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?.....

mandela day visitors....for 67 minutes!

the aleit group with
 maz (and wind)

three of our sports mentors

today, 18th july, was nelson mandela's birthday and it's a day where the people of south africa have been encouraged to spend 67 minutes helping others...why 67 minutes i hear you ask, well nelson gave 67 years of his life serving his country so we should all be able to spend 67 minutes thinking of others less fortunate than ourselves.

as with other years we have found this to be a very busy day but it's well worth hosting the various people and organisations who are keen to come and see the work we are involved in day in day out and it's always a blessing to receive the wonderful donations that people often come with.

the shoprite team

this morning we welcomed a team from 'the aleit group' who bought up some wonderful materials, including colouring pens and paint pots, as well as bright coloured tables and chairs on which the children will undertake to create some masterpeices. (as you can see from the photo the wind almost blew them and maz away)
three of our sports mentors came up to do their bit for 67 minutes, it's amazing that these guys give of their time so freely each and every afternoon but they were still keen to come and make a difference. josh took them into the woods where they collect wood ready for chopping and burning on our fires, this was very thoughtful and helpful too.

girls modeling the wonderful glasses

four ladies from imperial came up with food and hosted a small party for the children, which they thoughly enjoyed.

the local shoprite (supermarket) came up with various donations which mel, barbara and jenny are busy sorting, with some degree of fun, as i write this blog post, see photo below of the fashionable eyewear which we found in one of the boxes.

imperial party!

frank christie kindly came up the windy mountain path with 67 cupcakes baked by the folks at 'pajarmas and jam' in somerset west, most of these have already been eaten and taken out to our 'rainbow smiles' adolecent support group which runs every friday afternoon.

and finally a large team from appletiser arrived bearing gifts and took time to look around the unit and play with the children.

we really have been blessed today and thank everyone for coming up and engaging with our children and wonderful project.

delicious cup cakes

to cap off the activities emma was busy last night making cakes which our rainbow smiles group will be icing and then taking out to local creches, old age homes and even our thembacare staff in town, this is a great way of those children seeing the difference that they can make in their own community and we trust that emma has a good time!

the team from appletise

world cup based sports outreach

with the world cup underway, we decided to stage a tournament for a hundred of the local children living in the various communities of Grabouw. these are some of the most needy children in our town, and with their home lives so unstable, it’s nice to offer them a break from the hardships they face every single day.

we divided our existing 9 sports clubs into 9 teams that each represented one of the countries playing in the world cup. we also taught them some information about the country they were representing in the week leading up to the tournament.

then, on the morning of Friday 4^th July, we held the contest at a local school’s playing field. the weather was wild, and setting up was made difficult due to the strong wind, but with the help of both dedicated volunteers (emma, shae, aubrei, polly, jenny and barbara) and of course our sports mentors, we were soon ready to play.

the sun had now come out, and the sight of a hundred kids doing one of the things they enjoy most was heartwarming. the competition was intense, but always played in a fun spirit and most importantly they had a great time. food was provided by barbara, as well as another local school cooking lunch for all the kids.

unlike the current world cup brazil came out as the eventual winners, and the enthusiasm of the kids ensures that there will be many more days like this!

written by josh holtrum

tim and maz celebrate in holland

tim with some of the sports students

tim and maz have been away in europe for a couple of weeks now and during their stay they had the opportunity to travel to holland to join the celebrations at were taking place at the HAN university that the village of hope have relationship with.

maz with some of the social work students

the celebrations were around the 10 year partnership that the HAN university have with our local theewaterskloof (TWK) municipality, the local grabouw town manager as well as other people from south africa had made the trip to holland to meet up and share with some of the students that had completed their internship in grabouw.

it was a joy for tim and maz to catch up with so many of the students who had spent their internship at the village of hope over the last five years and it was interesting to here about their career moves since graduating from university.

the automotive facility at the HAN

it was funny to see all the students together in one place and as they were all from different year groups they really didn't know each other that well so we gathered the sports management students, social work or nutritional students together and introduced them to each other!.

during the day they were shown round the vast university campus, made up of over 28,000 students, and the tutors explained some of the subjects that the HAN offer, including automotive development, water management and design technology.

towards the end of the day we gathered in one of the huge lecture theaters where students gave their thoughts around the time that they had spent in grabouw, which was very insightful and the day ended with a braai for over 200 of us who shared our stories and caught up on the things the students were doing.

if you would like to read more about the day and the partnership created between the university and the municipality then please follow this link.

11-1+3= FULL!

Driving home to Mum and Dad

The last week and a half as been very busy at Village of Hope. Last Friday we said goodbye to our 22-month-old boy. He had been with us since July 2013. When he came to us he was operating at the same level as a three-month-old baby. He was one year’s old and couldn’t even sit up! We’ve watched him grow and develop into a fine little boy. The parents have been committed to him since he was placed at Village of Hope, visiting weekly - despite the having to travel 45 minutes by taxi - and have worked with the social workers on the areas needed. The family where very excited and had planned a welcome home party for him. It has been a very positive story to play a small part in and it was joy to be able to drive him home and see the family reunited in their community. Saying goodbye is always bittersweet as the longer the children are here, the more difficult it is to say goodbye and entrust the children back to their parents. However we know that, in most cases, children belong with their families and we entrust him into God’s hands.

Within a few days of the little man leaving we were able to accommodate a family of three brothers which has taken us to full capacity. The children’s unit is now very busy and it is great to see so much activity and hear the children playing and having fun. The three brothers had lived with their grandmother due to their mother not being able to care for them. More recently it had become  increasingly difficult for the grandmother to continue to provide care for the boys due to personal circumstances. The grandmother was desperate and needed someone to care for the children for a short period during this difficult time. We are honoured that we are able to provide help and support for a family in need as often situations seem so desperate and there is nothing we can do to help. Although it is exciting having new children, it also brings new challenges for the house mothers, volunteers and staff but we welcome new challenges and love seeing the children’s personalities come alive and continue to develop as they settle in at the Village of Hope.

June News

The winter has certainly arrived here bringing wind, rain and even some snow on the mountains. It’s very cold and makes conditions for the poor in our community even more challenging.

Scubba diving anyone?

Children’s Unit

All the children are progressing very well and seem jolly and happy. We have an occupational therapist who comes once a month and she is very pleased with all children which proves that our wonderful House Moms are doing a grand job!

One little one in particular is a boy who’s been with us for a year. When he came to us he was just a year old and was unable to sit unsupported. Now he is meeting all his developmental mile stones which is fantastic news. The other great news we have recently been able to discharge him home. His parents have visited him constantly since his placement here and have worked well with the social workers and us. He went for a weekend visit two weeks ago and he was positively glowing when we collected him. We are always sad to say goodbye but we are also happy to know that we’ve done our best for him.

We are also further a long with the case of our six year old girl. We’ve have found a foster family for her and it now depends on the upcoming court case to see if the order will be granted so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Sports

With the arrival of winter in South Africa this month, our sports outreach programme has suffered due to the severe weather. We’ve major storms but, when the weather has permitted, we have continued running our clubs with energy and enthusiasm.

Our ninth and most recent club continues to grow under the leadership of Aphiwe, 18, and he now mentors to over 30 children each week.

The World Cup has given us an opportunity to put on something special for the children and teenagers of Grabouw, resulting in a tournament to be held on 4th July at one of the local schools. This hundred-person event will run in tandem with the actual World Cup, allowing the children to play while keeping track of the scores in Brazil.  


Rainbow Smiles –HIV support group for adolescents

We now have 15 children at our Rainbow Smiles Club which is amazing. We seem to have more younger children being referred which is giving opportunities to our older children to support and help the younger ones. One of the new children is a child who used to stay at Village of Hope and now lives with his grandparents. It is great to see how we can continue to support our children after they are discharged and as they grow up.

This group also reminds us of the constant challenges these children face. In the last week we’ve been alerted to one girl who is purposefully defaulting on her medication – a serious issue. We are grateful that her parents wanted to confide in us and make us aware of the issue so that that we might be able to help get the situation resolved quickly preventing too much damage to her health, but also to ensuring that we support this girl with the love and care that she needs.

Other News:
The Themablitsha Big Buck$ Bike Ride
What an amazing success with a fantastic turnout! The final figures aren’t in yet but it looks like the team smashed their £5000 target and everyone enjoyed the day getting #Active4Hope! Big thanks go to the team of volunteers who worked so hard to get this event off the ground, to all the cyclists who’s blood, sweat and tears made the event as well as to all those who sponsored the athletes!!!


Volunteers:
We’ve had an unusual few weeks without any short-term volunteers but as of yesterday we’ve been able to welcome Polly from the UK who is spending 2 months of her gap year volunteering for us and next week we have Shae and Aubrei from USA coming to volunteer and assist in our school holiday sports programme so it will feel a little bit more normal again!


Gardening:
Big thanks to the team from Every Nation Somerset West who came and slaved hard on their weekend to help improve a garden at one of our long term volunteer houses. They worked like trojans and have really made the space much nicer for Rob and Emily (who are staying in the house at the moment) and for all the volunteers who will stay there after them!


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!!!
• Fundraise – Commit to shave your head, host a quiz night, do a sporting event!!!!! – The possibilities are endless and can raise R10000s with enough enthusiasm!
• Pray – need we say more?!

For more information contact us fundraiser@thembalitsha.org.za


Volunteering
We rely heavily on committed volunteers to do the stuff 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 Thembalitsha please check out our website or email us at volunteer@thembalitsha.org.za.

Also, please do NOT book ANY flights before your application form has been accepted. Thank you!

sports outreach ventures overseas!

tim training the community leaders

we are sorry for the lack of posts over the last week or so, much of that was down to the fact that tim and maz were taking our sports outreach programme to madagascar where they trained 21 local church leaders in the nuances of the sports outreach that we have been running from the village of hope since late 2008.

community leaders learning the sports outreach via
training games

this post serves as a simple update on that trip and provides news about the new clubs that have already started since tim and maz returned to south africa.

'we flew into madagascar via a two stop flight in south africa and then on via a further one hour internal flight to the coastal town of toamasina which lies on the east coast of the fourth biggest island and what some call the eighth continent in the world.

new saturday club set up near 'love n care' base

our days were busy serving with a project called 'love n care ministries' who had visited our thembalitsha projects earlier in the year and where the relationship was formed. 'love n care' run a wonderful little school on the outskirts of the town, have a ministry in a local prison (more of which later), run campus ministry and provide food for street children in the dock area of toamasina. they are also establishing an orphanage in the bush area along the canals which pan out down the indian ocean.

community leader running a new club at the bethany school

the main reason for the visit was to share the sports programme which we have run over the last five years here in grabouw, the programme is loosely based on the ububalo model which uses football as a base to introduce lifeskills and bible teaching, we have adapted it to suit our needs in grabouw and it was great to share it with some enthusiastic leaders in madagascar.

we held the training an the grounds of a local Presbyterian church and the training ran over two days and provided their leaders with the materials to set up their own projects. as we said the course was attended by 21 local leaders, two of whom travelled from the bush village where they will be setting up their own club.

theo sharing a lifeskill and bible story following
a sports outreach with the children

one of the highlights of the trip was to play a match between those that had been on the course and the inmates of the local prison where 'love n care' have set up a permanent church building in which they hold sunday services, mid week bible studies and skills training with the prisoners. unfortunately our mishmash of a team lost 0-2 but the prisoners were so happy for us to come an play a game against them that the score line didn't really matter.

madagascar sits within the top (or bottom dependent on how you view the stats) 10 poorest nations in the world, there is so much need there and people really do live a hand to mouth existence. it really was a privilege to go and share some of the skills that we have with these very open but somewhat held back people and to see them get excited about using sport as a means to engage with the poorest of the poor children in a positive, non threatening way whilst building relationships into the community and taking the church outside the building.

since we have returned the guys have already started two clubs, some of the photos show them with the children, and we are looking forward to hearing how the village of hope sports outreach programme will provide new hope to more and more children as more clubs are set up during the next weeks.