“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, alwaysin every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnershipin the gospel from the first day until now”. Philippians 1: 3-5
Todays as Ibegin this letter to you I’m keenly aware that we are a partnership; all of youand Morning Star, and that neither of ‘us’ can do without the other. We reachout, care, serve, counsel and train and you pray, support and encourage in manyand varied ways. You may think your role insignificant but, in the big schemeof things, each prayer for Morning Star and every £1 donated towards ourministry here counts. In essence, we’dcease to exist without you.
Haveyou ever wondered where and when our partnership in the Gospel started?
Many of you knew and loved Peter Parkinson, thefounder of Caring for Life up in Leeds, who passed away on 10thApril, but how many of you are aware that he played a significant role in thestory of Morning Star and is testimony to majestic tapestry of divine providence?Peter actually played a crucial role in the development of our UK support baseand his introduction to key UK churches way back in 2002 opened up a channel ofsupport for Morning Star that continues to be significant to this day. WouldMorning Star even have survived this long if Peter hadn’t generously arrangedmeetings at a few of his own supporting churches for us? Today we have at least40 churches in England/ Wales on our donor base, with over 95% of our financialsupport coming from the UK ...... all thanks to Peter. As our Board Chairman,Joshua Bolaji, rightly put it “Peter has been more than a link to the churches.He has been a friend to Morning Star. He has been a ‘partaker of grace’ with usin the work here in South Africa. For this we will always be grateful and giveall the glory to God.”
Update: WelkomPremises:
For those of you wondering whetherthere have been further developments regarding our occupancy at Kopano Complexin Welkom, the answer is no, not atall. The last we heard was back in February when the Dept. of Public Works letus know that they were compiling a submission to the Free State ProvincialTreasury, requesting rental exemption for us. Please continue to keep thismatter in prayer.
Anotherissue relating to our Welkom premises is that Kopano Complex’s telephone cables(copper) are repeatedly being stolen. This has happened three times over thepast 3 months. When this occurs we’re left without telephone lines and internetconnection, sometimes for days on end. It is hugely frustrating. The onlysolution is to do away with our Telkom lines completely and go the route ofinstalling fibre at Morning Star. Theproblem is, the outlay is very expensive and we’re not sure whether to investthe R35, 000.00 (1, 750pds) to resolve the issue. This is a huge sum of money to part with when we’re failing tomeet our budget each month.
New Toyota Quantum
A very big thank you to the manywho heeded our appeal for assistance re: the purchasing of a new QuantumMinibus for Morning Star. The response has been overwhelming and very humbling.All-in-all over R100,000.00(5,000pds) has come in since my last newsletter went out and together with therecent R100,000.00 donation received from UniversalHealthcare in Johannesburg, we’ve been able to go ahead and order our newvehicle. It is scheduled to be delivered to Welkom sometime next week. AlbertDuvenhage & Elizabeth van der Westhuizen have spent time examining all theminibuses and pondering over which of them needs replacing first and in theend, even though our Kutlwanong vehicle isn’t the oldest, it is in the worstshape and costing the most maintenance-wise. This is the one needing trading inmost urgently. We’ll now have to start saving towards a second replacementvehicle.
Covid 19 Update:
It’s wonderful to hear that yourCovid lock-down regulations in the UK have eased considerably over the past fewweeks and that so many of you have been vaccinated against the virus already.I’m sure you must be feeling that life is slowly returning to ‘normal’ for youall. Here in South Africa we seem to have entered our 3rd wave ofnew infections now, with 2 more Covid-19 variants (from the UK and India)detected as well. Our vaccine drive for the general public has not even begunyet. To date, about 300,000 South Africans have received their jabs whichrepresents only a fraction of the 1, 25 million healthcare workers who arefirst in line. This amounts to about 0.5% of the general population. Theinitial target of having 67% of thecountry’s citizens vaccinated by the end of 2021 is now unlikely to beachieved. It is reported that at the current vaccination pace it will take adecade for South Africa to reach herd immunity. All the above doesn’t bode wellfor travelling abroad for us anytime soon. I had wondered whether I’d be ableto fit in a trip to the UK before the end of 2021 but, as time goes by it seemsincreasingly less likely that this is going to be possible. For as long asSouth Africans are obliged to spend 2 weeks at designated quarantine hotelsupon reaching the UK, at their own expense, travelling abroad remains out ofthe question.
How is Morning Star affected by our inability totravel abroad?
Firstly, my annual trips afford methe wonderful opportunity of updating our sponsors and supporting churches onthe work of Morning Star. Sometimes fund-raising events coincide with my visitsto the UK and I’m able to attend these at the same time. I’m sure you’ll agreethat although “Zoom” is better than nothing at all, there’s nothing moresatisfying than interacting with one another face-to-face.
Secondly, I’m getting older eachyear and am not sure how much longer I’ll be able to continue with these annualtrips. Albert, our new General Manager,was to have accompanied me to the UK this year, to be introduced to you all andto be exposed to this side of my former job description, but...........!
Additionally, we’ve still not beenable to register Morning Star as a UK charity. The whole process has been put‘on hold’ for the meantime. Not onlyhas the UK Charity Commission not processed new applications over the past yearbut our UK trustees have advised us to not ‘rock the boat’ during Covid and theeconomic recession but to carry on with the present status quo until we’reforced to do something about it. Our trustees plan to meet and discuss the wayforward as soon as travel has opened up in England again and come up with a newplan of action.
Last but not least, my annual UKtrips always reap rich financial gain. Not only are we given monetary donationswherever we go but all our new children are sponsored out as well, resulting inan increased monthly income. Without these trips our general income actuallycomes down. Each year elderly sponsors pass away and changes in folks’ ownfinancial positions forces them to sever their monthly commitments to MorningStar.
On a sobering note, recentcalculations here have indicated that our financial position is inching towardsthe crisis we experienced in 2019 when my SOS letter of appeal went out to youall. The marvellous response received then enabled us to put a substantialamount of money into our money market account, meet all our monthly obligationsright through Covid lock-down and pay our staff their full salaries. It’s only now, 18 months further down the line that we’re very closeto having to dig into our reserves in our Money Market account again.
The bottom line is nothing has changed; we’restill short on budget each month by about 2,500pds (R50, 000.00); as was ourpredicament back in 2019. In additionto this, a couple in the UK paid Albert Duvenhage’s salary for his first yearat Morning Star and that, of course, came to an end at the end of 2020 as well.
What can we do to counter the position we nowfind ourselves in?
1. Until such time that we’re ableto travel to the UK again or register Morning Star as a charity there, we needto pursue a fresh series of Zoom Meetings with all our supporting churches.Peter Barham has put together a new PowerPoint Presentation for us and I’mhoping that between Albert and me,we’ll be able to ‘visit’ all of you in the coming weeks to update you properlyon the work of Morning Star. So, please plan your dates and get back to usas soon as you can.
2. Advertise the 20+ new childrenneeding to be sponsored out. This remains a very important avenue of income for us, even though moreand more folk are opting to rather channel their monthly giving to our generaloperational expenses. Either option is fine with us.
3. Invite folk to support aparticular aspect of our work, thus alleviating our monthly shortfall. Areas to be considered include:
¨ Food for 150 children per month - 1, 250pds
¨ Children’s birthdays per month – 1, 000pds
¨ Sponsorship of key staff member’s salary permonth – 750.00pds (or less)
¨ Vehicle maintenance/petrol expenses per month –350.00pds per minibus
¨ Medicine/doctor consultations per month –250.00pds
¨ 10 food parcels per month @ 15pds each -150.00pds
Staff Issues:
Howblessed we are to have a staff who work well together and generally give oftheir best. When I think back to the problems we had in the past, of thethieving that took place and the undermining of authority, I can but thank Godthat the troublemakers have gone and that there’s a general sense ofcamaraderie and looking out for each other these days.
Alberthas grown into his role as General Manager and is well in control of all our day-to-day activities.Teboho Moloi, with the assistance of Lorato Rapuleng, run the finance officelike clockwork and Camilla Moholobela and her helpers in the kitchen continueto cook up a storm each day, serving up meals fit for a king. Exciting news isthat we have one of our own young adults, Martha Lukhuleni, working alongsideCamilla in the kitchen at the moment. Being at Morning Star each day givesMartha’s life purpose and meaning, as does the baking of all our birthday cakesfor Louisa Makhubela and another of our young adults, Moitheri Dlamini. Oh, ifonly we could support more of our jobless, seemingly hopeless young adults! Toomany of them are out of school, unable to pursue tertiary education and aresitting at home, wasting their lives away.
Pleasekeep gardener, Papiki Monyane in prayer; he’s recently undergone surgery for adetached retina and is not ‘out of the woods’ yet. Also, pray for Elizabeth vdWesthuizen who is fast getting to the point of needing a hip replacement andfor Anna Matiyase, our Kutlwanong Manager, recovering from a hysterectomy.
News of our Children and Families
Ourchildren are mostly well. Our little ones flourish in our care and definitelybenefit from the good nutrition enjoyed at Morning Star each weekday. Outsideof Morning Star, poverty and neglectare evident everywhere, even more so since Covid began. We help where we canbut are conscious of the fact that we can only take the edge off the sufferingexperienced and not change each family’s circumstances. Our clients often findthis difficult to understand, that wecan’t give them everything they ask for, and leave our premises in a huff. It’sever a hard call to know what assistance to give and where to draw the line.
Issueswe’re dealing with at present:
1. Mathepelo Mofokeng’s home in HaniPark Township recently caught fire and the family lost all their belongings inthe flames.
2. Five-year-old Portia Mamakoatsi hasbeen rejected by her paternal family and is being placed into a foster home, asof today. The tragic thing about this case is that when her mother (one of ourMorning Star teenagers) died 4 yearsago, the paternal family were adamant that they loved Portia and wanted toraise her. We had to halt the adoption process already in place back then,knowing in our hearts that this new arrangement wasn’t going to last.
3. We’ve had two deaths over thepast 6 weeks: 21year old MalesediMajake passed away on the 29th April after aborting her ARV regime for the secondtime. She was buried last Saturday. And 5-year-old Mohau Molefe, bornwith HIV / AIDS, Down’s syndrome and a heart condition died on 23rdMarch. Her mum has been left bereft. Please remember her in your prayers.
4. Our 14 year old Patricia,Mhampinde, already suffering the symptoms associated with HIV/AIDS, startedhaving seizures and then suffered paralysis on the one side of her body. Atfirst it was thought she’d had a stroke but upon further investigation, she wasfound to have a brain tumour. She’s since undergone surgery in Bloemfontein,which appears to have been successful, and has subsequently been moved from theintensive care unit to a general ward in the hospital. We hear she is slowlyrecovering.
5. One of our 15 year old girls,someone we’ve invested much time and energy into over the years, is pregnant.The ‘boyfriend’ is a 26 year old, jobless Zimbabwean.
Ourheartaches and disappointments with our teenagers, especially, are real and, attimes, one despairs for them all; their lack of education and inability tolearn, having to drop out of school before finishing the syllabus, turning todrugs, falling pregnant, throwing away their opportunities to flourish or justsitting at home, doing nothing. One wonders whether all the years of caring andsharing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ were a waste of time. But then, inthe midst of the crushing disappointments, there’s a Tsidi who did so well inher Grade 12 examinations last year that she’s been admitted to the Universityof the Western Cape and a Thato who recently successfully completed her 4-yearBachelor of. Education Degree and is now a fully qualified secondary schoolteacher.
No,the 21 years of caring and service are not in vain; we remind ourselves that itis God who grows the seeds we’ve planted and only eternity will reveal whichlives our ministry had an impact upon. After all, we’re called to be faithful,not successful.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sakeof your steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1
Pelo & Hart/ Tshedisanang Women’s Project:
Most of you know and have purchased the beautifulhand embroidered merchandise from our former Tshedisanang Women’s Project andmore recently, the gorgeously, colourful shweshwe creations produced by thewomen at Pelo & Hart. Sadly, Covid 19 had an enormous impact on the tourismindustry in South Africa and many boutiques and even bigger outlets have had toclose their doors and are no more. Tragically, Pelo & Hart have beennegatively affected too. Very little, by way of new orders, has come in overthe past 12 months and Mirna de Hart, the owner of the project, has had to paythe women out of her own pocket, to ensure they have food on the table eachday. The time has come to take the decision to close Pelo & Hart, eitherfor the time being, or permanently. It breaks my heart even to type thesewords.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay upfor yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys andwhere thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there yourheart will be also”. Mathew 6: 19-21
Praise & thanks for:
1. For God’s faithfulness andprotecting hand upon us all in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic.
2. The life of Peter Parkinson and thelasting legacy he’s left behind – bothin the UK and here in Welkom, South Africa.
3. For the generous response towardsour new Toyota Hi-Ace Minibus.
4. For the excellent health of most ofour little children
Pleasepray:
* For Godly wisdom in how we utilize the funding and donations that come in eachmonth.
* That we’d remain dependent upon Christ and not dothings in our own strength.
* Our Welkom premises – that we’ll find favour withthe Free State government and not be charged rent and for our electricity andwater consumption.
* For staff members with health issues: the fullhealing of our gardener, Papiki’s eye, Elizabeth’s discomfort with her arthritichip and wisdom as to how to get this attended to without medical aid and forAnna, as she recovers from her hysterectomy.
* For 14-year-old Patricia – that God would begracious to her and restore her to full health and strength. Also, that we’dhave an opportunity to share the Gospel with her grandmother and broaderfamily.
* For little Portia Mamokoatsi as she transitionsinto foster care this week. Please pray that her paternal relatives will agreeto her being adopted.
* For Pastor Revival ashe teaches and counsels all our teens and young adults. His is a massiveresponsibility and we’d really love to employ a second pastor to assist him.Please pray that the monthly Bible Studies will go from strength to strengthand that our young adults would attend for the right reasons.