The Missions and Outreach committee is pleased to announce that SMYLe will be performing at Central on Sunday October 3rd @ 6:30pm. 

The Soweto Marimba Youth League (SMYLe) project is a musical outreach programme that seeks to offer under-privileged children living in the Dobsonville area of Soweto an opportunity to overcome adversity, work towards a common goal, and to reach the pinnacle of the success they choose for themselves. 

These professionally trained dancers and musicians will offer a unique glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of South Africa. 

We will be serving an authentic South African dinner, to be followed by the performance. After the performance, the dancers & musicans will be available to talk to in the all along with representatives of The Bracelet of Hope Campaign as well our own Rachel’s Home Pennies Project committee. 

CDs will be available for purchase. Proceeds from the sale of the CDs supports SMYLe. 

Also, the Bracelet of Hope campaign will be selling products manufactured by the Inninia Women’s Co-operative  in Durban, South Africa. Proceeds from these sales will go to support their work fighting AIDS in Lesotho. 

Come, learn about what can be accomplished when we put our hearts in it. 

Tickets for the dinner and concert are $20 for Adults and $10 for children 

Proceeds from the ticket sales will support Rachel’s Home, our mission project in neighboring Lesotho. The youth of Soweto performing in Central in support of the children of Lesotho. Mark it on your calendar. It promises to be a very special night.

The Penny Project

Steph introduces us to Rapelang

While I was teaching the children at Rachel’s Home, the children began to call me Madame because I held professional status. I soon learned the power that a name holds in Lesotho.

Each Sesotho name holds meaning as many North American names do. The difference in Lesotho is that when each child told me the meaning of their name, it was as if they were displaying a badge of honour.

For example, Rapelang, a boy wise beyond his years, told me his name meant ‘prayer’. He placed his hand together in prayer position as he said this. 

When school was over for the day, and I would play with the children they called me Sister Steph, because my status was gone. One day, I asked the children what would my Sesotho name be? Rapelang looked at me and without hesitation answered, “Palesa; it means flower.”

I nearly wept in front of them. From that moment on I was Sister Palesa.

The Penny Project

After School

This article was originally posted November 5, 2009. The story it tells serve as a reminder to all of us who still have our fathers around that we are so fortunate to be able to tell them how much we truly love them.

One afternoon at Rachel’s Home classes had been let out for the day, and I found myself surrounded by children. We were seated in a circle sharing stories. The children asked me about my family. I described my home and family, and showed pictures of my family I had brought with me.

The children carefully passed the pictures around the circle, while asking questions about the members of my family, and cheering when they found my face in a photo, shouting, “There’s you!” When my family’s Christmas photo reached Thuso, a clever, 7 year old boy he asked, “Your father is not dead?” I answered, “No, my father is not dead.” Thuso looked confused and shocked.

I realized every child sitting in the circle had lost their father, I was the minority in the group; I had a father.

The Penny Project

In addition, on a quarterly basis,we pay $1,500 for boarding school fees for the 4 first-year Form-A (High School)  students that graduated from Rachel’s Home last fall.

Central pays the teachers and Hilda’s helper directly. We place a weekly order at the SPAR in Ficksburg for the food and a monthly order at the chemist (pharmacy) in Ficksburg for the vitamins. Central also pays the tuitions directly to the boarding school. 

It is still our hope that the Government of Lesotho will take over the payment of teachers’ salaries. This would free up $1,000/month that we could reallocate to food and our bursary fund to support the children of Rachel’s Home as they move on to Form-A and our ultimate goal is to help some of them graduate from university.

Education is critical to the future of these children. It is also critical to the survival of Lesotho.

The Penny Project

This is how it will work. Please pickup an envelope from the out-box. An item and its price will be written on the outside. Place the money for the purchase in the envelope and return it to the in-box.

These items will be such things as a jar of peanut butter or a box of macaroni. Prices will range from $1-$5. You can of course, choose to double up your order. Every little bit helps!

Each week, we will gather up the returned envelopes and add the purchased items to our regular order at the SPAR in Ficksburg.

The Penny Project

But, one particular child does stand-out for me and this is my story.

We took 27 bags of new clothes with us to distribute to the children. Each child received a complete outfit: shoes, pants, shirt, sweater (It does snow in Lesotho in Winter), touque and scarf. We distributed the clothing one child at a time in order to make sure that each child got one-on-one attention.

About half-way through, Yssie noticed that I hadn’t taken a child down the line to get new clothing. Now, I’m not very good with kids and there was plenty of other work to be done, so I had figured, leave it the pros; but, Yssie decided that I should.

You don’t argue with Yssie, so off I went in search of a child named “Kaebetsoe”. It turned out that Kaebetsoe was a little girl about 7 years old. She took my hand and I led her back to our little distribution area.

We fitted her with new shoes and began to take her down the line to receive her new clothes. At the first bag, we held up a few t-shirts until we found a pair that were about her size. We then offered her a choice. She had this big smile on her face; but, she just stood there in silence. She didn’t seem to understand the idea that she was actually being offered a choice. Through the entire process of selecting new clothes, she remained silent. It was all just too overwhelming for her.

Kaebetsoe, like the other children, didn’t pass judgement on anything she received. She was happy just to receive. But, it wasn’t just the gifts that the kids seemed to cherish, it was that one on one attention. They are never the center of attention at the orphanage. There are 43 children and just 3 adults.

To a child like Kaebetsoe, all that attention from what must have seemed like an army  of aliens from another world, must have been quite a shock. We were, of course, an army. There were 27 of us; and we were aliens. Our world is very different from their world. But, when we reach out to touch the lives of others; when we step outside our world to help a group of orphans halfway around the world, we find that they touch our lives too.

I remember Kaebetsoe and I remember Dipou. I remember all of my new friends in Maputsoe. They changed my life and the lives of my friends on the team, just as surely as and probably more powerfully than we could possibly change their lives.

This is how we say thank-you. We say thank-you by pushing on and continuing our efforts to improve their lives.

On May 15th, the Children’s Ministry is organizing a Car-Wash in support of “The Penny Project”. This project is part of our mission to support Rachel’s Home.

Come to our Garage & Bake sale and while your browsing, the kids at Central will wash your car.

I know, I’ve asked you to do this once before; but, this is the reality of Rachel’s Home.

The measles outbreak at Rachel’s Home is a serious problem. These children are under-nourished and they have compromised immune systems.  There is no way to isolate a sick child from the rest of children. The situation is further aggravated by the food-shortage that Rachel’s Home is facing.

We’re looking forward to summer vacations and summer picnics and barbeques. They are are headed into winter. The flu bug last fall was for them, late winter and early spring. This time they still have the long hard winter ahead of them.

So, what can we do? The problems are so big and we are so small.

God wants us to pray; but, he also wants us to act. He wants us to reach out and help them through the crisis. How? We can make sure that they have the resources that they need to cope until they can get back on their feet. Once we have done this, we can look to the future to see how we can better equip them to prevent or at least manage events like this. This is what we’re doing at Rachel’s Home. We are helping 43 children survive.

We are doing this by providing Godwill & Hilda with the tools that they need.

• We are supplying bread.
• We are supplying peanut butter.
• We are supplying milk.
• We are supplying multi-vitamins.
• We are also supplementing their food supply in other ways

God has blessed us with a comfortable life, a life of abundance, a life of privilege.

It’s a huge responsibility.

Let’s make sure we live up to it. Let’s make sure we give these kids a fighting chance!

The Penny Project

One child that took a piece of my heart is Boney.  He is almost a young man in body, but in mind he is at probably at pre-school level.

God alone knows how this beautiful soul came to be an orphan at Rachel’s Home.  He captured my attention the first day because of his grin from ear to ear.  I could tell he was different from the other children because he either couldn’t speak English, or did not want to communicate verbally.  All the other children from 5 years and up were very fluent in English.

Boney always seemed to be at least one step behind all the other orphans, but didn’t seem to mind.  He knew he was loved, and these strangers that had come to his home posed no threat.  Every day, as we arrived, he would seek me out and lay his very large, gentle hand on my shoulder.  I think that was his way of choosing me to be his friend.

 I realised just how far behind in school he was when Jane noticed him in the Grade 2 class.  He was twelve and the other classmates were seven.  As they were writing their letters he held up a paper to show her with a huge smile on his face.  He was obviously proud of his accomplishment; however, when Jane looked at the paper it was full of scribbles.  To him, he had done what all the other students were doing and I don’t know if he realised that he was behind them.

 My one thought of Boney now, is, what if he were in Canada?  Would he be able to have schooling that would accommodate him?  There is no way he will ever receive what he needs in Lesotho.  I also realise that to uproot him from everything he knows and loves would be cruel and that God has put him there for a reason.  Perhaps it is to teach us all a little compassion and tolerance.  Hopefully he will be healthy and happy in his future there.

 I know I will never forget the power of that gentle hand on my shoulder and a grin that would melt even the coldest heart.  God bless you Boney.  You are one of my favourite memories of Lesotho.