shared some time with their youth group, 'spagbol'. on monday morning we made the hour long trip down to st mary's primary school in aston le walls and shared at their school assembly.

on tuesday evening we spoke at a cluster group at holy trinity walton street and enjoyed a quick massage on wednesday morning with marianne elias before meeting up with grace perret who will be volunteering with us for 3 months from february.

we had the pleasure of speaking at a student alpha meeting with harry back in loughborugh, which we thought went really well and then journeyed on to spent the night with liz and shaun at cliff college in derbyshire. on friday morning we made what should have been a very scenic drive through the derbyshire dales, however it was a typical late autumn day and the fog kept us from seeing further than a few feet in front of the car.

on friday lunchtime we recorded an interview at UCB radio in stoke with paul hammond, which will be broadcast on his show on the build up to world aids day on the 1st december. we were able to promote the wholehearted tour and left their CD which we hope he will play on his show.

it was great to catch up with my (tim) old colleagues at bartuf in leeds before we met up and shared with jess trigg who's family made us very welcome at their home where we shared with her friends and vicar in mirfield, jess will be volunteering with us for 6 months from january and i am sure she will be a great asset to our team.

saturday morning we made the long trip down to spend time with trefor and mandy, stopping in to meet up with vicky ball, her husband fred and daughter becky who kindly donated some funds to enable us to complete the new german home....

....highlights for the coming week or so.

tomorrow morning we are speaking at the bridge (southcourt baptist church) aylesbury.

monday morning maz is sharing at the school where she worked in whitchurch and in the evening we are really looking forward to catching up with the thembalitshauk board at our board meeting.

tuesday we are going down to bath to see our son chris, claire and grandsons, arriving back in waddesdon to speak at pete and rachel's home group, thursday i (tim) am going to meet up with some old friends at a local pub and friday evening we are sharing with a church in long crendon with our good friend tessa.

we will provide you with another update before we fly out to germany and holland where we will be meeting up with the stuttgart team who will be coming out to build us another accommodation block in early 2012 and the HAN university who provide us with interns at the village of hope.

Tim and Maz on Tour

I know you've all been counting down the days until you can see Tim and Maz again....
Well, I am pleased to tell you that it's only two more sleeps until they set foot on UK soil! Whilst they are busy trying to make sure they have handed everything over before they leave (and we are busy panicking about what to do when they do!) I thought I would let you know their tour details so that you can find out when you can see them. I have not put the full information on here (such as all the addresses etc) but if would like further details then please email me: office@thembalitshauk.org.uk and I will be happy to fill you in. Please try and see them if you can. They would love to see you and also have some amazing new stories to share from the project.


Here goes:


Sun Oct 30
AM Vale of Aylesbury Vineyard Church

Sun Nov 6 10:00am – 12:00am
AM Holy Trinity Church, Ashby De La Zouch
PM Loughborough

Mon Nov 7
AM Banbury

Thu Nov 10 
PM Student Alpha, Loughborough

Fri Nov 11
PM Huddersfield

Sun Nov 13 
Durham TBC

Mon Nov 14 
AM Whitchurch School

Fri Nov 18
PM Long Crendon

Sun Nov 20
AM Winslow Vineyard Church

Mon Nov 21 – Sat Nov 26 
Germany/Holland, visiting universities and ex volunteers, attending Dutch fundraising event

Wed 31 Nov
PM Gig and talk with Wholehearted, TBC

Thu Dec 1 
PM World AIDS Day Event and Gig with Wholehearted, Aylesbury Vineyard

Fri Dec 2
PM Gig and talk with Wholehearted, Every Nation, Hammersmith

Sat Dec 3
PM Gig and talk with Wholehearted, TBC

Sun Dec 4
AM Every Nation, Hammersmith
PM Every Nation, Hammersmith

new wholehearted video shoot

set up day 1 in waterworks

as part of our fundraising drive for the work that thembalitsha is doing in grabouw, via thembacare and village of hope, and the wider foundation with the other 5 projects in the western cape, we are once again partnering with the amazing south african band from somerset west called 'wholehearted', these guys filmed a music video with us last year (see youtube link here) and they have been visiting us and the communities that we work in to shoot a new video for a song that will be used to tell the story of the day to day lives of thousands of people in our town and other such towns like grabouw throughout south africa.

red ballons on some homes used to tell part of the story

yesterday afternoon and all day today we have been filming in the waterworks informal settlement, using everyday people to tell their everyday stories, we also shot part of the film with the soccer club that we run in the iraq informal settlement and also had help from the careworkers and house moms at thembacare and the village of hope.

soccer outreach with the kids in iraq

we were blessed to have the support of the whole community where we were filming and they were very keen in appearing in a film that will be used to support the work that we are doing to bring healthcare and education to literally hundreds of people like them, be they family, friends or neighbours.

as soon as the dvd is released we will be posting it on youtube for you to view but as you can see we have posted a few photos showing the filming and the team who are sold out to make a difference in the very lives of the people who appear in the dvd.

August News

Yes, Tim and Maz are going to be at your disposal throughout November and early December so if you want them to come and pay you a visit just drop us an email. We’ve also got bands doing gigs to raise money for us and another day of prayer coming up. Make sure you check out the ‘events’ section of this post so you don’t miss out!

It’s wonderful to have Rob and Emily back with us from their 4 week trip to England. Mel has been away for a few weeks on a funding support trip to the USA so our long term team, which completed by Arron and Johan, is still down one member. That said we have had some wonderful support from Britton, Tyler (who’s brother and father joined him for a few days from Dallas), Barbara Wood who has returned for the third time, Katrin who is serving with us for 6 months and Claire who is staying with her Grandmother in town...so once again it has been a very busy time!

Children’s Unit
Our top news story is that our 11-year-old boy has returned from his ‘holiday’ at Thembacare Athlone, following his time in hospital with further respiratory problems. We had a good meeting with the team from the Red Cross children’s hospital who were happy for us to provide that special care that he needs. Unfortunately he is now constantly on oxygen so his attendance at school is restricted, however he is so glad to be back home with Mommy Maz and the wonderful house mom’s who care for him so well.

With  our 11-year-old being away for all that time we did have some space to take in another little boy, aged about 1 year, who’s mother had abandoned him with his Grandmother, who was sick herself with TB. Therefore we have shifted a few beds and cots around to help us provide beds for the 10 little children who live with us at the Village of Hope.

This new boy should only be with us for a short time as we have already made contact with the family who really do want to care for him. Please pray for his family that they might understand the responsibility that they have towards this boy.

All of our House Mom’s have been now completed the St John’s First Aid course. It’s good to have a full team back together. These ladies, who all live in the community, do an amazing job for us, looking after the needs of our children on a 12 hour shift is not an easy job.

The children (of school age) have been back for a couple of weeks, and we were able to secure a place for our little 4-year-old boy to join the other children at school. He had been so excited about going to school (and had been on the school run, just for the ride, for over 6 months) but when the volunteer led him into his class for the first time tears filled his eyes and he wasn’t quite sure what to do! By the time we collected him he had a smile on his face and was full of stories about the new friends he had made and the exciting things that he had done. It’s so special to be able to offer these children the ‘normal’ experiences that we all take for granted.

Sports Outreach and Community Work
Our sports outreach clubs started again after the winter holidays. We can’t wait till the next Dutch students join us next week! Our ‘skeleton’ staff of Arron, Emily, Kat and Britton are joined each week by our local sports mentors, Justin, Roger, Michael, Reggie and Lee who are all pupils at the local schools. These guys do a great job for us and have enabled us to continue to provide clubs in each of the 5 areas in Grabouw: Hillside, Iraq informal settlement, Waterwerks, Site View and Rooidakke (Netball only) as well as our outreach onto a farm in the Elgin Valley.

We have been excited about the amount of girls joining us to play netball, especially in Iraq. These girls spend a whole day at school and then have to complete ‘chores’ when they get home. This could be collecting water from the local standpipe with 25 litre buckets or preparing the meal for the family. They often arrive late because of this  but to see them enjoying the games that we prepare for them is such a blessing and encourages us to ‘keep going’ as we seek to build valuable lessons into their tough lives.

We still continue to ask for second hand soccer boots, sizes 2 – 7 (UK), which will enable us to keep a stock for when we play what we hope will be more regular games against other clubs in the local area. If you have access to an old pair and live within kicking distance of Grabouw/Cape Town then we would love to hear from you. However our need is growing for a full time Sports Outreach Co-ordinator, which could be a position that is filled by a local person and or complimented by an Intern who could stay with us for a year’s placement.

Other News
The Straw House:
Tyler, Arron, Johan and Katrin, along with support from Rob and Em, have been busy ‘plastering’ the inside of the new house that was built by the team from Stuttgart earlier in the year. The process involves applying our ‘homemade’ lime, straw and sand mix by hand to the straw walls. Not only is this time consuming but has proved somewhat dangerous with a few people receiving ‘burns’ from the lime.

Volunteers:
Tyler has now left us to return to Dallas. Before he left he was joined by his older brother and father for a few days. It was great for Tyler to be able to show his family around the work that we are doing here in Grabouw and the projects that he has become so involved with. They also cooked us up an authentic Mexican meal before they left bringing all their spices from the States!

We said our goodbyes to Joe and his team from Newcastle, but then had the privilege of welcoming Suzie and her all-female team from the Mid Cities church (the church where Tyler attends in USA) who were over with us for a week.


Events
Well, first of all we have to say a huge congratulations to newly weds Rachel and Neil Thomlinson. But we also want to say a big thank you! Instead of choosing to stock up on crockery and coffee machines at John Lewis they decided to hold their wedding list at Just Giving and give us the money!! Bless you guys!

Another thank you goes to Lisa Smith who braved a sky dive and raised £200. No mean feat (or should it be feet?!)

We continue to be stunned by the lengths you lovely people go to in order to raise funds for us! – Keep it up!!!!

SEPTEMBER: Rock for Thembalitsha
If you are near Aylesbury on 4th September why not rock out and support us at the same time?! There will be 6 live bands playing in the market square from 2pm as well as a BBQ and a raffle (where you can win a large flat scree telly – not bad eh?!)

OCTOBER: Village of Hope Prayer Day
We are holding another prayer day on 15th October. Our previous prayer day earlier this year was really fruitful and we very much appreciated being lifted up in prayer for 24hrs. It reminded us that we needed to keep prayer at the top of the agenda.
You can even sign up now if you like: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/prayer66

NOVEMBER: Tim and Maz back in the UK
Yes, you will be treated to another visit from the Walkers! They are going to be in the UK all of November. Please let us know if you would like them to come and visit you! They are available for church talks, house groups, schools. They really do have amazingly inspirational testimonies from their life in South Africa and would welcome the chance to share them. They will also be accompanying WholeHearted (see below)

DECEMBER: Wholehearted band on tour
If you haven’t already heard of Wholehearted or read about them on our blog then where have you been?! Not only do these guys have a great sound but they are fantastic supporters of our cause and are going to be touring England for two weeks at the beginning of December. If you are keen to hold a Wholehearted gig at your church or school then please email emily@thembalitsha.org.za as soon as possible. When you book Wholehearted you will get a Tim and Maz appearance in with the deal! You can find out more and hear their sound at www.wholehearted.co.za

We are going to be posting these events on the Thembalitsha Facebook page as details develop.

If you have an idea for an event that you would like to organise for us do let us know as we would love to have more things planned in the diary for this year and desperately need more people to be doing stuff for us. We will do our best to support you in making it successful.


How You Can Help
We are never short of ideas on how you can help us out!!!!
• Become a regular monthly giver - Regular givers are like gold dust to us!!! You can download a standing order form from our website – don’t forget to sign a gift aid form if you are a UK tax payer
• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise £1000s with enough enthusiasm! We also have annual walks, runs and bike rides. For more information contact us office@thembalitshauk.org.uk
• Pray – Sign up to the prayer newsletter. Prayer is just as vital to us (if not more so) than money! We can’t have enough people committing to pray persistently for us. Sign up at prayer@thembalitshauk.org.uk

Volunteering
We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff out here in South Africa. It can be a fantastic way to give (and receive!) However, we do have some criteria you have to meet in order to apply. For more information on volunteering for the Village of Hope please download the INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERS documents under the ‘Support Us’ page on our website (www.thembalitsha.org.za). Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted.

wholehearted donations via sms?!

the wholehearted band, who will be touring england with us (tim and maz) in december, are currently on a short tour of south africa, we have set up a simple way of giving via sms (text message) and over the last few days we have received over 50 of these sms' which automatically donate R10 direct to thembalitsha here in south africa. 


we have also set up the same system in the UK where you can text a message and donate any amount direct from your mobile phone account, if you don't believe it works or if you would like to make a R10 donation from south africa or any amount from the UK then please follow these simple steps.....and if you are quick you could be the first person to donate from the UK which would prove to us that it is working...go on you know you want to!


from south africa sms HOPE to 38415 and R10 will automatically go to thembalitsha


in the uk text HELP07 £10 (or the amount you wish to donate, which can be from £1 upwards)
to 70070 and that amount is directly sent to thembalitsha via our justgiving site.....



unfortunately nothing like this exists in the USA or around the rest of the world yet however if you want to give online then please go to our justgiving site here!

wholehearted(ly) behind village of hope

we posted before about the amazing album, wholehearted by the wholehearted band but we just wanted to highlight that we have received our first R5K from the sale of their album, which can be purchased various different ways, either via itunes or via cdbaby where you can either download or order the physical cd, which comes with a bonus dvd with the video we shot in rooidakker squatter camp, along with a short interview video of me!...

go on get yourself an amazing worship album and support the work at the village of hope at the same time!

wholehearted....

a couple of weeks ago we welcomed charl and the rest of the everynation somerset west worship band to grabouw to film the video to their latest release....the band 'wholehearted' wanted to shoot a video in the townships and squatter camps in grabouw, for one to give their song a very powerful storyline and secondly to come and see the communities that we are working with day in day out.

proceeds from the single will come direct to thembalitsha and village of hope so please look out for it's release...you can watch the video on youtube by clicking this link or have a look at the everynation somerset west web site for release dates and photos etc.