A new year!

Another year is well on it’s way, with over 210 children registered in our Creche and Pre-School, between 1000 and 1500 plates of food being served each day, and the stream of patients for our Clinic days almost never-ending. As always we are extremely grateful to our funders who help us to continue to be able to help the 24 000 or so people in this community. Without the support of all donors, whether the amounts be large or small, we would not be able to make the difference that we do.

In January we helped a large number of children who are attending school with uniforms and stationery. We believe that education is the key to lifting oneself out of poverty, so we do everything we can to encourage the children to stay in school. School shoes are a real need, so any donations of new or second-hand school shoes are greatly appreciated.

A huge part of our work involves helping people through difficult times and challenging experiences. This week has been no exception. A young child from the community was knocked over by a taxi fairly close to our Centre and we were summoned. As our ambulance driver was out on another call, I was called to help. I stabilised him as best I could and took him to the hospital, but unfortunately he passed away because of his injuries. Then a little girl from our creche was using the long-drop toilet at her home when the seat broke and she fell into the pit below. As she is HIV positive, an infection could be deadly, so she had to be admitted to hospital for treatment. Fortunately we have Jessica, our Counselling Psychologist, who is helping her to deal with the trauma of this event. We have also taken a two month old baby into our care at the creche, as his mother, who is mentally challenged, is unable to breastfeed him and she couldn’t afford formula. When he came to our attention, he had been fed sugar water for the previous two weeks and was seriously malnourished. At least by being in the creche each day, his nutritional needs will be taken care of during the day, and we have provided his mother with formula for his night feeds.

We are so grateful that we are able to assist this community in so many ways, and we look forward to a great year ahead.