Need a present for Father's Day or an upcoming occasion?
How about a wire telephone basket or a bead and wire animal. We just received a new shipment of jewelry and crafts and have a good selection of beautiful and fun items. If you are interested in seeing what we have, you are welcome to come by my house this week. I will have everything out through Friday and so please stop by to see it. Just call first to be sure I'm here. My numbers are 345-6144 (home) and 968-2379 (cell).
Upcoming Events
Thembanathi will be participating in two events this summer. On June 27, we will be in Portland at the Day of the African Child. The event is from 10:00 to 5:00 in the World Forestry Center by the Zoo. It includes African food, music, and booths representing various non-profits working in Africa . Here is a link to their website – www.worldforestry.org/organization/DAC1.php. Come up if you can and please tell people you know in Portland about the event.
Friday thru Sunday, July 17, 18, and 19 (Friday & Saturday, 10 am - 7 pm; Sunday, 10 am - 5 pm) – Salem Art Fair & Festival, Bush's Pasture Park, 600 Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR. (Salem Art Fair is the largest juried art festival of its kind in the state of Oregon and my favorite art festival.) Here is a link to their website – http://tinyurl.com/6auk4c. I encourage everyone to come up and bring your friends.
Visit to South Africa and Holy Cross
Dennis recently returned from a trip to South Africa. While he was there, he visited Holy Cross and did a workshop with the day care teachers. Here is a note from him about his experience.
After many years of seeing photos and hearing anecdotes from Holy Cross, I finally had the opportunity to visit in May. Lindsey and I first arrived in the midst of the twice weekly music lessons and as we and Sister Priscilla approached over a hundred children shouted "good morning Sister, good morning friends." While there I made sweet connections with many happy exuberant children with whom I played chase games, sang, painted, and made play dough. I also held and was deeply touched by my connection with the quieter child whose anti-retroviral medications are just beginning to take effect.
I got to know Sister Priscilla better. Working with the teachers affirmed to me their dedication and their commitment to the children’s well being. Being in South Africa deepened my commitment to support their work. Holy Cross has the classrooms children need, training facilities for teachers, trucks for transportation, outreach and onsite staff because generous supporters in the UK and the USA have chosen to befriend these children. All of us, all of you, who support can take pride in being a friend to those teachers and to those children.
Dennis
Dennis's trip ended on an unfortunate note. While he and Lindsey were headed to the airport, their car was broken into and five of their bags were stolen. In addition to losing computers, phones, clothes, Lindsey's field note books, and many other personal items, two suitcases filled with jewelry and crafts purchased by Thembanathi were stolen. We are hoping insurance will cover all or at least part of the loss. The one good thing about the loss of product is that we will be purchasing replacements from the income generation projects, thus providing them with additional support for their work. Lindsey and Dennis did have the opportunity to replace a por tion of what was taken while they were waiting for their rescheduled flights, so we have plenty of new things.
News From Holy Cross
The following is an excerpt from the last newsletter from Sister Priscilla.
Patient Statistics: The patient numbers in the In Patient Unit are increasing. The wards are fully occupied. Orphans numbers stood at 2259 and households at 901 to date. This increase necessitated extra hands, extra time, extra commitment and extra funding.
Housing: As mentioned in our last letter, the inclement weather had delayed the works. We have just put up 16 houses and we are commencing with site preparations for the last shipment of sixteen houses. We are very grateful to have a neighbour, Gabie Maitre, who made his warehouse available to us. There were some setbacks with two houses which we finally had to strip – one had been illegally sold with the aged guardian going missing with the orphans. We had also a house that was burnt to ashes. No cause of fire could be established.
Financial: The funding from Global Fund* has ceased and there is a big problem with hiring clinical staff and purchasing the required medication. As mentioned in our last letter, we lost two staff nurses who we cannot replace. We also need two additional professional nurses. It was truly a very sad day when Mr. Gerry from Global Fund came to say last good byes on behalf of himself, Barry McDaniel, Alf Gore, Hansie, Maritjie and Unathi. The hospice had established a very cordial relationship with this SCH GF Team.
* (Note - all of South Africa lost its Global Fund funding, so many program lost this support for clinical and Hospice work.)
As always, I would love to hear of any upcoming events we might be able to participate in and any ideas you have for fundraising. And, as always, we are available for sales in your home, church, or work place.
I will be in South Africa from July 27 until August 28. I'm looking forward to spending time at H oly Cross during my time there. Two of my colleagues from the City of Eugene, Janis McDonald and Sally Grosscup, will be joining me to see Holy Cross. I will send more news upon my return.
Thank you for your continued support,
Helen Towle
