DECEMBER UPDATES 2016..!!!

EDUACTION

We wish to congratulate our Children as they were among other Children in their school who took part in the Graduation ceremony. Our Children were very happy as they will all be in new grades next year. The occasion was characterized of different performances from the Children and a warm meal was served to our Children for lunch. Further on, our children received their school results, and once again the results for the vast majorities were very positive. To a few of our Children who did not fair very well were just encouraged to work extra hard next term.

United we stand! Divided we fall!

It’s that time of the year again!!! The festive season is here and we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. As always we opened our doors to the community around us to come and celebrate with us. We had Acrobats who gave us a splendid performance that kept our eyes craving for more unbelievable tricks.

This year’s Christmas Community feeding program was particularly different because most of the children who were invited are those who were successfully enrolled to Kwathu Free Haven Community School for the 2017 academic year. Through the feeding program we were able to feed over 400 children and each child who was accepted in our school was given a Christmas gift of a full school kit (School Bag, Tooth brushes, Sweets,Soap, and Drinking Bottles). Thank you to Ernst Moritz Arndt Gymnasium Herzberg Grade 7m, Internatsgymnasium Paedagogium Bad Sachsa Grade 6, Family Sand and Family Held. Now that the school will be open, we have decided that the feeding program should not only be on Mondays but everyday so that no child should learn on an empty stomach as this reduces concentration in class and leads to poor class performance.

We are so thankful to Anita and Heiko for who have been working so hard to see this programme running throughout this year. It was so wonderful to have them around during the Christmas feeding and as a way of saying thank you to them we presented a beautiful flower buke and we had a vote of thanks speech from one of the girls and beneficiary of the feeding programme from our Community. Lastly we are so grateful to all our friends who took time out of their busy Schedule to come and be part of our Community Christmas feeding programme.

The arts Club has been on going and we moved it from Saturday afternoons to Friday afternoon, this was done in order to give most of the Children time to attend Church on Saturday as the Majority of them are Sabbath and has to attend Church on Saturday.

Christmas is a time we share love in giving and receiving. Many thanks to our visiting Volunteers who were part of this year’s African Shade Christmas Homeless feeding programme. Our Volunteers mainly helped out in food preparation, packaging and food distribution within the streets of Livingstone town Center . Approximately 66 homeless people were blessed and this included both the youths and the old. In addition we also blessed them with at least one T-Shirt each and they were very happy about this warm gesture.

Joyful Service

In this Christmas season we welcomed Pure from China and Jessie from Australia who took some time during their stay helping out with Various activities . It is always a blessing to have volunteers like these who dedicate their time and effort to help in the welfare of the children.

Support (Beautiful Hands)

Health  in our children is one of our primary concerns. We are so thankful to Finta Limited within Livingstone town, for blessing our children this Christmas with about 10 boxes of fresh milk. This is so much of a joy to our children especially our older kids, because of our limited  budget milk is not usually part of their menu. However,in the next one or two months it will be quite a different story as our children will be enjoying themselves and get more nourished with this milk.

Many thanks to Family Held from Kingdom Ventures who blessed our children this Christmas with lovely strong School shoes from Bata stores. Our children were so happy and excited that after the shoe shopping they had a treat at Hungry Lion for ice cream, Chickens and Chips. It was so special to see the bright smiles on each child`s faces.

Social

We were so blessed to have had celebrated uncle’s Evans birthday party on 8 December. Evans is from within Livingstone and according to his testimony, he had quite a tough childhood growing up as an orphan and raised up by his grandmother. Being an orphan did not stop him from working hard and achieve his goals in life. God has been so gracious to him and he is managing his own business. It is for this reason that he thought of giving back by celebrating his birthday with our Children. He also took some time to share his story and encouraged our Children to work extra hard for their better future. The celebration was characterised of some fun activities and yummy foods.

Our little Children had so much fun and enjoyed visiting our local Museum, and took some time to learn about our history, cultural practices, human development etc.

Every Child’s birthday brings so much joy to every Family. This time around on 16 December, we celebrated Anna’s 5^th and first birthday at Kwathu. It was really a special day for her, especially that she is a child who suffered much of neglect and abuse in her first few years of her life. It was special just to see her cute bright smile and a very happy child she has become. All our little children including Anna were accompanied by our vising volunteers to the Crocodile farm. Later in the day, she celebrated her birthday with the Community children who always come for Arts and Creative Club at Kwathu on Fridays.

Christmas time is a very wonderful and meaningful season for every Christian across the globe. It’s a season of giving, receiving and sharing God`s love with everyone. Our Children were privileged to be part of this year Christmas party for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. This took place on 15 December at the new Avani five star Hotel in Livingstone. Our Children had so much fun and had a few song presentations, they later enjoyed a warm meal and received some Christmas school packed gift.

Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Phiri “Kwathu Directors “for such an awesome Kwathu Christmas Family get together Dinner which was at Da-caton, a local Italian Restaurant with one of the best Pizzas in town. This occasion was very special because all the Kwathu staff had a privileged to at least invite two close Family or friends and all our builders who have been working so hard this years building the school and other structures at Kwathu. Other  invited quests were our Visiting Volunteers and close friends who have also been so supportive to Kwathu Ministries. We all enjoyed the delicious pizza and it was also a time for our Directors to present their Christmas gifts to staff and to say thank you for each one of them for their hard work throughout the year. The Children took this time as well to present a beautiful cake to Mama and Papa for their hard work, love and care they have continued to selflessly providing to our Children. Our Children took some time to say a few encouraging words to the Directors and to say thank you.

On 24 December, we had an indoor Christmas Eve party celebration with our Children and our visiting Volunteers. This year’s Kwathu Christmas ever was quite unique and special, all our visiting Volunteers had to prepare their indigenous Christmas meals and we had to prepare our local Zambian Christmas meal too. The occasion was characterised of some nice music and various lined up fun activities from our Children. Later on we all enjoyed the international Christmas meals which were sumptuous. Later, our Children were blessed as each one of them received their wonderful Christmas gifts. This time around, some gifts for our Children were in monetary form. Our Children were very excited and filled with so much joy.

This year`s Christmas day 25^th December was a special as it was on Sunday when most people are attending Church service. Our Children firstly had Church in the Morning and later in the day we had a more fun and relaxed time as a Family. Our House mothers and few of our girls helped to prepare us nice yummy home-made burgers and some fries. The Children enjoyed cookies, sweets, pop corns and gummies.

Land Updates

Most focus on the building lately has been working on our Community School. Works on the ablution block and Soaker way are underway and almost completed. By the Grace of God the school will be fully operational on 16 January with only minor works pending to completion.  Many thanks goes to East Point Church in American and individuals who have been raising and donating funds towards KFH school. Not forgetting our hard working builders who had to work overtime to meet the target, we say a big thank you.!!

The following are some of the main pending works to be completed on the School:

Ø  The Main gate

Ø  Water reserve tank

Ø  Tank Stand

Ø  Celling

Ø  Apron

Ø  Wall Fence

Ø  Outside Kitchen

With our sincere hearts words cannot express enough how thankful we are to our faithful friends  and partners Tandeka, Graceklein and everyone who has been supportive to Kwathu throughout 2016. Thank you so much and may the LORD Bless you. We wish you all a Happy Festive season and Fruitful 2017..!! Together we make it Happen!

WISHING YOU A HAPPY AND BLESSED 2017!!

Please continue praying with us on the following:

• Pray for the provision of funds for the Feeding Program God has laid upon our hearts to feed poor Children around us.
• Continue praying for courage,faith,wisdom and mostly love that we can accomplish the goals we set for Kwathu and that the Children can live, grow and mature in God`s  daily goodness and loving kindness.
• We thank you all for your continued love and support towards Kwathu Children`s Home and may the Lord continue to bless you!  Mathew 18:5″And whosoever shall receive one such little in my name, receives me.”
• We thank all our Friends and partners for your prayers, donation and support of any kind to Kwathu. God Bless.
• We Finally thank our Volunteers for selflessly giving their precious time to help our Children and staff.