Thursday, May 6, 2010

Man Marries Cat

"Man Marries Cat" was the billboard newspaper headline that caught my eye as I drove Chelsea and Sade (our 2 sponsored children) to school. I have no idea what the article was about as I did not buy the newspaper, but it certainly caught my eye. I am hoping to use the same trick to get you reading further!

The last few weeks have been tough here at Camp Sonshine Africa. We were hit with 4 break ins in 10 days at our after school care centre in Maitland Garden Village. Each time we did what we thought would secure the building, including adding additional burglar bars and welding some windows shut, but each time the perpetrator managed to get in. All in all we lost 2 computers, 2 CD players, a counter-top stove plate, some dish towels, 3 boxes of healthy snack bars, all our multi-plugs, R300 ($42) and had some letters from pen-pals torn up. Eventually we paid a guard to spend the night there and also removed everything of value! Unfortunately this means that until we are able to further secure the building the kids miss out on having computers and CD players available for learning and fun.

We were dealt another severe blow last week when we were told that Cape Youth Care (a local organization who helps us financially) are having some financial problems and are no longer able to support us. This came as a sudden and completely unexpected blow. They were paying about 1/2 the amount required to pay our 1 full-time and 1 part-time staff member. This obviously puts us in a very tough situation and desperately needing to find funding elsewhere (any suggestions are most welcome)!


On the positive side of things we were so blessed by everyone who so generously gave money toward kitting out our sports teams. Yesterday as our boys took the field to play their hockey matches they looked so smart and professional and I KNOW that they felt great in their new kit! Each kid got a new t-shirt, socks, a gum guard, shin pads and hockey sticks. They played their hearts out and had so much fun! This makes me really happy and makes me realize why we do what we do. Seeing these kids enjoying themselves while playing sport and uniting as a team is so much better than the alternative of hanging out on the streets and finding trouble! If we were not here doing what we do, hanging out on the streets would be the only alternative for many of these children.

On Saturday some of our girls got to enjoy a wonderful hike with the local SouthPoint Church youth group. The weather was perfect, the scenery spectacular and these kids were once again enjoying nature, making new friends and getting plenty of exercise. Their alternative would probably have been watching Saturday TV or movies which they are probably not old enough to be watching.

Many of our kids have also been involved in the Pinelands hockey club's development program (Friday Night Lights) where they provide hockey coaching for kids on a Friday night from 6PM - 8PM. The kids are thoroughly enjoying learning news skills and making new friends. Sadly, Friday night in Maitland Garden Village often has many adults abusing alcohol and then getting violent. Taking kids out of this situation to have fun while exercising and learning new things makes us very happy!

You can check out our latest newsletter on our website at www.campsonshineafrica.org

Many thanks for stopping to read what is going on in the life of Camp Sonshine Africa and if anyone knows why the man married a cat I would be curious to find out!

1 comment:

  1. They look great in their new suits!
    So grateful for your influence in the children's lives!!!

    ReplyDelete