Dear friends and family

This past month has been one of the busiest we have had in a long time .It feels like last week since we sent out our previous newsletter! So much has happened and so much is in the works, we are very excited and extremely thankful for what is happening.
 
On Wednesday 8 June, Joshua Jordan arrived from Colorado to spend a month with Aletheia. Joshua is the sixteen year old son of Vince Jordan, one of our supporters. It was a real pleasure hosting Joshua as it provided an opportunity for him to experience what Aletheia is about, and see the work we do first hand. Joshua met and interacted with all the children and teachers from the various daycare centres we support, he helped with weekly food pickups from Woolworths, as well as accompanying us on a trip to Limpopo to visit the feeding schemes up there. In between the day to day running around, we managed to show Joshua some of the sights and sounds of our beautiful country before he went home on 8 July. We look forward to having him visit us again in the future!

Limpopo Project

On Monday 27 June we drove to Limpopo to see the progress on the building of the kitchen at Gladys’ feeding scheme. All of the building work has been completed, there are just some finishing touches to be done. The kitchen itself is roughly 5 square metres bigger than originally planned, and electricity cables have already been installed so they have power to the kitchen. The plumber has managed to connect to the main water pipes and there is now running water on the corner of the property. The toilets, taps and basins still have to be installed and connected, but already it is such an improvement having running water nearby. Two outside “long drop” toilets have also been built, and there are enough bricks left over to build an office adjacent to the kitchen for Gladys. The kitchen unit had already been delivered to the local OK Furnishers branch, and by the time we arrived, Sam had collected the unit, as well as their new fridge and freezer.
 
The Lord has really blessed the Pastors as they now have electricity and running water, as well as two decent toilets. With the provision of the fridge and freezer, Gladys can now apply to Woolworths in Louis Trichardt for food donations. Please keep the pastors, the community and the application to Woolworths in your prayers as they are now currently feeding in excess of 900 children, women and poverty stricken families, and the R6,000 ($400) Aletheia provides in bulk food purchases per month does not last very long. Rural Limpopo has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

Mom Batha

The PDSA day hosted at Mom Batha on 30 June was a resounding success. Over 70 dogs (and a couple of cats) were vaccinated on the day, and the children were educated on how to treat and care for their animals. Unfortunately this is a problem in the community, as they have never been taught how to care for and properly love their pets. The PDSA staff painted the children’s faces – which was a huge hit – and Abdoul from Kids Haven played songs on his guitar to keep everyone entertained.

On Friday 08 July, Michael Calamia and his team from A World Aware spent the morning at Mom Batha building a vegetable tower garden. Michael had two local men from the community help him, which provided them with training on how to build the garden. The tower garden is a really good way to educate and provide communities with a sustainable source of food (and income), and it doesn’t take up much space. Mom Batha should have her first crop of vegetables within the next few weeks, which will be a huge help for her feeding scheme. A second tower garden has already been built as well.

Motswedi Daycare Centre

It has really been on our hearts to raise the funds to assist Motswedi Daycare to build a new, safe building for the children. The tin shacks they use are not suitable and this has really affected their attendance and ability to receive government subsidies. We were blessed with a donation to have plans drawn up so that we can use them for fund raising. My niece, Rachel Aub, is studying to be an architect, and she has agreed to draw up the plans for us. Last week we had a meeting with Dudu and Gloria from Motswedi, and the plans and vision for the new centre were agreed upon. The daycare is situated on a property which belongs to the church to which Dudu and Gloria are affiliated. Morne and I met with the senior pastor and one of the elders on Sunday, and they have granted us permission to go ahead with the plans to rebuild. Once the plans have been approved, we will be able to get estimates on the cost of building. Please keep this project in your prayers as we really feel this is what the Lord has laid on our hearts to do. We are moving forward by faith and trusting the Lord to provide the means for this project.

Mandela Day

In our previous newsletter we mentioned that for Mandela Day (Monday 18 July), Aletheia had planned projects at four of the daycare centres we support:

• Mom Batha: Mom Batha needs a ceiling to be installed in the main section of the daycare centre, and Woolworths have donated R5,000 towards materials. Staff from Woolworths Jabulani Mall and Victory park branches will be going through to paint the ceiling as their contribution towards Mandela day.
•  Zamani Lekang: Our project at Zamani involves painting a portion of the daycare centre. Katherine Smith and her colleagues from Olivia Thornet and Associates have confirmed that they will assist us with the painting as their Mandela Day project. They will be providing the paint, as well as paint brushes and rollers.  
•  Indumisu Daycare: Indumisu had requested 40 new sleeping mats for the children as their Mandela Day project. We were blessed to receive a donation of R4,000 which was used to purchase the mats. In addition to the sleeping mats, we will also be treating the children to a special lunch of hot dogs, chips and cooldrinks.  
• Motswedi Daycare: Originally our Mandela Day project for Motswedi was to repaint two of the classrooms. We have decided to treat the children to a lunch of hot dogs, chips and cooldrinks instead, as one of our goals this year is to raise funds to rebuild and renovate Motswedi daycare. The two classrooms we were going to paint will eventually be demolished, thus we decided not to go ahead with the painting.

Prayer Requests

• Transport: 99% of our work involves travelling, and we currently rely on the use of two vehicles, one of which is nine years old and the other one is eleven years old. Our vehicles have high mileage and are at the stage where both vehicles are starting to experience regular problems. It is becoming very expensive to maintain. Reliable transport is absolutely critical to our ministry. Last year August we applied to a local organization for funding to purchase two new vehicles. We have yet to receive an answer. Please keep this need in your prayers.
•  Getty: Whenever someone in Getty’s neighbourhood experiences a crisis, they turn to her for help. Her door is always open, and she will go to the ends of the earth to help others. She has been a mother to numerous orphans in the community for a number of years, and has personally adopted two children. It is through Getty that we got in touch with the various child headed homes we support. Even though Getty and her family live in a poverty stricken area, she will always give of the little she has. From teaching the children at Mom Batha about Jesus, to mentoring the teenage girls in her community, Getty is a true warrior for Christ. She never complains, and is always thankful. Please join us in praying that the Lord will continue to give her the strength, wisdom and protection she needs.
• Morne: As we have mentioned before, Morne’s wish has been to go into full time ministry. He is currently running his own business, plus working with Aletheia as much as he can. The ministry really needs him full time as he has been invaluable in so many ways. Morne has a heart for child ministry and the kids all love him so much! Please pray that we can get the funding to pay him a full time salary.