What a year it’ s been!
This year we have really seen a lot of the kids come into their own and start finding their passions. We feel as if all our children are finally in the perfect school for them and making great friends. Schooling is a process that we take very seriously and have always put a lot of prayer into as we want what would be best for each individual child. We have tried our best to place each child into a system that caters for their needs and abilities. This year we are starting to reap the rewards as we get to watch them grow up and them find out what they are love.
All of our sponsors get an update on the child/ren that they are sponsoring at the end of each year, but we wanted to share a bit of our highlights with our greater supporter family. If you are interested in knowing more about a particular child please let us know as we are always happy to share about our family.
2022 for our kind-hearted Angel:
We have placed Angel in a small alternative school community of about 30 boys and girls. When she started there she didn’t like it very much as she is very social and didn’t like the “smallness” of it. We chose this school because she was so far behind in her academic development that we needed a place where she could catch up and get all the help and attention she needed. All we can say is… Wow! This year she caught up and more! She started out the year doing grade 7/8 work and it looked as if she would have to just get a GED qualification but then last month when we met with her principal we were told that she would be ready to go onto the South African CAPS program for grade 10 in 2023. We were thrilled with how hard she has worked! She is also very dedicated to her dancing twice a week with Swish Studio’s. On Friday’s, her day off from school, she volunteers at a local pre-school called So-High and we get amazing reports back from the Headmistress about how amazing she is. And there are an endless string of little kids calling out to her and giving her hugs when we pick her up.
2022 for our Sporty Cale:
Schooling for Cale has always been so hard and so many times we have seen him get close to shutting down. We put a lot of thought and prayer into what to do for him and what would be a good fit and if the main stream school (which he has always been in) is best for him. In May the school approached us to give him a free assessment and the result was mixed. We still had no clear answer but at least it gave us ideas on things to start doing to help him. One of the things was to get him medication to help him concentrate and focus. We started that up for him this 4th quarter and what a turn around we have seen. He now enjoys studying and is retaining so much knowledge for his exams. He is blowing us away! One of the main reasons we don’t want to move him is because he loves school sports and has excelled in Rugby and we didn’t want him to lose that. Next year his goal is to make the top team at his school and he has a good chance to do that. We are over the moon excited to see the big turn around just by getting him on medication and doing a few other small things to help him.
2022 for our All-rounder Sonny:
It’s such a privilege to be able to sit back and reflect on all the progress our family has made this year. Lyndall and I still feel so blessed that we get to lead this incredible family and support each of these growing lives. We love what we do as much now as when we started this adventure.
He has always been very gifted at almost everything he does. He is very smart, good at sports and can sing and draw. Everything comes very easy to him but because of his past he has struggled in the school with his behaviour. Last year I was called in to meet with the teacher or principle somewhere between 5-10 times because of things he had done. It was a huge frustration as we didn’t know what we could do. This year we have started to see some breakthrough. The school introduced basketball as a sport and I think that gave him an outlet to get the positive attention he needed and not have to be the class clown to get that attention. He had a head start with basketball because I had started a basketball academy and he had been doing that for a year. It was great to see his confidence in himself go up and how he leads his team and school in a positive way and is a positive influence. He is a natural leader so we just need to help steer him towards leading in a way that brings out the best in him and those around him.
Thank you to all our supporters,
who have held us up this year- whether in prayer, in giving of their time or donating financially. I am sure we say this every year- but we could not do any of this without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Our biggest need remains finance. The older our children get, the more education and extracurricular activities and learning support costs. We are still feeling the pinch after COVID and the loss of a lot of our financial support during that time. Please prayerfully consider if you have space to give a bit extra in 2023 or if you know someone who is looking for a worthy cause to support. If you would like any more information regarding this then please let us know.