- St
Francis Outreach Trust - Chairlady’s Report 2012 -
At the “Home to Grow” the beginning of the
year is always celebrated with two birthdays. The first is that of
our foster mother, Joyce, and a few days
later it is Molly’s. She was the first
child who came to us in October
2010, and she is now four years old. How she has changed! The once scared and restless 18-months-old
who had been passed from one institution to
the next, learned to bond with Joyce and settled down into the
little girl she is today, able to
communicate with a gentle touch and a smile. She attends kindergarten and is
very fond of her youngest sister, Kim. Every
one of the children is fond of Kim and Kim is fond of them.
Joyce
has a wonderful way of teaching the children to love and care for one another. One of our visitors
once said, “You can feel a special
atmosphere in this home, one of love and happiness!”
There was a lot going on at Kanana Road in 2012:
1. By
February, all the children finally were receiving Social grants.
2. We
installed Astro Turf on areas still filled with the sand which had once
accommodated five shacks.
3. Two
shade trees were planted over the playground area, which is now fully cemented.
4. The
vegetable tunnel was dismantled and only a small area left for planting
vegetables.
5. The
water was tested by the water department at our request and found to be all
right.
6. To
accommodate our children’s urge to paint on walls, our builder suggested painting
several panels of our
wall
with black-board paint. Now our children
and the neighbours’ children can go wild writing and drawing
on
the wall.
7. We
again received a visit and support from our friends Germa and Con from the Netherlands
who
established
a trust to help us. They have not only transferred a remarkable amount of money
in a very short
time, but are also always interested to
hear about the wellbeing of the children and spend time with the kids
when they visit South Africa.
8. The
monthly cost of running the home varies between R4500 and R7000 and we are very
grateful to the
regular donors who make it possible for us
to take care of the children. Whether it
is the monthly R100
which somebody has been transferring since
the trust was established, grants from companies, or the
generous donation of the Salty Sea Dog
restaurant which allows us to deliver fish to our own and other
foster homes at least once a month, these
donations make it easier for us to continue our work.
9. Several of our children have medical needs,
but with the involvement of a speech therapist one of the girls
has very much improved, and another has just
returned from hospital after a successful osteotomy of her
hip. The third little girl receives daily
medication for her HIV status and has very low levels of the virus,
according
to the clinic.
10.
Joyce regularly participated in workshops given by Home from Home for their
foster mothers. The
assistant foster mother replaced her during
her time off.
11.
Our “Cape Peninsula” calendar is gaining more and
more popularity, even overseas. The 2013
sales have
been very heartening. Thank you all for supporting us in this
project! It is our largest fundraiser
for the
year.
St Paul’s
Episcopal Church has again sold 50 calendars and several local churches have done
the
same,
including our congregation at St Francis Church in Simon’s Town.
12.
In May we gave a presentation to the Good Hope Rotary Club, who promised us
help with tracing building
material for our second home.
13. We received blankets from AP Jones at the
beginning of winter.
14.
A kind lady sent our children scarves and gloves she had knitted for them
15.
October saw our 3-year SFO Trust anniversary
party. Friends of the Trust came out in the pouring rain.
We welcomed Archbishop Ndungane, Lutz van
Dijk, our children, Joyce and Elizabeth. The children sang
one song and the National Anthem. Even Kim knew most of the words.
16. …and then came Christmas! Home from Home invited all the foster mothers
and their children to a party
on a Kenilworth
sports field. Santa came and presented
each child with a fairly substantial gift.
17.
We wanted to do something in the spirit
of Christmas with the children, so we baked cookies with them. A
few
days later these were hung on the newly purchased Christmas tree. Michelle explained to the children
where
New Zealand was,
while Irma and Henry gave them each a gift from their daughter and her family
in New Zealand. They were life size
birds in their actual colours. Each bird also made its real sound, when
it was squeezed.
Maggie filled the lovely Christmas boots,
which she had made last year, with goodies for the
children
and others decorated the tree and sang and listened to Christmas songs.
The
next day a parcel with educational toys arrived from a very kind lady in Germany .. So,
we had
another party a day later. Each child received
one more educational toy. It was much fun to watch, how
they managed and played it with us.
18.
Dr.Sophie Billington found a donor for
Yazini and Aleeyah’s school uniforms, and a lady who will cover
Kim’s kindergarten expenses for a year.
19.
Although it happened in January 2013, the event needs to be mentioned. Gretchen Ginnerty, a member
of St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Washington,
came with her mother, daughter and a friend to
deliver 36 beautiful love-quilts to the foster
children of Home from Home. An exhibition at the Fish
Hoek
Civic Center,
organized by the St Francis Outreach Trust on the 12th and 13th
January, displayed these
wonderful creations, made with the purpose of showing love and
encouragement to the children of Africa
from
the children of the USA.
20. The
only thing we have not been able to accomplish in 2012, is to find a plot for
our second home. We trust
that when it is time, the Lord will
intervene. We continue with our intensive search.
Thank you all for your encouragement, prayers and support,
we would not be able to manage our work
without you.
Come and see our
home and our happy children. We are ready to introduce you to them.
Please,
contact me at 074 915 7747, if you would like to visit in
the new year.
Monika du Sautoy
Chairlady
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