KWATHU CHILDREN’S HOME
MY FOUNDATION, MY HOME, MY FUTURE HOPE!
APRIL 2014 UPDATE
EDUCATION
It’s been a happy holiday time here at Kwathu Children’s Home. Schools closed on the 11th of April and the children reported back to school on the 5th of May. They really enjoyed their school holiday.
With increased cases of child abuse, we believe it’s important for our children to have access to adequate information on issues that affect them. While enjoying the school holiday, our children attended an educational tour of the victim support unit at the Livingstone Central Police Station where they learnt more about children’s rights. “The best way to protect children is to empower them to protect themselves”
Our children also had the opportunity to attend another educational tour which took place at the Livingstone Fire Brigade where the children learnt about fire safety operations, the main ways of avoiding fire accidents, what to do in case of a fire accident, and which reachable number to dial in case of a fire accident. The children were also blessed with a 15 minute ride in one of the vehicles used by fire fighters, which the children really enjoyed.
SUPPORT
Green Valley Farm, which is based in Livingstone, has faithfully continued to support Kwathu Children’s Home with a variety of vegetables on a weekly basis, as well as Kalonga Banana farm who has also continued to bless Kwathu Children’s Home with Bananas.
We also received a blessing of assorted items from a team, which visited from Germany, and also from our two German volunteers, Julia and Regina.
In addition, we received various stationary and other items from Thornton Methodist Church and Mrs. Sandra Justus from Cape Town, South Africa which we are incredibly grateful for as the new school term will be starting soon.
We also received a donation of stickers from the Taunton Family from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This made our children very excited. A big thank you to all.
Finally, our Kwathu market has continued to grow. All our items are hand made by our Kwathu house mothers, the children and the local community at large. When purchasing an item from our market you will not only be supporting our house mothers and local community members, but also Kwathu Children ‘s Home itself, as a small portion of the proceeds go towards further education for our children.
SPIRITUAL
As Kwathu Children’s Home is a Christian faith-based home we have continue to share the word of God with our children through worship and devotions. For the duration of April, with the aid of pictures, we focused on teaching our children more about the real meaning of Easter. The children had such an exciting time painting Easter eggs with our 2 German volunteers, Julia and Regina. Lastly, our children have continued to attend church every Sunday which they really enjoy.
SOCIAL
The month of April has been an amazing and exciting time for the children. They had so much fun with activities lined up for their holiday time.
To begin with, Birthdays at Kwathu Children’s Home are always special days filled with so much joy and happy memories.
We celebrated 3 Birthdays this month. Austin turned 11 years old, Julia, a German Volunteer, celebrated her first birthday in Africa, and Mr. Agrippa Phiri, the Director of Kwathu Children`s Home also celebrated his birthday. The children had so much fun dancing. It was a wonderful time for everyone.
Jerome Phiri, the son to Mr. and Mrs. Phiri, the Kwathu directors, also celebrated his 3rd birthday on 21st April in South Africa while the Phiri Family had some time off in Jeffrey’s Bay.
In addition, the children had such fun and adventure as they visited the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The children had so much fun and at the same time were nervous as they were crossing the knife bridge at the Victoria Falls. The children also enjoyed the adventure down to the boiling pot situated at the bottom of the Victoria Falls.
The children also had a wonderful visit at Gertrude’s house, the social worker at Kwathu Children’s Home. They enjoyed watching movies, and were blessed with biscuits, corn puffs; freezits and orange juice for snacks. The children later spent some time outside and enjoyed taking some pictures. They really enjoyed their visit and had such a wonderful time.
WELFARE
Through the assistance of the social welfare, Edith, a 4 year old young girl was temporarily admitted to Kwathu Children’s Home. Edith’s Mother is a mental patient and is not in a stable condition to look after her children. Within a few days of admission at Kwathu, Edith was later referred to SOS Village where her 2 older brothers are currently being cared for. However, we are so grateful that we were able to provide Edith with love and shelter, even though for only a short period of time.
While the children were still on holiday the bigger boys and girls, Gertrude and Allan, Kwathu staff members, took time to visit and clean the surrounding at the building site. The children are so excited about the progress of the building and they are really looking forward to moving in to a place they will call Home.
VOLUNTEERS
On the 2nd of April, Kwathu children’s Home welcomed 2 Volunteers from Germany, namely Julia and Regina. On the 9th of April we welcomed back Natalie, our South African volunteer from her visit back home.
LAND UPDATE
We have had a lot of progress at the building sight over the month of April. Local contractors successfully completed plastering the outside of the building. The floor has also been worked on and air vents have been fitted.
Window frames have been fitted in readiness for placing window panes, and at present the contractors are fitting window seals. They are likely to be done in the coming month.
In addition, the ceiling in the small house has also been successfully completed.
All this progress has been made possible by the financial support of our German Partners, Tandeka e.V. in Augsburg, from the Calendar proceeds.
A local company, “PG GLASS”,fulfilled their promise and blessed Kwathu Children’s Home with window panes and 40kg of window putty to be used when fitting the windows in position. It’s really a joy and such blessing!
Please continue praying with us on these requests:
- Funding for a 16 seater Bus (preferably Diesel) that would help us transport our children to and from school, as well as for the use of administration purposes.
- Pray with us for financial support for the remaining stages on the house (Plumbing, flooring, painting, the ceiling and the doors)
- Continue praying for courage, faith and understanding that we can accomplish the goals we set for Kwathu and that the children can live, grow and mature in Gods daily goodness and loving kindness.
Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.
We thank you all for your continued love and support towards Kwathu Children’s Home and may the Lord continue to bless you!
Note: Kwathu is now on twitter! Please follow us on @KwathuHome.
