Thembalihle our first Project O orphan.

One day 2 1/2 years ago I was walking through the valley with one of my friends. We were passing a small mud hut and noticed an elderly woman sitting outside on a blanket. In the Zulu culture you must greet people when you pass them so we slowed down and greeted the lady, as we talked with her i noticed a small child in the garbage dump that was next to the house. The surrounding houses and the Shabine (tavern) next to her mud hut throw all their waste into the pit. The little girl came out of the dump and she was carrying 2 apple cores. She lifts one to her mouth to take a bite when she notices Nthabiseng and myself talking with her grandmother, embarrassed she hides the apple cores behind her back.

Her grandmother was also embarrassed and explains that Thembalihle has lost her parents to AIDS and now it is just the 2 of them left, they are trying to survive on her pension but its just not enough for them and she cant even send Thembalihle to school. they go for days with nothing to eat.

I told Gogo (grandmother) that I would be back soon. We leave and when i am in the seclusion of my bathroom I break down, my heart breaks for the Gogo and her beautiful little granddaughter. I felt as though my heart was breaking into thousands of tiny pieces and the pain I felt for these two strangers took my breath away, it over whelmed me and I knew I had to do something.

As most kids do when they don't have the answers, I called my mum! I told her about my day and about Gogo and Thembalihle. What should I do? My mum and dad decided they they would help this little family, they became our 1st Project O sponsors and Thembalihle our first orphan!

For £19 a month my parents change a family's life. Now they have enough food to make it through each month and Thembalihle is going to school and doing great!! She is a very bright little girl and now has big dreams for her life.

Just £19 a month and a loving, faithful couple (I'm not bias) has changed their lives FOREVER.

Bike club, so much fun!

We are running a bike club every saturday morning in Maphephetaini- a rural community in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Many of us take for granted the things that we grew up doing and those things that were made available to us. Bikes are another item on the long list of things that the children living in these remote communities will never have the chance of owning.

I remember when my little brother first learnt how to ride a bike......he was 4 years old and we were on holiday in america. there he was in his new Chicago Bears uniform riding up and down the street for hours until he got it right. The children that we work with will never have a chance to own their own bike let alone go to america and have a Chicago Bears uniform. I dont even remember learning to ride a bike! See how we take it for granted. we all know that at some point during our childhood we will learn to ride a bike, its a given!

Now Project O is giving these children the chance to learn something that every child should have the chance to learn....how to ride a bike.

Every saturday morning our staff arrive to the Chief's compound and are greated by about 100 children, all are waiting to go on a bike ride!
Each week a different group of children come and go on a bike ride, whne the ride is over they return to the compound for a life, moral, biblical lesson.

The club also promotes friendship, teamwork, fitness and hope.

We currently have 30 mountain bikes, with the hopes of building on that and getting 100 by the end of next year. We have had 4 national sports magazines across South Africa do write ups on the project and we are vrey excited about the impact that it is having on these children.

All this is possible thanks to Group 5, Sean's Power Cycles and Action Pad Print.

Quilts,Quilts,Quilts!

A few months ago a lady called BJ from Krazy Kwilts for Kool Kids contacted us and told us that her and her friends would like to make some quilts for our orphans. My mum makes the most fantastic patchwork quilts and because of this I LOVE quilts (cant make them myself, but i do love them!). So imagine my excitement when one morning I come down to the office to find it full of hand made quilts! Each one different from the next and each one had the name of the orphan that it had been made for!

Our staff have been taking the quilts to each child with their monthly supply of food that Project O supplies.

The children have been so grateful for their quilts and they have come just in time for winter!

I would like to thank BJ and the other ladies who took the time to design and sew these quilts. They are beautiful and I know that the children are so blessed by their quilts.

World record!

yesterday it was made official.........martin is the world record holder for shortest time to skydive on 6 continents.

To see the videos go to http://www.project0.org.za/

Hello friends

Hi every one, Vashti here.
We have decided to start this blog so that we can keep you all up to date with all the Project O news. So much happens on a daily basis and I am going to atempt to keep you all informed!
I am also going to post stories about the orphans that we work with and general information on how you can get involved with helping us to help the "least of these", the voiceless children of South Africa.
My aim is for this blog to be more personal than a website, please feel free to interact with me and ask me questions and give me any ideas that you have that you feel will help us to help them!

Thanks guys....looking forward to hearing from you.
Vashti