On with the roof!

The future of global orphan support

On with the roof........

We have started to put the roof on the children's home. We are thatching our roof  and we have the top thatcher in South Africa doing the job for us! We are so excited this job is more complicated than most as we have had to design a metal frame work to hold the wind turbines and solar panels in place. They will sit directly on the pitch of th

e house and are quite heavy. Here are a few photos of the progress. Not long now and the family will be able to move in.

Is there any way that you can help?

So many of our orphans have disabilities. The main one that we come across is Cerebral Palsy. We have 8 orphans with this condition and it really breaks my heart. If these children were in a western country they would be well cared for, they would be in schools that help them to learn and grow mentally, they would be in physio to help their muscles and joints to be more limber. They would have interaction with children who are in the same situation as they are and they would have a chance at having a life.
The children here have NONE of this.They get to lie on a mat on the floor, ignored by everyone. Not touched, not talked to, not loved.
When we go to visit these children I really struggle to fight back the tears. I get down with them and hold their hand. I talk to them in my broken Zulu and I pray for them.
How do they respond? They laugh and smile and try to talk back to me. It really doesn't take much to make them feel special, but sadly the families of these orphans just don't get it and this breaks my heart.
We need people to come and volunteer, to come and spend time with these families and teach them how to make the child's life better. We need physiotherapists to come and teach the Grandmothers and aunts how to touch and manipulate the children's arms and legs.
CAN YOU HELP?????

Almost there!

Can you Volunteer????

Mike and Laura from London helping us put up fence posts.
Laura playing with some of our orphans.
Adam and Hannah taking food to orphans.

Come volunteer!!!!

We have started the building project and now we are looking for teams or individuals to come and help build. As a volunteer you will help with the building work taking food to orphans and help with teaching our life-skills with the children. We are looking for people with and without experience, all ages, all backgrounds!!

Can you come and give some time to help us to give these children a home.

Creche is crying out for help.

Sabtha and her kiddies singing a song.

2 weeks ago I took a trip to Cato Manor squatter camp. We visited a Pastor there who is from Zambia. He now lives in South Africa with his wife and 3 children and has a small church in the squatter camp. Pastor Simon and his wife Sabtha love their community very much but 2 months ago during the xenophobic attacks here in South Africa members of the local community dragged them out of their home in the middle of the night and stole all their belongings. They also smashed all the windows of the church and stole every thing from inside, including all the items that they used for their creche.

Every day Sabtha has up to 22 children dropped off at the church to spend the day while the mother s go to work. some come as early as 6:30 am and are there until 7pm. The babies range from 2 months to 6 years and all are adorable!!!!

My first visit was quite hard for me as the creche was just a small room crammed with babies and nothing for them to do.

No toys, no beds, nothing for them to do. many come with only one nappy and are soaked through, no bottles are sterilized and the formula is made cold as there is no way to heat it.

Sabtha has one lady helping her, but that is not enough and she was very tired.

Yesterday I went back to visit and take some donations that we have been given for babies.

Sabtha was so happy to see us and I had the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with her. She really loves these little ones and is trying to do her best to care for them so that their mothers can go out and try to earn a living, but she is frustrated that there is so little that she can do with what they have. There are a few toys (most are not age appropriate) and a couple of crayons but not enough for all the children to use and there was nothing for the babies to do other than lie on a mat on the floor.

Sabtha wants the children to learn and grown, she teaches them basic English and sings with them. She is a wonderful, generous woman who has a compassion for these little ones.

When our team from BCC were here one of the team members called Emma decided to do something to help and went out and got 200 nappies for the creche. The nappies cost about 10 pounds and have already made such a difference to Sabtha and certainly the babies who are wearing them, no more wet bums!!!

If you feel that you can in any way help this little creche out through toys, baby clothes, nappies or formula please let me know.

You can email me at vashti@projecto.org.za

Please pray for the safety of Pastor Simon, Sabtha and their children. Also pray for the church Emmanuel Ministries and their congregation, and please pray for Little Disciples Creche.

Teddy Bears all round!

We have some friends in the UK who had a great idea of how to bless our orphans. One day while cleaning out her toys Laura Cowen saw that she just had too many teddy bears and didnt know what to do with them. So after talkng with her dad they came up with the idea of sending them to our orphans here at Project O. When we recieved the box stuffed with bears and other soft toys we were so excited. The orphans that we work with do not have any toys and for them to be given a cuddly toy from a little girl in the UK was such a treat.

I shared with Laura and her Dad (Mike) what a blessing the bears were and how the children loved them so much, Mike came up with another idea. He is one of the leaders at the Kids club run by their church. He spoke with the children at Mighty Kids and they started to bring their soft toys in so that Mike and Laura could send them to the orphans of Project O.

We now recieve boxes of soft toys every couple of months and we love getting them.......more importantly our children here love to get them.

Such a simple idea from a little girl in England has made such a difference to these children here.

Thank you Laura for seeing a need and sharing it with others, now we have many happy little boys and girls who have a teddy to snuggle!

Thank you Mike for caring enough to get behind Laura and Project O.

And Thank you for all the children at Mighty Kids who gave your bears for an orphan. We belive every child should have a teddy bear!!!!!