GREETINGS to our AMAZING FRIENDS for OUR CHILDREN IN MASIPHUMLELE!!!
Hello from Masi!
This is a picture of our kids club we have been running on Friday afternoons with our kids and the neighborhood kids. We have around 67 kids that show up for games, songs, prayer and story. It has been a really fun time and we are getting to know the kids better all the time.
We have mentors on our team that spend time with each family. These connections are the heart of what we desire to do. Sometimes it is a very easy connect and other times it is hard to find the families who live in the dangerous areas of Masi, the language barrier is a hurdle as well. Our families often times don’t have cell phones and when we get to the shack they might not all be there. We are privileged to build friendships. And we are focuused to impact these ones so they will thrive.
These families that you are helping with monthly support are so very very poor would have very little to eat without you. You are helping these orphans and vulnerable ones to have a chance for the future. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Isaiah 58:6-12 are your promises for feeding the poor and helping the afflicted. Read this passage and soak in the blessings that are yours. We are so grateful to you.
We hope this email finds you all doing well! For most of you, Spring is on the way. Here in South Africa, we will soon be heading into the cold and rainy winter season. As some of you may remember from last year, we try to make sure that every family that you sponsor has a BLANKET for each bed that they sleep in. These are quality BLANKETS that are very warm and heavy. Would you please consider how you may be able to help us as we move into this difficult season for the people of Masiphumelele? Would you consider giving an extra $35.00 this month to go towards buying a BLANKET for a new vulnerable family? Their shacks have a very hard time holding up to the wind and rain. These BLANKETS help to make the winter a bit more bearable. We appreciate everything that you do as a sponsor. As the Vulnerable Children’s Team, we are honored to be an extension of your generosity and kindness.
If you do decide that you are able to help us financially, please notify us via email no later than April 15th. PLEASE SEND YOUR BLANKET MONEY THE SAME WAY YOU SEND YOUR MONTHLY SUPPORT, JUST LABEL IT VULNERABLE CHILDREN BLANKET FUND IN MASI. If you have any questions regarding this please reply to this email and we will help you.
We want to make sure our new families have BLANKETS by the beginning of May. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and God bless!
What is she worth? 30 rands worth of pleasure ($4)
What about her? A few buttons of tik, enough to get high for the day, enough to blurr the noise in her head, the pain in her heart.
And her? She is worth at least a plate of chicken & rice, maybe a couple cigarettes and a few rocks in the face.
And to Him? Her return is worth the cost of His son’s torturous, unmerited death.
Baby Safe has got involved with several prostitutes and their babies. I love that I serve and know a God who adores prostitutes. I love that I worship a God who ate dinner with them.
Three of them have been attending a bible study; and Thombi sat stunned when she read about Jesus’ reaction to the adulteress women in John 8. Christina taught “Traffic Proof” with a few others, as they are very much at risk for human trafficking with the World Cup starting up here in a few months. Alli is doing a program called “priceless” with their young daughters and sisters, as an effort of prevention. I am working with yet another one in order to reunite her with her baby, she has a long way to go but I love that my God actually does break chains of addiction, and the weight of worthlessness. I love that my God is close to the broken hearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit and His love does not discriminate, nor does it relent.
May He give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit–that they may be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61)
Cape Town – An 8-month-old baby who was left for dead at a rubbish dump in Lotus River is recovering in hospital after being saved by a local resident.
The baby was found on Monday at about 15:00 at a rubbish dump in the Phumlani Village informal settlement near Grassy Park. Her identity is unknown at this stage.
An unidentified man who was dumping rubbish discovered the baby inside a sports bag and a black plastic bag when she started crying.
According to Ian Leibowitz, police spokesperson for Grassy Park, the baby was treated for dehydration and diarrhoea. She is recovering in
Victoria Hospital in Wynberg.
Call for an investigation
Zodwa Yosa, 21, who lives across from the rubbish dump, said on Tuesday she hadn’t seen anyone with the bag at the dump.
“We never heard a baby crying before the man discovered her. She couldn’t have been lying there very long.”
Patric Solomons, director of Molo Songololo, an organisation which focused on children’s rights, said on Tuesday they were very glad that the baby was found and would now be cared for.
“We hope there will be a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Solomons said that pregnant women, especially young women, didn’t always get the support they needed.
Need for support
“There’s a great need for support for young mothers. People should know their rights and know what their options are.”
According to Samantha Waterhouse from the organisation Rapcan, which promoted the rights and protection of children, there were various reasons why a mother would “throw away” her child.
“It could be personal, emotional or financial problems which drive a mother to the point where she abandons her child.”
According to her, a big problem was people having children when they were not ready. They couldn’t handle the responsibilities of parenthood.
Lack of good programmes
“There aren’t any good programmes to support parents, so they don’t know what to do or where to go.
“The State doesn’t have programmes in place to improve the situation either.” Waterhouse said a lack of social workers also contributed to the problem.
Bethany O’Connor, director of Babysafe, an organisation in Fish Hoek which enabled mothers to leave their babies in a safe place, said they worked with pregnant women and provided postnatal support.
Babysafe has a so-called “babydrop”, a place where a mother can anonymously, legally, safely and at any time of the day or night leave her baby if she didn’t want the child.
The container in which babies could be placed is located at the King of Kings Baptist church in Fish Hoek.
“The box has a computer system which sends a call to three different people as soon as a baby is placed in the box. These calls continue until someone responds.”
O’Connor said the box had been available for a year but had not been used yet.
One of my dearest friends Hannah Devries is coming to volunteer with Baby Safe for one month this summer!! I could totally use her help and she is doing this fundraiser to help her get out here. I highly encourage you to consider that special girly someone who absolutely needs a new pair of fashion forward, hand crafted, button earrings.
Your best friend, just because? Mother’s day is coming up? Whose birthday present are you going to have to buy soon anyways?
Men stay with me here: You know your wife, girlfriend, and/or sister would love a set and especially for such an amazing cause!
Here’s a step-by-step guide to the most awesome, life-fulfilling purchase of you may ever make:
1. Go here and choose your favorites!
2. Email hannahldevries@gmail.com to place your order and send her your address.
3. Visit her website: http://hannahdevries.blogspot.com and pay using the paypal link on the right hand side of the home page or send her a check (email her and she give you her address).
4. Wear your purchase with pride and tell everyone you know about Buttons for Babies! They are only $10 and all donations are welcome!
Patricia was eighteen years old. The township she was living in was strange and far from home, family, and friends. Neither she or her boyfriend were working, there was no money, and no knowing where the next meal would come from. But her own loneliness, fear, and discomfort were nothing compared to the concern she felt for her child. At six months her first baby wasn’t gaining weight, still barely at 8 lbs. What could she do? There was no one to help, to teach her, to advocate for her and the life of her child. There was nothing but the lies that she was forgotten, a failure, a bad mother. No hope.
At that time Patricia’s boyfriend, who saw one of our posters and was concerned for his babies’ condition, contacted Baby Safe. When I first met the family in a small hot room in Masi, the baby was in bad condition; weak, hairless, fragile. With the help of a translator I learned that the mom and dad were afraid to admit that the baby was so small because they were not able to buy the formula that she very much needed, given that Patricia was never able to breast feed. They lied and explained that the baby was born at premature at 6 months and this is why she was so small. However the information they were giving did not make since. I knew our local hospital where they claimed she was born does not have NICU were a premie would have been cared for, and their dates didn’t add up. They were essentially asking me to take the baby for adoption. Upon investigation and discussion I figured out what the real needs were and truly desired to keep this family together, seeing that they cared for their child very much. Being poor parents does not mean you are bad parents.
Free formula from the clinic was arranged as were weekly check ups, but yet this sweet baby girl was still not gaining weight. We were very concerned for this little one. Team member Allison began more intensive follow up with Patricia and accompanied her to the clinic we were intent on getting answers as well. If she had formula why wasn’t the baby gaining weight? How could the life of this child be saved, the heart of the mother restored? After some time and many questions, the answers came. Patricia had only been feeding her baby half the amount her age required. With this information the tide turned.
Alli showed her how to properly make the bottle, hold the baby, and feed her. Things we take for granted as simple, but with no one to show her, how would Patricia know? Now she was provided with a checklist for what days to go to the clinic to collect her monthly formula and baby cereal handouts, and a form on how many scoops of formula is needed to prepare the bottles, etc. In December our friends in Holland sent donations for a food parcel, providing Patricia and her boyfriend with rice, veggies, flour, washing powder, salt, sugar, and more! Upon its Christmas delivery, their smiles could not have been bigger.
Small things, things we take for granted, but enough to change the life of a mother and child. Enough to give hope and to give life! To tell a family they are not forgotten, to tell a mother she is not a failure, to give a child a chance to realize the destiny God has in store for her. Patricia’s baby is gaining weight! And now on these small foundations of hope, we pray they may begin to build their life on the foundation of the Father. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). Through these small acts of love and support, may they see His love for them. May they sense the One who has not forgotten, who has not forsaken, who offers life abundant and not merely grace for daily survival.
Will you pray for both Patricia and Sibusiso to find work? We have helped them with resumes and are advocating for their employment in our community. We are trusting God for amazing jobs that will enable them to provide for themselves very soon.
Awesome fetal development videos. I am continually amazed at His creativity.
http://ow.ly/ZBvB
The crux of abortion is obvious. Naturally Satan would strike the very core of God’s heart; His children, His hidden treasure stolen before its found. The women I know who have the courage to hope in His intervention versus their own, they are my heroes. They deny odds, circumstances, fear, and shame… they TRUST beyond reason and they give hope a definition.
I saw just such a hero yesterday. She presented me with a beautiful 4 week old, named Bethany. How honored am I? A little Xhosa Bethany…
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: “There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.”
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.
I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their “divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic” existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the “child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.”
8. I shall follow Darwin’s advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, “fulfill the moment as the moment.” I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.
Took a bunch of women into Cape Town to Hillsong conference
The swedes come for a visit!
my lil sugars, born at 6 mo.
kangaroo care - skin to skin
My African American sis. She is South African, moved to USA, went to ORU and I was her Dorm director there, now we are both her in Cape Town living – love it!
Our VC food parcels.
See more photos on the “PHOTOS” page listed above.
1. capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt, as by a weapon: a vulnerable part of the body. 2. open to moral attack, criticicm, temptation, etc: an argument vulnerable to refutation 3. (of a place) open to assault; difficult to defend
This week in Masi, a little kiddo taps me on the knee while I am mid conversation with someone else. She utters the only two english words she probably knows, “Kids club?”
I say, ” Sorry shugars, not until Friday. ”
Every Friday we show up at 3pm. We start gathering our kids in VC (Vulnerable Children). Sometimes they are in the house bathing in the bucket, other are doing the dishes, while others are actually no where to be found. But many of them have learned to come to the prayer shack on the road by the soccer field. In fact the entire street turns out. We like to think its because they have fun and get some love but it also might be the guaranteed snack they get every week. All of our VC kids have been orphaned or have a mother sick with AIDS. Their families receive a food parcel every month we have been focusing so wanting them to know Jesus and not merely handing out food. Because most kids here do not start any form of school until age 7, the young ones are not used to order or directions, to say the least . Its often a time of organized chaos, especially since we often have one translator for 30 -40 kids. But lately we have been asking for Holy Spirit to lead these time because we really wish to impact their hearts. The last couple weeks have been A-M-A-Z-I-I-N-G! They have literally be been so silent and attentive, every single one. Its kind of weird.
ref⋅uge
shelter or protection from danger, trouble, etc.: to take refuge from a storm.
a place of shelter, protection, or safety.
Refuge: anything to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape
This week it was a brilliant sound, hearing the pronunciated, Xhosa accented words in unison… ” There for be imitators of God as dearly loved children. Ephesians 5:1″
Living and loving in Masiphumelele, South Africa
Welcome to my attempt to communicate what God is doing in this place; this place that blows my mind with beauty and despair and His reality in the most of both.
The rubbish dump in Phumlani Village in Lotus River where a baby girl was found. (Cheslyn Abrahams, Die Burger)
in the middle of the road.
Our VC food parcels.
See more photos on the “PHOTOS” page listed above.
