September 7, 2008

 

During the past months their have been quite a few changes at Holy Family Care Centre.
Sr. Mary Stevens was appointed as the new director of the Centre.
The office of the African Union (Sr. Dain, Sr. Clotilde and Sr. Augustine) moved from Ofcolaco to Ngelele, close to Louis Trichard (Makhado)..
Sr. Gabrielle (PNG), Sr. Marjory (Philippines), Sr. Huen (Australia) and Sr. Helen (Indonesia) came to Holy Family.

At the beginning of this month Wayne was appointed as property manager..

As the ART-clinic became to small, it was moved from Holy Family to a new building at the pastoral centre close-by.
Due to this developments the use of the different buildings was adjusted to the new situation.

Just very recently on August 31, we had a very bad night. The centre was almost completely surrounded by a big bush fire. We had to evacuate the children to Ofcolaco Trade Centre, where they stayed almost the whole night. Happily no one got hurt and we succeeded with the help of staff, volunteers and the elder children to keep the fire from the buildings.

August 15, 2007

We are very proud to be able to announce our formal registration by the Government as a children's home. During the first three months of this year we have been very busy to meet the requirements. Administrative work as well as physical. But with the help of everybody (sisters, staff and volunteers) we succeeded.

For the Centre this recognition by the Government is of great importance, because it brings us the garantee for future continuity.

This month we've got new support from the Netherlands. Sr. Williana from Tilburg joined us for a three month's stay. She is very good with the children and they really love her. And Sr. Elly is very happy as well, because now she can have a chat or a discussion in her own language again!

The Skills Centre has been furnished with new tables and chairs. The sewing machines we received earlier are already installed together with two computers and another six are to come.
Henceforth we will continue / start training and educating the children, for them to acquire the necessary skills for their future.

 

Just a day at the crèche

Thanks to a generous gift from the Shannon family in Australia, a new crèche was built at Holy Family Care Centre in September 2004. During her stay as a volunteer at the centre Margriet Kraak reports on her daily life at the crèche on her website in Holland.

To give you an impression what “a perfectly normal day” at the crèche is like, we reproduce her report in English at this site.

“As Lilly, the crèche assistant, had to attend a course until the beginning of April, I went to assist Mamma Holo, the crèche teacher, at the crèche. Although all the children normally call me Margriet when they see me, they call me “Mamma” when we are at the crèche. This is because it’s impolite to call older people by their name. Actually they ought to call me Mamma Mariëlla”, because next to “mamma” should be the name of the eldest child. You will understand this would be asking too much from our little ones and I can live perfectly with just “mamma”. I must say, I really feel like the mother of a big family as there are 16 children, varying from 1 to 6 years old.

This is what my day at the crèche is like. The children are brought to the crèche at nine o’clock. They play a little until we are ready with sweeping and cleaning up and putting everything into place. Then they get dressed with very cute little aprons (in green with white dots) and they start singing in Sesotho and praying in English. For those of you with a fast Internet connection there is a short (3 min.) video clip here.

After wishing the Mamma’s “good morning” the children are divided into two groups. The larger ones start working on pre-school assignments, the little ones start playing with their toys on large mats in front of the building. They have to stay on those mats however and are not allowed to run around at the playground.

At 10:30 the toys are cleared away and all the children sit in a large circle to have something to eat and drink. This may be yogurt, or juice with a biscuit or some fruit. In this season the fruit will mainly be mango (very delicious!!). After that they are free to do whatever they like: playing in the playground on the swings and slides or just running around with a ball.

In the mean time the older children straighten the mats and cover them with freshly washed sheets. After that they put out little plastic tables and chairs.

At noon it’s time for a hand washing ceremony after which they all have lunch all together. After lunch hands are washed again, as in their culture they do not use forks, knives and spoons.

Then, still at the crèche, they lie down to have their afternoon nap. And they need it, because daylight starts here at six in the morning and the temperature is usually over 30° C. It is amazing how much energy these children seem to have, running around all day.
After waking up, the children stay at the crèche till three o’clock to play. Then they go to the dormitory and have their bath.
I usually stay at the crèche until the children have had their lunch and then leave to rest a little as well. On leaving they always wave me good-bye as if I was going for a world tour: very nice!!

Margriet Kraak

The Netherlands