Dear friends and family

2017 has started off at a really frantic pace, and the year seems to be going even faster. I can’t believe it is already February! This makes for a very newsy newsletter! Here are just a few of the things we have been dealing with over the past couple of weeks:

Mom Batha

We have had quite a start to the new year in Dube Hostel. Firstly, please keep Mom Batha in your prayers. She went to the clinic on Thursday 9 February as she was experiencing extreme pain and numbness down one side. After spending all day there, they sent her home without seeing a doctor and just giving her a mild painkiller. The following day she went to a private doctor who gave her medication and told her to go back on Saturday. When she went on Saturday she was given an injection, which helped a little bit, but she is still experiencing some pain. She is currently resting at home. Mom Batha is so vital to the daycare centre and feeding project and she needs to have good health, so please pray for complete healing.

Aletheia has decided to sponsor some of the children some of the children in the hostel so that they can attend the daycare. Nonxolo is four years old. Her father passed away suddenly in December (about a week before Christmas), leaving his unemployed wife and four children. The oldest child, Sihle, was in Mom Batha’s daycare in 2013 and is now doing well in school. Suza is a Zimbabwean woman who’s husband has abandoned her. She is unemployed but has been washing clothes in order to support herself and her two children. She managed to pay school fees for her older son, S’bonga, last year, but has been battling to pay fees for the younger one, Phila. We have told her that we will pay Phila’s fees so that she will be able to go and find employment. We are also helping a Sibusiso, a young man who has been raising his baby since the mother abandoned him last year. Xolani is nearly two years old. Sibusiso is unemployed and has been unable to go look for work because he has to care for his baby. We are now paying for Xolani to attend the daycare, where he will get nutritious meals and the care he needs. We have found out that he has only one set of clothes, which his father washes every night, and no shoes.

Everywhere we turn in Dube Hostel is a sad story of poverty, unemployment, abuse in the homes and neglect. Our aim is to spread the love of Jesus to the children and their parents by helping them in a practical way. We thank the Lord for Mom Batha and her caring heart. She has created a safe haven for the children to go to every day.

Stationary Drive

Our first project for the year is very important and urgent. We are doing a stationery, text books and school clothing drive for the children we assist through feeding projects in rural Limpopo Province. There have been numerous articles in the media over the past few years regarding Government failing to deliver text books to schools in the Province. Yes, it is a very poor reflection on our leaders, but ultimately it’s the children who suffer. They are deprived of their right to quality basic education due to the inadequacies of the very people voted into power to ensure that all children receive the best possible opportunities when it comes to education. Last year a number of schools were burnt down and vandalised in Limpopo as well. In addition to lack of text books, children don’t have basic stationery, especially pens, pencils, writing paper etc. In some cases groups of children have to share a single pen/pencil and piece of paper between them. This is such a sad and desperate situation, one that these children did not ask for and do not deserve. The children come from extremely poor homes, and many do not have school clothes. There are countless children who go to school barefoot or have shoes which are too small, or have holes and are barely usable.
 
On Monday 27 February we will be going to Limpopo, with the aim of taking as many donations of school stationery, text books and clothing as possible. These children deserve so much more, and you can assist by donating items, or alternatively donating funds towards purchasing of items needed. Please help us in making this drive a huge success. Something as small as a donated pen will make a massive difference. Please pray in earnest that we will receive an abundance of donations to take with us.

Meadowlands, Seweto – The Myeni family

Nhlanhla is a 17 year old girl who, along with her younger cousins (Linda – boy aged 14, Noma – girl aged 12, Bongani – boy aged 8) come from one of the numerous child headed homes we support through food and various other donations in Soweto. Nhlanhla’s mother and father passed away a few years ago, as did the mother of her three cousins. The cousins all have different fathers, but the fathers have not been around for a long time. The four children have been living together since their mothers passed away. Nhlanhla has an 8 year old sister who lives with her father but visits them on weekends and in the holidays. Over the years there have been different adult family members who have moved in and acted as guardians to the children. The government provides a monthly grant for the children which is payable only to an adult family member acting as guardian, but sadly these family members have taken advantage of the situation and kept the money for themselves, very rarely providing for the children in the form of food and other necessities. Most recently a young aunt was looking after the children and keeping the grant money for herself. The aunt has moved out and when a social worker came to visit the home, she found out that the aunt was no longer there so the grants were stopped altogether. While the aunt was still there, she allowed tenants to move onto the property and is still collecting rent each month. The children now have complete strangers living on the property with them, which has made them extremely vulnerable. We found out recently that the door leading into the house did not lock, so anyone could simply walk into the house whenever they wanted to. We made arrangements to replace the door and fit strong locks onto it. Getty has been fantastic in helping the children whenever she can, and has been something of a mother figure to them, but she helps more than 30 children in her neighbourhood alone, and simply cannot provide all the love and care these children need. It has therefore unfortunately become necessary to find homes for the children, which means they will have to be split up.
 
Nhlanhla has an aunt nearby whom she can go and live with, and we have contacted a children’s home called Kids Haven, who offered to take the siblings in. The social worker went and inspected Kids Haven, and was happy for the children to go and live there. Please keep Nhlanhla and the siblings in your prayers.

Getty

Last year Getty really battled with her health. We are pleased to report that she is doing a lot better so far this year, although she is still experiencing many personal problems and challenges. Getty is an invaluable member of our team, and always gives so much more than she receives, not only for Aletheia, but to her family, as well as the community in which she lives. Whenever the police in Getty’s area deal with any situation directly affecting children, Getty is the first name mentioned to try and help the children. She is a mother to so many children, and even though she faces so many challenges, she never complains. Due to our limited funds, we are only able to pay Getty a small monthly salary, and this is the main income her household of 13 members receives. In addition to supporting her household, Getty provides food for child headed homes in the area on occasion as well. We would really like to offer more support to Getty and her family, so any donations (financial, clothing, items, non-perishable food) will be appreciated.

Motswedi Daycare Testimony

Last week Monday morning Morné had some urgent personal matters to attend to, and I was planning on getting some much needed bookkeeping done. Morné was forced to change his plans at the last minute (which he was quite stressed about) and he ended up having to babysit Michaela (my granddaughter), so when he arrived at my house, I had to abandon my plans to catch up on bookkeeping as well so that I could help babysit.
 
We have a donor who sponsors bulk food purchases for Mom Batha and the children at Dube Hostel feeding project on a monthly basis, and on Sunday evening Mom Batha had sent me a message to let me know that they would be needing food soon. She always lets me know well in advance so we usually have a couple of days before they need more food. I spoke to Morné and, seeing as our plans had changed at the last minute, we decided to go buy food that morning and take it through to Mom Batha. This month we happened to have an extra donation for “feeding the kids” so we decided to buy extra non perishable goods for Nhlanhla’s household, as well as for Motswedi Daycare centre. When we arrived at Motswedi, Dudu, who runs the daycare with her mom Gloria, came out to greet us. She did not know that we were coming, but was so thankful, as that morning they had literally used up the last of their food for the children. A parent had registered their child that same morning, and Dudu had to use the registration money to buy gas so that they could cook the last of the food. Dudu and her mom had been praying and asking the Lord to provide food for the next day. Morné had seen their food cupboard and there was literally half a packet of uncooked noodles, nothing else. The Lord knew that Motswedi would run out of food that morning. He knew that our plans had to change at the last minute, so that we would make the decision to buy food that day and take it to Motswedi. How great is our God!
 
Dudu and Gloria have been running Motswedi for more than 20 years. They have an excellent curriculum and their children are some of the most well spoken and educated in Soweto. They are Christian based and the children are introduced to the Gospel from a very young age. They have really battled over the last few years with declining numbers (they went from 70 down to 21), as their facilities are in desperate need of repairing and upgrading. Due to this, parents would rather pay more and send their children to other daycare centres in the area. Last year we felt led to assist Motswedi in raising the funds to upgrade their facilities. My niece Rachel’s company is assisting with drawing up the building plans, and they seem to be interested in helping us with the project in some way.   Dudu and her mom have not received a salary for the past two months. Their main electricity box was recently struck by lightning so they have had no electricity for the past few months, and the roof of their classroom is leaking. We are appealing for donations towards buying non perishable goods for the daycare on a monthly basis, to the value of R 1000 ($74), gas for cooking (R 600/$45) as well as fixing the leak in the roof (R 2000/$148). We will be getting quotes on repairing the electricity as we currently have no idea how much it will cost. Please prayerfully consider whether you would like to contribute towards Motswedi, they really need all the help they can get.

Family

We recently had my brother in law and sister in law, Graham and Desré, their son Rowan and his girlfriend Nicola visit us from the UK. We had a wonderful time catching up. I was privileged to be able to take them through to Soweto one day, where they visited Motswedi Daycare and Mom Batha. Graham bought a new stove for Mom Batha (which she really needed!) and Rowan bought two balls for the kids to play with, which were a big hit! We always enjoy being able to have visitors come and meet everyone for themselves.

As always, we value your prayers and support!

“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27