Don't Give up the Fight

Before I start my post I must apologise for not posting last week. I’ve been ill with tonsillitis (nice little present from the children) so I couldn’t get on the internet last weekend as I could hardly make it out of bed let alone to the internet café! I’m trying hard not to let this illness get the better of me by trying to stay as active as possible, drinking plenty of orange juice to keep up my vitamin C levels and generally trying to be as happy and smiley as possible but it’s hard. My energy levels are running low and I’m not having much contact with the kids as I don’t want to make them ill too so sometimes it’s hard to keep going but I’m plodding along. This week I’ve mainly been doing preparatory work for the "Bible Club" I’ll be starting with the kids in the next few weeks. Rehoboth seeks to look after the kids according to five different areas- Emotional, Physical, Intellectual, Medical and finally Spiritual. Emotionally the children are well supported by the house mothers, the sponsorship program, the Aunty and Uncle program and of course us as volunteers. Physically the children play a lot! We play outside in crèche, there are jungle gyms dotted about the village to keep them active and we’re currently in the process of constructing a football pitch which should be ready after Christmas. Intellectually all children above 6 who are able to recognise their names, know their colours, count to 10, speak English to a reasonable level and are well enough attend a local Christian school. We currently have a 6 year old and an 8 year old still in "big crèche" aimed at 3-6yrs who hopefully will start school in January providing they are healthy enough and can speak and understand enough English. Many of the children who arrive at Rehoboth don’t speak any English. While it is vital that the children learn to speak good English in order to attend school, we encourage the children the speak Zulu (their native tongue) to each other so they don’t totally leave their heritage behind. Clearly we look after the medical needs of the children by providing them with the right treatment according to their individual circumstances. Most of the children are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, however some remain quite healthy without it. Most of the younger babies also receive vitamin supplements and unfortunately some of the children newest to Rehoboth are receiving treatment for tuberculosis- another big killer here in the KwaZulu-Natal region. Finally spiritually the older children who attend school go to a Zulu church on a Sunday and attend the local Sunday school which they love. Also as they attend a Christian school in this way they are too told about Jesus. It has been felt however recently that we as a team here at Rehoboth should also be providing for the children spiritually hence why I am going to be starting up the "Bible Club" I mentioned earlier. The kids already have a good understanding of who God and Jesus is. They sing about Jesus at school, and in daily devotions the children that attend crèche also are involved in worshipping God and Jesus. They are all encouraged to enter a personal relationship with Jesus and accept Him as their Lord and Saviour and also their friend. All this however needs reinforcing with word from God so I will be reading them stories from the bible (with the aid of felt picture boards- v exciting!!) and teaching them hopefully a new bible verse every week. In this way each and every child should be "fed" with the word of God and also have a deep and meaningful relationship with Jesus. Your prayers that this would be realised at Rehoboth would be greatly appreciated!!!
With very little contact with the children this week due to my illness I have very little to report back on kids wise! We have had a major break through though with one of the children. She is 15 months old and until this week had never smiled. She came to Rehoboth in August and had very little life in her. As the weeks went by nothing changed, she remained very emotionally dead and was slowly giving up the fight. usually when children like this come to Rehoboth the love and care that they immediately receive is usually more than enough to bring them back to life, but not with this little one. She has received so much prayer but it was only this week that we’ve had the breakthrough we needed. She has started smiling and in her eyes you can now see that she’s starting to live again and build up the strength she needs to fight fight fight this horrendous virus. I’ve not seen it for myself yet but I’m very excited to see her when I’m all better. This combination seems to be the key to fighting this disease. The children need to be supported emotionally, physically, spiritually, medically and intellectually in order for them themselves to literally fight for their lives.
Please pray for each and every child struck with HIV/AIDS to fight for their lives through the love and care of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour and our Friend.

This is a picture of the little girl before she started smiling- hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to catch her now beautiful smile on camera to show you how much of a difference living at the village has made in her life! L xx