News update from Joan Adams - January 2010


08 – 01 – 2010

Dearest Friends

Well, here it is – the letter I was determined to get out before we closed for the Christmas holidays. But, when the 24th December dawned and I hadn’t even had time to make a start on it, I just had to accept that it wasn’t to be – and that the news of all our end-of-year functions etc. would have to wait for the New Year.

Morning Star has officially been closed since 16th December. We entrusted our children into our Lord’s Hands and sent them all home with enough food for a month and permission to visit our doctor, if need be, without the Morning Star’s official stamp of approval. I’ve not heard of any who have died in the interim and am thus surmising that they’re all fine – or at least, hanging in there! One thing for sure, since the rolling out of antiretroviral drugs to the poor in our country, many more of our children are enjoying a better quality of life than before. And, for this, we’re extremely grateful.

And so, another year has come to an end! How the past 12 months have flown by – leaving in their wake, cherished memories, heartrending events but ever blessings untold. For many of us, personally, it’s been a tough year economically. But, even so, I’m pretty certain none of us went to bed hungry – NOT EVEN ONCE – nor hadn’t enough money for bus or taxi fares, let alone continue to run our cars and buy the odd new item of clothing!!

Thinking back and reflecting on what we’ve experienced and been through in the course of 2009, one fact stands out most in my mind. God has been ever present and has wondrously answered our prayers.

What a Mighty God we serve!

 
More recently, though, and of greater significance to our children and their carers were our pre-closure Christmas functions. What a busy, hectic time it was! From collecting and sorting through dozens and dozens of parcels/shoe boxes and then separating and storing them in different age groups, (for our 4 different parties) to coping without electricity for 12 whole days – in the midst of it all – certainly kept us fully challenged and on the run! Just imagine arriving at work on the very day of our first Christmas Party and discovering that we were without power, as was the whole Kopano Complex, (ex-provincial hospital complex) with no idea of what had caused the problem nor how long it would last! Our immediate needs that day were to keep our ice creams frozen, our cold-drinks cool and the jumping castles and carousal swings/ferris wheel on hire running. Longer term we had to make plans for all the meat and frozen produce in our deep freezers and decide how to heat water, cook our children’s meals each day and find alternate ways to work on our computers and keep cool in the midst of a Free State heat wave! All very time consuming indeed! But, we coped and every time I was tempted to complain I told myself its much better to be without electricity than without water!!

Our 4 parties were so much fun! (current children, Kutlwanong children, primary school children & our teens). Each year additional children attend and enjoy the jumping castles and rotating swings etc. at these special functions and their squeals of glee and excited chatter, combined with that of our older (and wiser) children’s, always thrill my very soul! The best was being at our Kultwanong Centre the day our little ones there enjoyed these party additions for the very first time in their lives! To watch the initial terror on their faces fade and be replaced with utter relief and amazement – and then joy – is a thrill too great to describe! Of course, the Kutlwanong neighbourhood were quick to discover that something very exciting and different was happening at the Morning Star premises that day and, within minutes, had lined the fence of our property and were gazing in with hopeful, envious eyes!

We took our Teens to a Water-World Theme Park at Emerald City, Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, for their end-year function last December. This is a 2 ½ hour drive away from Welkom and over 50 children (between 12 – 18 years) came along to enjoy the fun. The Theme Park is modern and the facilities still in excellent repair. Numerous indoor swimming pools are scattered across a huge indoor hall, all of varying temperature and size and, once one adjusts to the intense humidity therein, one can sit for hours just watching all the excitement and action. The lovely thing about Emerald City is that there’s something for everyone. Shallow, very hot pools for those who can’t swim, slighter larger, warmer ones for the slightly more adventuresome and then a huge, cool pool for those who can swim and are brave enough to attempt the water slide and the other activities on offer. We had such a wonderful day and now I want to take my staff and their children there, so that they, too, can experience Emerald City for themselves. How else would they ever get this wonderful opportunity?

14/01/10: And, now a New Year – a New Decade has begun! A fresh opportunity to tackle the goals we set for ourselves each January ….. and so seldom achieve! For Morning Star 2010 means extending our care to additional HIV/AIDS children in this corner of the Free State, showing increasing compassion to the hundreds out there who are without hope and continuing to trust our Lord to supply our every need. We would still dearly like to plant a satellite day care centre in Thabong Township but are fearful of moving ahead without the finances to sustain such an endeavour.

2010 began with a rush of activity at Morning Star! Dozens and dozens of children queuing for school needs – uniforms, stationery, shoes, school fees – right down to dusting cloths, tissues, toilet paper and in some instances, even the chair they’re to sit on! Imagine that! Having to supply one’s child’s own toilet paper for the year! It’s inconceivable for so many of us to even imagine how the other side of the world lives! Thus far, Morning Star has paid out close to R20 000.00 for school needs – a sum far higher than initially bargained for and one we could never meet without your ongoing, generous assistance! Don’t ever think that once your sponsored child leaves Morning Star for ‘big school’ his/her support from you is directed elsewhere. We do our very best to ensure that each child’s ongoing needs are met – right up to the day they finally complete their schooling and begin to spread their wings and fly from the nest. The first of our children to reach her final year of school – Grade 12 – is Tisetso Sedinjane. We are so proud of her and wait in eager expectation to see where 2011 leads her. (Our 2 oldest children, Nompi Fihla and Solly Mothibedi failed their school year in 2009 and are repeating Grade11 & Grade 10 respectively).

In the midst of school needs, new children, changed addresses, updated schedules, altered transport lists and a host of social problems thus far this month, we’ve also struggled with vehicle troubles from all 4 of our mini-buses and the aftermath of 5 days of heavy downpours of rain. We understand the United Kingdom has experienced excessive snowfalls this past winter! Well, South Africa, on the other hand, has had excessive rain! The Free State hasn’t been this wet and soggy for many a year; little rivers and dams are full to overflowing and parched lawns and arid country vegetation suddenly green and lush once more. As ever, it’s the poor folk in the black townships and squatter camps that suffer most. Why, we couldn’t even pick up our many children who live deep in the informal settlements last week – it was just too wet and muddy for our buses to attempt the car tracks leading to those areas!
25.01.10. Oh my! I can’t believe I’m still struggling to get this letter finished! Just know that it remains my heart’s desire to communicate with all of you every 6-8 weeks, even though I so seldom accomplish this!

After much deliberation, our Morning Star Board of Governors has directed us to trade-in our almost new Mercedes Sprinter 23-seater bus and purchase a Toyota Hino 25-seater in its place.  In addition to the Mercedes dealer in Welkom not being upfront with the fact that these vehicles are converted panel vans, we have also been told by the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) that we could sit with a problem in a year or two when the vehicle is no longer licensed to carry passengers. We are also appalled at the excessive service and labour charges incurred each time our bus goes in for servicing and repairs and how regularly new parts have to be fitted. For instance, last week the Mercedes’ fuel filter had to be replaced. People who service their own vehicles will know that this is a simple task and a minimal expense but, a Mercedes Sprinter’s fuel filter costs R339.00 and the labour – just to fit it – over R900.00! You’ll be appalled to learn that we’ve spent in excess of R30 000.00 on just new brakes over the past months and the vehicle is not even a year old yet!
The good news is that we have a cash buyer for our Mercedes. The bad news is that he wants to take ownership of the vehicle immediately and we’ll only be able to take possession of our new Hino in 3 months time!! We could hang onto the Mercedes for another 3 months but then take the risk of it being involved in a collision in the meantime and us loosing heavily on the present purchase price. So, what to do in the light of the above is the burning question? Right now we’re desperately trying to find someone with a minibus to loan us, preferably at no cost. AVIS Car Hire can meet our request but charge R1000 per day for the hiring of one of their bigger vehicles (only a 14-seater) – an amount we cannot even contemplate meeting. We do have a few vague leads were following up and have written to AVIS requesting special assistance but, if all else fails we’ll be forced to bring our Kutlwanong vehicle back to Welkom for the 3 months and leave our bakkie (small van) in Kutlwanong for the collection of our children in that black township.

Some of you would’ve heard over the Christmas period that our Val Bekker had a bad fall at work in December. She tripped in her office, hit her head hard on the wall and, in doing so, caused a nerve to be pinched in her neck. She was in considerable pain and, to begin with, couldn’t lie, sit or stand. She even had to cancel plans to spend Christmas with her family down in George (Cape Province) as it would’ve been impossible for her (and husband, Danie) to travel the distance. Devastating, to say the least! Especially as her son and family from the UK were in South Africa too!
Surgery was scheduled for late January – with Christmas in-between, nothing could be arranged earlier – and Val had to settle with waiting this period out at home, spending much of her time on her bed and taking things very easy. As time went by, though, and as she rested, the intense pain lessened and she was able to start doing simple things. Yet, it was still a surprise, an answer to prayer, when the results of her MRI scan recently stated she no longer needed surgery at all! A subsequent visit to her neurologist confirmed this – that the intense swelling had gone down, the trapped nerve had released itself and that she no longer needed an operation! Praise our Lord!
Val is back at work – albeit shorter hours – and, although still suffering with ongoing back discomfort and varying degrees of pain each day, is able to continue at her job and produce the wonderful letters you’ve all come to enjoy. Val’s recent injury has caused me to appreciate her anew and to thank God for sending her Morning Star’s way in the first place. Her input over the years has been invaluable and her job here one of the most important. I dread the day she leaves us and we are forced to find someone to take her place!

And finally ……. exactly 10 years ago yesterday, Morning Star opened its doors for the very first time! On 24th January 2000 our first 8 children and 4 staff members – with a borrowed car from Goldfields Hospice – started at our Centre in Welkom. Who would’ve imagined then – with little more than a dream to carry us forward – where we’d be today! How God has blessed us and grown us! Not just physically but in our faith as well. To depend upon Him for our every need has been a growing experience for me and, slowly but surely, the staff and I have learnt to trust and wait upon Him in a previously unknown way.  
We’re celebrating our first 10 years of existence on 26th February 2010 and are busy organising a BIG Party. Invitations are in the process of being sent out to government dignitaries, council members, local business men, long-term friends and ex-employees so that, together, we can give glory to God for all He’s done for us – all we’ve accomplished through Him – over the past decade. We’re hoping that the new Premier of the Free State, Mr. Ace Magushule, will indeed turn up to be our guest speaker – but are aware, too, that he has a busy schedule and that little Morning Star is not a top priority! You are the ones I would most love to have here that day, though. Without you we’d never be where we are today, reaching out to up to 1000 individuals per month and looking after 135 children on a daily basis! I might be the one who initiated Morning Star Children’s Centre in the first place but my staff, and all of you, are the true backbone, the unsung heroes of our Organisation! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. (Galatians 6: 9).


And, on that encouraging note I end what’s turned out to be quite an epistle.

Yours in Him
Joan

PRAYER REQUESTS:
Praise & thanks for

  1. God’s hand upon all our children over our December shutdown period.
  2. That Val Bekker is much better and no longer requiring surgery.
  3. The good rains that have fallen in the Free State of late.
  4. That Betts Ward Able finally has a job in Port Elizabeth.

Please pray for:

  1. Our sick children – 15 year old Nyakallo Nkaki, 4-year-old Mpho Mofokeng and 5-year-old Rorisang Maisa (suffering from tuberculosis and lost a lot of weight over the holidays) and staff members Val Bekker & Tim Kelly with their ongoing health problems.
  2. The family of 18-month-old Paballo Ramalefane who passed away just before Christmas and was, thus, not able to start at our Welkom Centre this month.
  3. For our 6 children now far away in Witsieshoek, Qwa Qwa – at Thiboloho School for the Deaf/Blind – and who’ll only see their families again over the Easter holidays. The six are: Sibongile Mayo, Pule Motseare, Relebohile Lotseke, Noluthando Masabalala, Keabetswe Mosakane and Thabang Seboka.
  4. Smooth transition from the Mercedes Sprinter bus to the Toyota Hino bus and for the safety of our children on the roads in the interim period. Also, that the Hino will be delivered to Welkom in record time and that the manufacturers – Busmark – will be happy to put us at the top of their list once they’ve taken delivery of our new Toyota chassis.
  5. That the Free State Government’s moratorium on purchase of land/premises will soon be lifted and that we’ll be granted a site/buildings in Thabong Township during the course of 2010.
  6. Our proposed 10th Anniversary Celebrations on 26th February ’10.
  7. For John & Wendy Harris from Mirfield, UK, who are volunteering at Morning Star for 3 ½ months and are due to arrive in S.A. on 9th February.
  8. Our forthcoming Sea Trip to Durban – (3rd – 6th March) that all 16 of the young girls selected this year (amongst them – Dimakatso Lesesa, Patricia Mokotla, Manana Tau, Maki Madokwe, Lerato Gorati, Lubabalo Dlamini, Mpho Phatela, Ntswaki Tomose, Mmaso Raseboka & Nthabiseng Sotsaka.) will be well enough to accompany us; for safe travelling, good weather and safety on the beaches.  

NB: Joan’s 2010 UK Fundraising Trip is due to take place from 8th May (Lord willing).

 

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