We want to thank you for your prayers and support for our trip this year to South Africa. Our charity ‘Reach out to the child’ works with ‘Lulisandla Kumntwana’
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For Bill and Marion, organising, planning and undertaking this trip – we were very anxious and apprehensive. In our emails to Rachel we often mentioned that we were all of an age and therefore she shouldn’t expect too much!
In the prayers, the Sunday before we left, our son described us as ‘no spring chickens’
But with much prayer and support the trip for us was an amazing experience.
Thank you to those that took us to and from the airport and those that gave us gifts of money for us to use as we saw fit.
We all felt we were very much in your prayers.
We arrived in SA on Saturday 23rd June with all arrangements going well.
We wore our T-shirts travelling, just in case they gave us an upgrade (which they didn’t) but it prompted questions from fellow travellers as to what we were doing.
The first Sunday, we went to the church at Hulabantu. This happened to be a very lively Youth Service with much singing, dancing and very loud music – 3 hours long. It was lovely to see their enthusiasm. Janet was able to present the church with a banner, depicting the Holy Spirit, to decorate the church.
The next 3 days saw us working at a Psycho Social workshop at a place called Tshongwe. We have done workshops there twice before.
For those that don’t know what a Psycho Social workshop is – it is for the orphans in that area, known to LK – they come together in the holidays or at a weekend. There were about 70 of them.
They have a time of singing, games and bible teaching and then they break into groups. The groups then move around to do craft work and to receive counselling on bereavement, sexual health, HIV and other aspects that the social workers share to help them in their situations. They are also fed with a snack in the morning and dinner at the end of the day.
We were responsible for the bible teaching, teaching them some songs (not easy with just 4 of us), games and the craft sessions.
Our theme this year was the lost stories – lost sheep – lost coin and lost son.
In the craft time, we decorated bracelets and bags and made ‘Thank You’ cards to someone that we wanted to say thank you to.
This was a great time to chat to the children and get to know them. They are so grateful for anything that we give them.
On the last day of the workshop, the children’s carers come in and the children share what they have been learning. They also sing in their groups and this is beautiful.
On this day Marion told the story of the Lost Son, which was acted out so well by Janet, Peter and Bill – complete with costumes.
Marion liked the bit where Bill (son) and Peter (father) embraced and I said “and they kissed” – but they opted out of that bit.
The bible stories were to teach these children that they are loved so much by God and that He would always be there for them and never give up on them.
There were many special moments during this workshop – but for Bill and Marion it was very special, when on that 1st day we saw Bradley.
We first met Bradley on the first workshop we did at Tshongwe. This year, he had heard we were there and had come looking for us. We will tell you more about Bradley later.
On the Thursday, Chris Connors of the CoCos Foundation was able to take us to visit the houses, built with money from people in our church and the church at Ramsden Bellhouse.
We visited Caroline, whom Tim, Yolande, Bill and Marion met in 2015. She has a lovely house – thanks to a couple of church members – for her and her grandchildren, and they are still wearing the knitted hats that we gave them.
We were able to see the results – situations turned around by these generous donations.
It was an exhausting day, keeping up with Chris, but we had a lovely finish, celebrating our wedding anniversary with pizza and cake whilst watching World Cup football.
The following two days we went visiting with Thabo and Sasizo the LK coordinators.
We were able to give out food parcels and knitted blankets – knitted by ladies in our church Saturday Club.
In the photos you may see people with sticks in their mouths. This was down to Peter – every time we went to the shops he bought jars of lollipops which he gave out to children and adults alike.
We met such lovely people – so grateful for anything we could give. They were all living in very difficult circumstances.
On one occasion, whilst visiting, we were offered a maize drink. It was like drinking thick wallpaper paste, but we had to drink it to be polite.
On the Sunday and Monday we had 2 days off. Chris had arranged for us to go to a game reserve that he goes to with his other groups and to our surprise we even had a time of interaction with elephants. It was also great to have Xoliswa with us. We have known him since 2011 and it was special having time with him.
After this it was back to work. We spent the next 3 days, helping at a holiday club. This time we were at a school near Mseleni, where ROTTC sponsors an after schools club for the orphans in that area. About 30 children attended.
We taught the lost stories again and had lots of time for craft, singing and games.
These children were a little younger than at the workshop, so we made sheep masks and headbands with special words on them, plus the other craft as well.
The children drew around their hands and wrote their name on it – a memento that we brought back with us.
We sang Hokey-Cokey, played football and taught the British Bulldog. We worried about Peter running around on the football pitch – he got very hot!
They sing with such enthusiasm and carry on singing when doing their craft work.
We also visited the Ebenezer Centre, Children’s Home and Janet visited the Hospital.
The Ebenezer Centre is in the grounds of the Children’s Home and is for pre-schoolers.
Unfortunately, the children were on holiday when we were there, but we were able to leave a present and card from the children of our own Little Fishes pre-school and we hope to continue the relationship between the two.
Nosihle, who works with Rachel, showed us around the children’s home. This has all been re-furbished with many safety features put in place. Our curtains are still up in what was the boy’s house.
We saw the lovely therapy room, where, through play, the children can talk about things they may have been through.
When we went into the staffroom/office, there on the wall was a picture of Stuart, Diane, Tim, Bill and Marion, in a heart shaped frame. We had made this with the children a couple of visits back – a special moment.
We were also able to attend a bible study at Rachel & Victor’s house, with people from the hospital. It was a great time although in the dark, due to a power cut.
The really great thing for Bill & Marion on this trip was being able to meet up with so many teenagers that we knew from previous visits.
They talked about the things we had done with them – like building the playground, the holiday club and the meal in the restaurant that we took them to.
We were able to have meals with some of them and spend time with them. This made a very memorable trip even more special.
Bill & I said many times that this would be our last trip – we were getting too old. Now we feel very differently!
While we can and God gives us our health and strength, we will be back there, doing what we can. I feel as though I have left a bit of me out there anyway.
We want to tell you 3 things.
Firstly – what ROTTC funding – with your help – manages to achieve.
Secondly – how we spent money given to us by some Church members to address needs as we found them.
Lastly – the dire needs that we saw but are not currently able to address.
1 – What we fund at present.
We were amazed at how far our – YOUR – money goes.
We took ROTTC funds with us and paid for the PS Workshop at Tshongwe and the Holiday Club at Nhlamvu and we bought large garish creamy cakes for the last day celebrations at both. The balance of what we took was left with Rachel to use at her discretion.
With your support, ROTTC funds 2 After School Clubs for orphans – NHLAMVU (very near to Mseleni) and EKUSENI which is some miles away at MDUKU. Orphans at two schools – that’s a lot of children getting some food and a lot of support.
ROTTC also funds food parcels. These cost about £25 and will feed a not too large family for about a month. The parcel contains maize, nuts, rice, washing powder, soap, tinned fish, stock cubes candles etc etc.
We visited 10 houses with Thabo and then Sasizo, and took out food parcels.
In all cases there was poverty. In some, there was devastation by fire or flood.
In many cases, young children were looked after by older siblings. In a couple of cases, Coco’s Foundation was scheduled to build new houses.
As well as giving food parcels we gave out several blankets, woolly hats and small dolls.
At the 3rd house we visited there was better news. We were expecting to see a load of youngsters, there are 9 in total, cared for by a 15 yr old, but there was no-one there.
An old lady had died and so the Induna (the local chief) gave her Gov’t house to this young family. We drove past it – a nice big house in good condition – relative to the area.
ROTTC also funds the YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM which teaches the Life Skills Course. This is very successful in helping youngsters to find jobs. Rachel told us this ‘Life Skills Course’ is very valuable and turns lives around and that she also conducts frequent ‘follow-ups’.
2 – The money you gave us.
Thabo took us to see Chainsaw man. He was a very hard working man and skilled with a certain type of wood. Apparently this wood is difficult to harvest but is impervious to the dreaded termite.
His house was tidy and in good nick but his chainsaw – his livelihood – was broken so we gave Thabo the money for the chainsaw repair to get him back into work.
Thabo would oversee this but also said he would get this man to make him some fencing. We did, however, leave him a food parcel.
We first met Bradley Holster in 2013 at the PS workshop at Tshongwe. His friends called him ‘Son of Stuart’ because he was fairly pale skinned. In 2015 we just bumped into him in Mbazwana. This year Bradley heard we were around and came to Tshongwe to find us.
Bradley failed his Matric and needed help. The Matric is very important in SA, in order to get a decent job. The Christoph Meyer centre teaches Maths and Science to teenagers like Bradley – and they will accept Bradley - £60 per month for fees and accommodation. A fund was started with money people gave us. Since we returned, Bradley’s accommodation and education fees have been donated for a whole year.
6th house we saw with Sasizo – there was a young girl caring for 6 children. We had run out of food parcels and they had no food, so we went out and bought the necessary with money given to us by people here.
We first saw Caroline in 2105 and she desperately needed a house. Thanks to someone in the church, she now has a new house. But she needed some beds so we left the money with the social worker, for that to happen.
3 – Further Needs – Ongoing needs.
2nd house we visited with Sasizo – There were 15 kids and a Mum dying of AIDS. The oldest daughter had learning diffs. 10 slept in one room. There was a separate hut for a kitchen but another 5 sleep in there. 15 in all! We gave a food parcel but they desperately need a house. That’s about £4000 to £4500 with a toilet. (Update Nov 2018 – Their house has now been built.)
Tshongwe – this is where we helped with a PS workshop. The After School Club stopped thru lack funding but is desperately needed.
There is a constant challenge for transport and salary costs. As we’ve said many times – they cover a huge area and everywhere we went was miles away.
Rachel and Nosihle would like to see a Crisis Comfort Care Centre – like a Rape Centre, at the children’s home. This is so that an abused child does not have to visit several different places, police, hospital and Social Services, in order to receive the necessary care.
They have the space, although would like specialised accommodation, but they don’t have the money to pay the required Social Worker.
The Children’s Home is all ready to open – all safety / fire regs have been met.
It just waits for 2 Government departments to decide which of them will be responsible.
But they still need help because the 1st couple of months are critical – there will be salaries to pay before the Government funding eventually seeps through.
Maybe it was just me, but I thought the children’s home was owned by the Government.
I thought we didn’t need to worry about the kids in there – daily food and a warm dry bed.
Not so. We discovered that the MCH is privately owned and funded inadequately, per child, by the Gov’t, which only covers about 75% of the cost. So they could do with our help in order to provide a decent service.
This was a fabulous and successful trip and – agreeing with Marion – made very special by the number of teenagers that we met up with – that we have known now for 7 years.
Xoliswa – full of mischief in 2011 is now a very intelligent and cool 18!! year old. When we met we had a hug and he nearly picked me up!!
And Sandile – his house has been built, thanks to Ramsden Bellhouse Church. Sandile has erected fencing all the way round his area and he cuts all the grass.
In 2011, this lad wouldn’t speak or look you in the eye. He’s 26 now and been in the children’s home since he was 5.
Now he WhatsApps me at least once every day – and I don’t really do Smalltalk – and nor does he.
He say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ a lot. Tells me he’s chillin’ in front of a TV in the children’s home (where he does some sort of caretaker duties)
But he did manage to string enough together to tell me he was cold and ask me to buy him a jacket – a Brazil Football Team Jacket!!
Apart from Sandile’s jacket, there are just too many needs but please consider them. Every little bit makes a difference. We have seen and experienced those differences.
AND - WE’LL BE BACK.
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