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!

winter arrives with avengence

family sit around fire and potjie

on tuesday afternoon we were basking in temperatures in the high 20's and could hardly imagine that within two days we would be sitting with frost on the ground and the need of a fire to keep warm. not only have the temperatures dropped but the amount of rain, falling as snow on the high mountain tops that surround the village of hope and the town of grabouw, has washed away the roads and caused some homes to become very unstable.

this community sits with a real conundrum, the winter weather which is much needed by the local farmers to send the apple trees and vines into hibernation comes at a price for those living in the townships and squatter camps, these people who live in little more than 'garden sheds' with no electricity or even basic sanitation have a tough time even in the summer months. it is hard to imagine how these people survive these harsh days.

there were many who left without soup today

we are able to do a little bit to help, every friday we collect soup from a local restaurant and next week we are going to be distributing some of the children's clothes that we have been sorting from the donations we receive. however today there were so many people, especially children that we had to turn away from the soup run, to see their eyes full of joy turn to sadness is so tough.

if you would like to help us make a real difference to those either affected or infected by HIV, AIDS and TB, as well as supporting the children in the poorest of the poor communities then please get in touch.

winter has arrived

last night we had one massive storm, not only wind and rain but also lighting and hail, whist we are feeling a little on the cold side our hearts really go out those around us who are living in the tin shacks with no electric, little heating and maybe even water coming through the roof into the beds/bed....

people have this crazy view that south africa is hot all the time, but what with cape towns position it's also known as the cape of storms, a name that is very apt at all times of the year.