Spring 2015 Update

News from Uzwelo

·      Durban Beach Holiday

Uzwelo Children’s Home will be going on a beach trip to Durban from March 26^th to April 1^st. Since 2008 Uzwelo has been taking the children on this annual holiday and it has a very positive impact on the children. Many of them have never been on vacation or seen the ocean before, and excursions like these help them build stronger relationships with each other and grow closer to the Uzwelo childcare workers and staff. Uzwelo has been able to raise enough funds to cover the cost of their travel, food and accommodation in Durban.

·      Movie Day Fundraiser

While they’re in Durban the Uzwelo staff would like to take the children to the movies. The cost for the Movie Day for the whole group is R6500 ($650). Each child will receive a movie ticket, 3D glasses, a large drink and large popcorn. So far they’ve raised R2100 ($210) for this event. 
If you would like to make a donation towards the Movie Day please go to:
www.LSFamily.org/sponsor-a-child

·      Packages

Good news - the card and gifts that we’ve mailed in December finally arrived at Uzwelo! It took 3 months, but we’re just thankful that the packages got there safely. Sponsors, as you’ll see in the photos, the kiddies were really happy to receive their cards and gifts.

(Unfortunately the postal service in SA is still not very reliable. So instead of taking the risk of trying to mail something else to Uzwelo it will be much better for us to take future gifts and cards with us when we go over in 2016.)

·      Volunteers

The Uzwelo staff is very proud of Sbongile, a former resident, who was able to successfully graduate from high school. In preparation for her final exams she received a lot of help from Wilbert, the teacher from Zimbabwe who has been providing after school Math & Science tutoring. Wilbert spends a lot of time helping the children at Uzwelo succeed in their studies. Sbongile has since moved in with family members who will be supporting her in her future studies. 

It’s always encouraging to see Uzwelo children getting reunited with their families. Nadia, the volunteer from Ireland, has been with Uzwelo since October, and she is doing a great job. Since her background is in social work she does a lot of group work with the kids, currently focusing on life skills. Nadia has also enrolled at a Bible college in Pretoria to do a course on Christian counseling while she’s in South Africa.

Uzwelo is very grateful for people like Wilbert and Nadia who volunteer their time to make a difference in the children’s lives.