Dear Friends,
Just to update you with what’s been happening inside Hearts
of Hope and specifically at I’Themba house over the past
few months:-
The children in the home are flourishing. We’ve got through
winter with only minor sniffles and colds. The home has settled
down into a well run routine thanks to the implementation of strict
systems and daily monitoring.
 Bongani is
now 10 months old. He has reached all his milestones. His skin
condition has improved fantastically thanks to the expert
advice of a private dermatologist, Sian Hartshorne. Obviously
the medical expenses for this have been sizable but it has been
worth
it for the results and his own comfort. He is a happy and content
little boy. He is still underweight at only 6.4kg but is eating
well and loves his solid food!
 Sam was adopted by a Danish couple at the end
of June 2009. We had mixed emotions about Sam’s departure: For all that knew
him, Sam was larger than life, we called him the “Hearts
of Hope Marketing department” – he could break down
all barriers and awkwardness of any new visitors to the home with
his boisterous nature. We were however very happy for Sam, his
new parents will provide for him a very structured upbringing,
his father is an academic, he has an older sister and a family
that will love him dearly.
 Shepherd was also adopted by a Danish family in August 2009, a
few days after his first birthday. He too had come on leaps and
bounds and was truly a bonny, happy baby. We all miss him and his
whole face that smiled when he looked at you! He has an older sister
who was also adopted from South Africa three years ago. Many thanks
to Fiona Mclean and Celeste Lewis for the wonderful birthday party
they threw for Shep and Ndumi - the kids felt really special!
 Busi aged 4 arrrived in July 2009. She is very quietly spoken
but very bright and eager to please and learn. A big thanks to
Sue Liebenberg, the owner of Hugs and Kisses Nursery School in
Sunninghill for the sponsoring of her education this year. Her
vocabulary has improved tremendously and she is more outgoing and
improving in confidence.
 Zama is
now 2 years 6 months and has started nursery school at Hugs and
Kisses with Busi. Many thanks to Sue again for the discounted
fees. This we believe will provide for her the best start to her
schooling in the critical foundation years. Her contagious laughter
has meant she has found her way into many hearts. She truly is
a delightful child and is very ready to take her first steps into
the world.
 Ndumi has just turned 4 years old and has attended St Martins
crèche in Alex for the year. Many thanks to Brigette Brooks,Tracey
Spanjaard, Brooke van Niekerk, Roland Ellingworth, Linden John,
Jenna and for the wonderful birthday party they threw for her at
Spur. She is a bright little girl, and eager to learn. We have
not however been happy with her progress this year and she is falling
behind with some of the basic concepts. We would also like to get
Ndumi into a private nursery school where there are fewer children
in the class and each child gets more individual attention, space
and finances will determine how quickly this can be acheived.
 Zelda aged 12 has been with us a year now. She too is doing well
and is gaining in confidence. She would hugely benefit from consistent
one on one tutoring to help her to keep abreast of her school work,
and to fill in the gaps in terms of mathematical concepts, English
reading and spelling. One of our objectives is to find a way to
enable her to express her artistic talent and perhaps have additional
input in this area. We see this as something she could build on
for her future after school.
 Brigit is our newest arrival, at 4 months old and born at 28 weeks
weighing only 945g at birth, she now weighs just 3.4kgs. She is
in need of lots of love and nurturing which we are excited to be
able to give her.
News
Thanks to Lonehill Methodist Church, the children were baptized
in June this year. We were very pleased to send Sam off knowing
that we had committed him in baptism to God’s care.
Thanks
Thanks
too to the following volunteers for their commitment and passion
for the project and Children: Fiona, Celeste, Caroline, Cassie,
Angela, Pia, Nici, Al, Shami, Lorraine, Julie.
Thank you too
to the following donors for their generosity, without which
I'Themba Children's Home would not exist: St Stevens Church, Karen
Cousins,
Midrand Presbyterian Church, Orr Home Group, Mike Caveney,
Edgar Kapanga, Joc Kuper, Kyalami Caterers, Camila and Quentin
Leeds,
P3 Business Solutions, IMCD, the Smulders family, T and I Chalmers,
Tania Hobbs, Epoch.
Our grateful thanks to Ilse Dinner and all at Millward Brown who
collected and distributed 1000 winter woollies – each child
at Zeldas school in Alex received a beanie and sweets.
Fundraiser
We held the first of hopefully an annual fund raising event at
Mangwanani spa at the end of July. Over 80 ladies attended and
certainly is an evening not to be missed in the years to come!
News from the Drakensberg project
At present we are assisting 9 PRE-SCHOOL facilities in the following
ways:
Bread and Peanut Butter: Every Monday each pre-school receives
a bread delivery. This ensures that each child will receive one
sandwich per day. We feed over 350 children a day and this costs
approximately R750 per week.
Stationery Packs: At the beginning of every term each pre-school
receives a pack of consumable stationery to keep the children busy
and to aid learning. Each child receives a booklet with fun exercises
which stimulates and develops important skills. These stationery
packs cost in the region of R800 each.
Maintenance and Repairs: Each year we assess the pre-schools and
do our utmost to assist with maintenance and repairs where necessary.
Maintenance is vital as it can avoid much larger costs in the future.
Computers: Richard from Dragon Computers has
donated 22 PCs to the Drakensberg Project. They will be delivered
next
week.
Cleaning Equipment: Each month the pre-schools receive a 25 day
supply of Biocide-D which is a sterilizing surface cleaner.
Teacher Training: Ladies from these pre-schools
have been attending Early Childhood Development courses in Ladysmith.
Seven ladies
are due to complete the Level 4 Course in June 2009. We transport
the ladies to the centre and provide their food for each workshop.
Course fees of R2800 per student have been paid. We hope to begin
the Level 5 course with some teachers soon and will be looking
at beginning another Level 1 course with a new set of assistants
next year.
We have also started quarterly teacher workshops. These cover specific
topics and are aimed at providing the teachers with a better understanding
of early childhood development and the importance of play. New
toys, puzzles, games and different ideas for their use are introduced
at these sessions.
The training of teachers is one of the most important aspects of
this programme
Up coming events
A special Tea Party event – details of which will be sent
out shortly.
6th December – a carols by candlelight evening at the home.
The Welsh men’s choir will come to help us sing along in
the garden
Plans for next year
We await approval on the re-zoning and of our building plans.
We could potentially start building early next year. Our
priority is to build staff accommodation, and a Hearts of Hope
office
on to the main house. This will immediately allow us to open
up a specialised babies facility for 6 babies. Once this
is up
and running we intend to build an additional two cottages
on the property. The cottages will be able to accommodate another
12 children. Your ongoing support is very important to us
to
make this dream a reality.
Assistance
The funding of Ndumi and Zama’s educational requirements
are our most important needs at the moment, we are appealing for
all or part of their monthly school fees to be picked up by a kind
donor(s).
Finally let me end by saying a very big thank you to all our regular
volunteers for their investment of time with the children – they
have benefited enormously. And of course to our generous donors,
thank you for supporting our project, we take the responsibility
of administering donors money very seriously.
Please continue to visit the home, we do update our website with
the latest news, please email or call anyone of the directors….
Read More on our website: www.heartsofhope.org.za
The Hearts of Hope Team
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