News update from Joan Adams - November2009

04 – 11 - 2009

Our Dear Morning Star Friends

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days”. (Psalm 90:14)

Amidst the ongoing insecurity of our premises and our inability to reach out to as many needy children as we’d like to, we continue to see God at work in our midst and be reminded that Morning Star is His Project and that He is our Great Provider!

October 2009 is already history and here we are with just 7 weeks left to Christmas and exactly 30 working days before we close our Centres for a month! Scary – but true! In between now and then we have 11 end-of-year functions to prepare for and get through, 4 of them being Christmas parties for our different-aged children. We’re already in the process of organising entertainment, preparing 360 sweet packs and sorting out the Christmas gifts. Your Christmas parcels have been dribbling in, in twos and threes – until yesterday. Yesterday we received a windfall – at least 150, all in one go! My office looks like a post office and our cupboards are bursting at the seams! But, having Christmas in July this year has really worked well and it’s wonderful that all these parcels are arriving in such good time. The generosity of so many at Christmastime is mind-blowing and I want you to know that we just couldn’t cope without your amazing input and assistance.

But, first things first! I’m sure you’re all desperate for news of our Kopano Complex premises and eager to learn whether we’ve been kicked out of our buildings in the interim, they’ve been demolished around us or whether we’ve resorted to squatting or protesting by now!
NONE is true! We’re just where we are, carrying on as usual and even continuing with renovating and redecorating as necessary! I’ve not yet had the opportunity to meet the new buyer/developer, Johan vd Merwe, in person but have chatted to him over the phone and have had several issues settled in my mind. Firstly, although the Free State Government/Premier has agreed to his offer in principle, the confirming document has not yet been signed. Additionally, another huge building development/shopping complex for Welkom is presently underway and, should this one reach completion, Mr. vd Merwe’s project cannot legally proceed for a further 5 years. On the other hand, should the other building project face financial constraints and be forced to abandon development, Johan vd Merwe will then step in, start demolishing the old hospital complex buildings and begin with his own massive project. Well, that’s what I’ve understood from all he’s told me. So, for the present, Morning Star appears safe. We could even remain thus for the next 5-6 years? Or, perhaps Mr. vd Merwe will wangle his way out of his deal with the Free State Premier and we could go back to ‘belonging’ to the government as before?
In the meantime, we’re not worrying about it. We’re trusting God in this matter, believing that His plan for Morning Star is being worked out even as I type these words. Oh, and by the way, Johan vd Merwe has also indicated that he’s willing to relocate us, should the need arise, and purchase new premises for us. He’s advised me to seek out an alternate site and come back to him with my request. So, there’s much to pray about.

Well, what’s been happening here – besides the above?  Weather-wise, we’re well into summer and are thoroughly enjoying the benefits the warmer weather brings. We’ve finally been able to switch off the under floor heating (without the staff turning it on again), discard layers & layers of clothing on little bodies, go barefooted and feel the grass between our toes and take out and dust off our swimming pools. We’ve had a fair amount of rain of late – wonderful for gardens, rivers and farms – but thoroughly trying and challenging in the black townships and squatter camps! On the one hand, everything is so lovely and green, but on the other, rain mixes with sewerage collecting in the township streets (blocked drains aren’t routinely attended to – meaning rain water can’t drain away) and with rubbish not discarded in bins.

Our children have kept mostly well these past months and, although we still have our deaths, there is definitely an improvement in the health of many a little one now accessing anti-retroviral drugs. Since 8-year-old Nozipho Hlahane’s death on 7th September, the only other child we’ve lost is 18-month-old Mbalentile, who was still on our Thabong Waiting List. Our sickest child at the moment is 8-year-old Katleho Kgosing from Kutlwanong. She’s been struggling with ill health for several months already, has been in and out of hospital, often needs oxygen, isn’t eating and is generally very weak and terminal, we fear. She’s at home with her mum and grandma now – they’re very conscious that the end may be near.
Other children with health issues are 5-year-old Malefa Moloi and 9-year-old Puleng Maboya, both in hospital with pneumonia, 2-year-old Israel Sefatsa, recently diagnosed with TB of the spine and unable to sit, let alone walk, and 11-year-old Hadiyo Thubela, grossly neglected; just skin and bone! She’s been living with an elderly grandfather and other extended family members since the deaths of her parents & grandma but, other than him, nobody at home has been prepared to see to her needs and make sure she takes her medication properly. So, she’s now been put in a ‘place of safety’ – at The Pines Christian Care Centre – to regain her strength and stamina. We trust her condition will soon improve and that her social worker will make the right decision regarding her long-term future.

As always, problems associated with poverty, unemployment and widespread ill health are ongoing. Each of our children has a story to tell. Just last week we made the effort to find out why our 6-year-old Hlompho Khaeyane is so frequently absent from school, hardly ever wears her school uniform & is often filthy upon arrival in the mornings. She’s been in Selina’s Grade 1 class this past year, is bright and quick to learn new concepts and, generally, has huge potential. I called her mum in and learnt, with mounting alarm, the following:
Hlompho lives in Thabong Township with her mum, a whole string of older siblings, 2 orphaned cousins and 2 baby nephews. She’s never known her father – he disappeared whilst mum was still pregnant with her – and no one in the family has a job! Her older sisters dropped out of school whilst doing their 4th and 5th grades and her brother (25 years) is presently in jail for murder. Mum is, thus, often called to the court, has to be there early in the mornings, and says there’s no time to wash and dress her littlest daughter and get her ready for the Morning Star bus. In essence, nobody actually cares whether Hlompho comes to school or not! There’s nobody to welcome her home in the afternoons, nobody to help her with her homework and nobody to care whether her clothes are torn and dirty.
Our Great God gave me such compassion for this woman, deservedly or not, as she tearfully related her tragic, hopeless life story. I felt moved to tell her about an ex-gardener of ours, a young man who worked for us over 20 years ago, who came to us young, from an impoverished background too but with huge potential and a burning desire to get on in life. He worked hard, saved wisely, studied well and eventually matriculated and obtained a bursary to see him through university. Today he’s a Chartered Accountant and the General Manager of a huge South African company. He lives in a posh house, in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Sandton and drives a smart car. I told Ms. Khaeyane that what he achieved, Hlompho could achieve as well. One doesn’t have to remain in one’s hopeless, impoverished circumstances forever & ever! I even told her that her little girl could one day be South Africa’s President – but that she, as her mother, had a role to play in her realizing this or any other dream – and that her role was NOW! Oh, I do pray that things will change for little Hlompho, that mum took our little chat to heart and that she will strive to break free of the mindset that’s beset her in the rearing of her children thus far.

A first for us was experienced when after a whole month, and many phone calls later, our Mmapule Molime still didn’t come into Morning Star to celebrate her 11th birthday at the end of September! Finally her mum, Gloria, confessed that Mmapule didn’t want to come into Morning Star because she didn’t want to be associated with children with HIV/AIDS! The realization that Gloria had been protecting her daughter from the truth of her condition all these years and had actually lied to her amazed us all! Mum was actually terrified to tell Mmapule that she was HIV positive and that she, Gloria, was infected with the virus too. In the end, only the warning that we’d take Mmapule off our register and she’d forfeit all further assistance from Morning Star, prompted Gloria to bring her little girl in and have Sr. Patricia gently reveal the truth to her & reopen a channel of communication between mother and child. Interestingly, just today as I’ve typed these words, Gloria came into my office and thanked me for orchestrating the meeting and shared that the 2 of them were now able to talk about their conditions at home and that a new trust was developing between them.

More and more of our children are experiencing chronic ear infections and subsequent loss of hearing. The infections are so deep-seated that not even repeated courses of appropriate antibiotics clear them up properly. We went to great lengths, recently, to get 15-year-old Sibongile Mayo up to Johannesburg to be seen and assessed by an ENT Specialist and good friend. He advised that not even grommets could be inserted as her eardrums were totally perforated and, short of a cochlea implant, her hearing would never improve as the nerves had been damaged as well. He pronounced her profoundly deaf, bi-laterally. Any-
how, to cut a long story short, and armed with his report, I approached our local ENT Specialist and asked him to clean out Sibongile’s ears under general anaesthetic – at our Private Medi-Clinic Hospital – free-of-charge. To my surprise and great joy he agreed. Thus began a series of phone calls and letters to the relevant hospital authorities, appealing to them, too, to waive all theatre charges & anaesthetist expenses. Wonders of wonders, we heard yesterday that not only will the Medi-Clinic accommodate Sibongile free of charge, but will also attend to two of our other children, Relebohile Lotseke & Noluthando Masabalala - both with similar problems! Lord willing, their procedures will take place next Monday, 9th November, which will ensure that all 3 of them will be ready to start the New Year at their new school, Thiboloho School for the Deaf and Blind in Qwa Qwa (a 3 hour drive from Welkom) where their medium of instruction, using mainly sign language, will begin. Yes, we’ve recently discovered this wonderful place that accommodates children with profound hearing and sight loss. We already have 2 children attending there – 13-year-old blind Pule and 5-year-old Keabetswe Mosakane, who started there only last month. Keabetswe is totally deaf and qualified instantly for admittance. But our 3 girls – as above – almost didn’t make it. They can all still speak, you see. Being at an institution that only uses sign language would mean they’d rapidly loose what language they still have. This would be a pity, in the long run, seeing that they’d still be coming home over the school holidays but be unable to com-municate with their family members anymore.
An impromptu meeting with the headmistress, whilst we were still at the school, changed everything for us. An alteration to policy ensued where it was decided that a new class be started for children too hard-of-hearing to fit into mainstream education but not deaf enough to join children who couldn’t speak at all. This was a wonderful answer to prayer for us. These children back home make little progress from year-to-year and Relebohile and Noluthando, both in Selina’s class, have been in Grade 1 for two years already and won’t be passing at the end of this year again!

We’ve had an amazing number of overseas volunteers at Morning Star this year. Since our spate of young folk during the summer holidays, we’ve also enjoyed the fellowship and input of John & Wendy Harris from Mirfield, Linda Wade from Chertsey Street Baptist Church and Pastor Phil Heaps from Westerleigh Evangelical Church, Bristol. We’ve also just bid farewell to 16 Aussies, all Rotarians and Lions from Kiama, New South Wales, whose massive fundraising drive for us & another Welkom Project back home culminated in a 2 week trip out to South Africa to offer practical assistance wherever needed. They were more than eager to do anything to help and it so warmed my heart to watch them interacting with our little children and bonding with so many of them.
We still have an 11-strong-team from Grace Community Church, Bedford, due here the latter half of November. We have a long list of things for them to do – from building a sandpit at our Kutlwanong Centre to beautifying the exterior/interior of Selina’s Grade 1 & 2 classroom, repainting/ redecorating our Welkom dining room, entrance hall, bathroom and children’s toilets. All kinds of jobs get done when volunteers come with willing hands and open hearts! And our children thrive under the loving care showered upon them and benefit so much from all the extra attention they receive.
Our 2010 Sea Trip is scheduled to take place, Lord willing, during the last week of February next year.  We’ll be taking just girls down to Durban with us (somehow we’ve always had more girls than boys at Morning Star) all between the ages of 11 – 16 years. Amongst those due to go are several with UK sponsors – and, for your information include: Patricia Mokotla, Maki Madokwe, Lerato Gorati, Lubabalo Dlamini, Mpho Phatela, Ntswaki Tomose and Mmaso Raseboka. The expenses for this treat have already been covered and we’re ever grateful to the UK couple who make these annual trips possible.

It’s also time to start thinking and planning for my 2010 UK fundraising trip. Lord willing, this will take place in May again next year and I’m hoping to be in your beautiful country from the 8th – 31st May. So, if you’d like me to visit your church, please let Glenys Barham, (Co-ordinator for next year’s trip) know. Her contact details are:
E-mail address: glenys.barham@gmail.com
Telephone: 01905 724252
Mobile: 07947 808715

And, in closing, many thanks to all of you who have generously supported us again this past year. Each donation, each monthly standing order, every parcel of clothing sent, blesses one or more lives. Many of you put anonymous amounts into our different bank accounts and we’ve even picked up on several large donations been transferred to our local Standard Bank Account from HSBC Bank in the UK. We have no way of ascertaining where many of these gifts come from but want you to know that we are deeply grateful for your ongoing and vital monetary assistance. You are such an encouragement to my heart and a constant blessing to my soul.

Yours in Him
Joan

PRAYER NEEDS

Praise & thanks for:

1. Free surgery at the Medi-Clinic Private Hospital for our 3 children with deep seated ear infections.
2. The good health of the majority of our children.
3. Slight improvement of Tim Kelly’s leg ulcer and Val’s back/leg pain.
4. The opening we now have at Thiboloho School for the Deaf & Blind for our children with learning difficulties.
5. The wonderful contribution/sound advice of former Board Chairman, Ray Laferla, over the past 6 years.

Please pray for:

1. Our sick children – Katleho Kgosing, Israel Sefatsa, Malefa Moloi, Puleng Mobuya and Hadiyo Thubela.
2. Our future at our Welkom premises and wisdom if we’re forced to seek alternative facilities.
3. To be given suitable land (with services) in Thabong Township so that we can move forward with a 2nd satellite Morning Star Centre.
4. Wisdom in the election of a new chairman for our Board of Governors and for our last Board Meeting of the year on the 28th November.
5. Travelling mercies as our 135 children are transported to/from our 2 facilities each weekday.

“Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Saviour, and my hope is in You all day long”.

(2 Corinthians 1: 21-22)

 

- back to News -