Nelly and Nicolas hail from the Free State. They have been resident in Jozi since 1995. Nelly has a background in nursing, including caring for mentally and physically disabled people. Nicolas works in the tourism industry.

Nelly says that her calling is to care for people and we have already seen how she and Nicolas have taken to the role of caring for the Thandanani children.

Sarah was married to Sipho Mabhunu in December 2008. We welcome Sipho to the Thandanani family and wish them a long and happy marriage.

House mothers take to the road

Caroline (one of our house mothers) has attained her drivers licence. This helps greatly with the effective running of the home. We wish Caroline many safe kilometres.

Nelly (our new house mother) has attained her learner’s licence and we look forward to her soon being able to drive the children around as well.

News from the children

The five younger girls (Mbali, Monica, Unathi, Zyna, Karabo) are enjoying dancing at Dawn Meyer’s studio thanks to the extramural fund which was financed by the Trinityhouse Gr 8's of 2008. Thando, Mlungisi, Alick and Nkopano have also benefited from this fund and are enjoying keeping fit and playing soccer at the same time at the Panorama Football Club. Prince opted for a more indoor environment and is working out at the gym.

Jane has been made a monitor at Sparrow and so has Mbali at Kingsway. Mbali has been offered a bursary for The Kings School Robinhills. She is a very worthy recipient of this bursary.

Mapule was in grade12 in 2008 and we have attached a photo from her matric dance function.

Three of our children at Sparrow (Jane, Nkopano and Nthabiseng) enjoyed a wonderful holiday down to Durban in April. Bongani starred in the Trinityhouse production of 'Joseph and his technicoloured Dreamcoat' in March and not only put on a stunning performance but also thoroughly enjoyed himself at the same time. Our children are indeed talented and we thank the Lord for these wonderful talents.

The beginning of this year saw Jane, Dipuo and Thinga joining the ranks of high school, and Prince left school to attend Technikon. Our children are now represented at Kingsway Christian School, Ferndale High, Sparrow Skill Centre, Trinityhouse High, and Sekolo se Beroga.

Foreign donor buys us a car

Thandanani relies heavily on two vehicles for the transport of our children and the undertaking of the household tasks of buying groceries and running errands. One of our vehicles, a Toyota Venture, was showing its age and started to become a safety and reliability risk.

We applied to a foreign donor for funds to purchase a replacement vehicle. We were overjoyed to hear that they had granted us funds and we were then able to purchase a new Toyota Avanza and a trailer. The Toyota enables us to transport children and run errands in a safe, cost effective manner.

MTN gives generously

We are very grateful to MTN for their substantial donations from the Give Summer Love Promotion and the MTN Foundation. These funds are being utilised for educating our children. Attached is a photo of our chairman, Paul McKibbin, holding the cheque from MTN.

Sally-Ann Stumbles moves full time to Kingsway fundraising

Many of you know Sally-Ann, the intrepid manager of administration at Thandanani. Sally-Ann has played an invaluable role at Thandanani, in addition to her role of fundraising for the umbrella Kingsway organisation.

With the planned building project, Sally-Ann has now moved full time to the fundraising role. We would like to thank Sally-Ann for her dedication to Kingsway and Thandanani. We would also like to thank Hazel McKibbin who has stepped into the gap and is generously volunteering her time to fulfil this critical role.

ABANGANE BASE THANDANANI

Abangane Base Thandanani translated means, “Friend of Thandanani”. This programme is designed to connect each child at Thandanani with a family or individual.

This family or individual is dedicated to visiting with the child, or taking the child for outings at least once a month. It is a fantastic opportunity to invest in the lives of our children in such a personal way.

One of the key purposes for volunteers is that the children can develop friendships with people outside of the home, hopefully allowing them to have one on one time with someone who can mentor them in different areas of interest.

If you are interested please contact Karen Cosh at cosh@mweb.co.za

OUR LATEST WISH LIST

Please help us with some of the items below:

TO MAKE DONATIONS

If you are interested in making a financial contribution please e-mail Kirk Kruger at thekrugers@iburst.co.za to:

Thandanani (as the Kingsway Centre of Concern) is a registered South African Non-Profit Organisation. Our Fund-Raising reference number is 003-978 NPO. Donations to Thandanani are Tax deductible in terms of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act.