Praise the Lord!!!

The children were excited to be back home!

We were finally able to move the children back into the house at 36. It took 3 days to first clean the house and then unpack everything but children were really excited to be back home

For the other news:

We have 2 ladies visiting from Holland; Jannie and Astrid. These ladies have been really helpful; they work in the Hospice most of the time stimulating the children (reading to them, singing with them, teaching them new things). They have also visited the children that are in hospital at the moment – this is wonderful for the children since the hospital staff will not allow us to leave toys or books for them since they will be stolen. We are really grateful to have these ladies with us!!

Update:

Hospice:
We have had 2 admissions this week: a 12 year boy who is semi conscious and a 6 month old girl with Downs Syndrome – she also has a heart defect and is oxygen dependent.

Hospital:
It seems like Friday is a day to admit the children to hospital. Last week we had to admit another child to hospital. At one stage we had 5 children in hospital but thankfully 2 of them have been discharged.

Katlehong:
The 2 girls from Katlehong who lost their grandmother in an accident are starting their counseling on Monday. We were worried about who was going to look after the girls but their aunt from Lesotho is willing to move to South Africa and will be looking after them. Praise God for her!

What a week!!!

The house at 36 was being renovated thanks to a sponsor in Holland – we added a bathroom for the new live-in House Mother and changed a storeroom into a bedroom so we’d have room for the eight children that will be living there. While the building is taking place the children from 36 have been distributed between the other 3 houses and the Hospice. Each house has 9 or more children so we have some children sleeping on mattresses the floor!

The children were supposed to move back to their house on the 16th of November but, the day before the final painting was about to begin, a pipe attached to the geyser burst and on Monday morning we arrived to face a flood! What a mess! Due to the bungling of the assessor, we are in week 4 since the flood and we’re still trying to dry the walls enough so that we can paint. Oh well, at least the children are enjoying the “camping” at the other homes, it’s going to be a struggle to get them back into their home and into a routine though.

Some of the damages !!!

Hospice:

We have had so many requests for beds in the Hospice lately - in the last week we had 4 new admissions, and 2 children were able to go home to their families. At one stage we had 4 children in hospital but one came home on Thursday. One of the children that is in hospital had to have 6 abscesses in his brain drained – he’s not doing very well. Please pray for healing for all these children.

Please pray for Lyn and the staff too!

Bakery Project!!!

Naledi Projects and the Luxembourg government are sponsoring the Feeding Projects at the 2 schools in Katlehong but they will only do this for the next 3 years and we had to think of a sustainable project for the schools to bring in money to supplement the sponsored money and provide for the future. We were presented with an opportunity of opening a bakery to work out of the kitchens we built at the school. Naledi projects and Luxembourg government also donated money for the bakery.

We had 10 ladies attend training for two weeks and they did a very good job and were really excited to learn about baking. The school will sell their products (bread, donuts and cakes) to the local shops and the community. When the ladies were training, people could smell the delicious smell of the cakes and asked if they could make their orders right away! The ladies completed their training and received their certificates.

10 ladies on their first day!

The ladies working hard

Sports day

These are the children who were selected to run on the school’s sports day!

What fun!!! Sammy came first in his race. The children enjoyed themselves.

Sad News

This gogo (grandmother) was in her 80’s and she took care of her 2 grandchildren. Lambano helped this family with food parcels. On Tuesday she went to fetch her granddaughter from school and, on the way back, she was hit by a train. Her granddaughter saw the whole accident.

Please pray for the family through this tough period and especially for the granddaughter who is having nightmares and asking a lot of questions. The 2 grandchildren will be going for counseling. Also pray that a loving home is found for these 2 children since their parents are dead.

Grand official opening !!!

Two Official openings! Last week we had two Official openings! Last week we had our official opening for the hospice even though the hospice has been operating since early July. Since opening the hospice we have had over 20 children come through. Some of the children were reunited with their families.

Dany and Cosita from Naledi Projects in conjunction with the Luxembourg Government – raised funds to buy and renovate the hospice and for the Feeding Projects the 2 schools in Katlehong!

Some of the doctors and staff from Big Shoes!

And on the 3rd we had another official opening of the dining hall at Katlehong were we will feed over 1000 children a day.

School choir – these children blessed us with their singing!

Dany (Luxembourg), Ms Morokoane (Principal), Lyn (Lambano) and Claudine (Luxembourg)

Dany from Luxembourg and Mr Thinane the District director


We would like to thank the Luxembourg Development Co – operation and Naledi Projects for raising funds for these projects. These children will be fed a nutritious lunch everyday and have a place to sit and eat their lunch!

Happy moment!!!

The Lord is good! For the last few years we’ve been praying for a house mother and now we have really been blessed with a young lady from Scotland.

Jenna is 28 years old and was a palliative nurse for cancer patients. She will be the house mother for the children at 36 and help Lyn with the hospice too. We are really grateful to God for answering our prayers!

On Monday we received a 2 month old oxygen dependent baby weighing 2.5kg. On Tuesday afternoon she had to be rushed back to hospital. Please pray for her!

Wow, What a week! Last week our children performed in their school concert. It was really neat to see how these children took their concert seriously and loved every moment. Thanks to the teachers for all the hard work they put in over the past few months, the show was excellent.

We were also encouraged by the AWANA leaders (the youth group at the church) coming to support the children. Unfortunately we don’t have pictures of the children performing because we were not allowed to take pictures during the concert.

This young girl has been with Lambano for the past few weeks we thought that she was doing quite well but today she was admitted to hospital with a serious infection.

Please pray for her recovery!

Sad news!

The little boy who was hospitalized with severe anemia and kwashiorkor died on Tuesday morning. The staff at the hospital really fought to try to save him but his disease was too far advanced and his little body was too weak.

Thank you for all your prayers for him but please continue to pray for his family as they go through this difficult time!

This lovely young girl was with us towards the end of 2007. When she came to us she was really sick but we got her started her drugs and she became well enough to be reunited with her family. Last week she was sent back to us because she was very ill again. It seems that her family have defaulted on her drugs and she possibly has a recurrence of TB. She is not doing well. Please pray for her!

This little girl turned 9 last week. She is growing up fast and is already such a lady, graceful and contained.

This little boy turned 3. It’s amazing to see how he is flourishing – although he has CP legs, he still tries to walk, and manages well if he’s got something to hold on to like a Tonka Truck or his special push cart. He’s even able to climb up to the slide. I must admit that we adults hold our breaths until he’s safely back on the ground!

Hospital visit!!!

This little boy is 6 years old and came to us a few days ago but the doctors decided he needed to be hospitalized.

It was my first time to take one of our children to be admitted to hospital. What an experience! I really admire the nurses and doctors who work under these conditions.

The little boy has severe anemia caused by HIV. He also has Kwashiorkor which is caused by severe malnutrition and causes the tissues to swell. So, although he looks quite plump and healthy, that’s fluid and he is critically ill. Please pray for him.

This little girl turned 5 this week.

Farewell!!!

We were very sad to have to say goodbye to Shelley Martin who has been volunteering here at Lambano for the last two months. Shelley went back to the USA on Monday and we will dearly miss her. She has grown to be part of the Lambano family and her loving nature, broad smiles and servant heart were such a blessing to us.

We wish Shelley all of the best for her future plans and pray that our paths will cross again one day, if not on earth then in heaven.

New intakes:

One of the intakes

We have had three new admissions to our Hospice:

We received a 10 year old girl last week but she had to be sent to hospital for intravenous antibiotics.
Our next admission was a 4 year old boy.
Lastly we received a 6 year old boy.

All three of these children are severely malnourished and ill. Please pray for wisdom and strength for the medical staff that are caring for them and a speedy recovery for the children.

We thank God that we have this Hospice so that we can care for these children.

Mandela day!!!

Simba!!!!

Our children were blessed on Saturday last week, we had 2 companies that took time out of their busy schedules to come and spent time with the children:

Stanlib: Had a birthday party for the children and hired a jumping castle and had face panting for the children, but the highlight for the children was Simba the lion.

Children enjoying their food!

McCarthy Renault in Germiston brought Sunday lunch for the children!


Thank you to all the companies that gives to the children.

Pictures of the hospice!!!

Dining room

Room no: 1

Room no:2
Room no:3

Isolation room

Doctor's room

The Hospice is ready!!!

Finally the Hospice is ready! It’s taken years of planning but we are happy to announce that our Hospice is ready to accept the children!!! The hospice has 12 beds and 9 are already filled – 7 children who have been squeezed in at 36 Senator with the 7 permanent children plus two new children that will arrive today. At this rate, by the end of the month we will be bursting at the seams again.

We will put the pictures of the hospice next week!

NEW VOLUNTEER!!!!!


Shelley Martin arrived from the USA at Lambano in the second week of June with bright smiles! She is volunteering with us until the beginning of August. Shelley is a fun-spirited, bubbly young lady who cleary has a genuine love for children, as well as South Africa. She already has spent much time with the children here at Lambano playing games, singing, dancing and whatever the kids find her to do! Shelley is currently studying sociology and poverty back home and has chosen to do her internship here at Lambano. We are blessed to have this young lady with us and thank God for how she has just fitted in thus far and has brought along so much joy with her. We look forward to the rest of our time with her.

UPDATED NEWS!!

This week three of the Place of Safety children were reunited with their families but within 2 days their beds were filled with new children.

NEW INTAKES!!




This little boy is 2 years old

This young girl is 5 years old


This boy was received just recently at 18 months. Sadly he passed away on Wednesday morning. We send our sincere condolences to the family. Please pray for them during this time.

REUNITED WITH FAMILY!

This girl has been within us for over 2 years it was really sad to see her go – please pray that she will adjust well at home and school.

Reunited with family!

This young girl has been with Lambano since March 2009. She has just gone back with her mom (20 May 2009) and been reunited with her family. She started taking ARV’s and is doing well. She will be going back to school and is very happy to be back with her family.

Reunited with family!!!

She likes to pose!

This 3 year old girl has been with us since July. When she came to us she was on permanent oxygen because her mother defaulted 4 times on her ARV drugs. We are happy to say she is off oxygen now and doing very well, so well that, on Wednesday she went back home to her mom. She was really excited to see her mom.

Please pray that she will adjust well at home.

New intakes!!!

The 6 month old boy!

The 14 year girl who likes reading!




The 16 month old boy!

2 of our children who are now stable, left to go to another facility (since we are full in terms of our permanent children) and on the same day we received 2 new children. The little boy is about 6 months old and the girl is 14 years old, then yesterday, we received another little boy, who is 16 months old. The 14 year old girl was really shy when she first came and used to spend most of her time in her room sleeping, but now she reads to, and plays with the small children.

Bara visit

Our quarterly Bara visits have started again and, so far, all the children are doing well! Two more of the homes go next week and we hope those visits will also go well too.

Another visit to the hospital!

On Thursday 3 of our children had surgery – an ear repair, a tonsillectomy and a set of grommets! Two of the children came back home that night and they are doing well. The girl who had the ear repair had to stay overnight because she had to start intravenous antibiotics to fight the massive infection she has. She was glad to come home today and is doing well - she’ll be on the IV antibiotics for five days. Please pray that all three of them will heal quickly.

Reports:
The children got their First Term reports from school and they all did well.

Mama Barbara's 60th birthday!!

Last week Mama Barbara had her 60th birthday. Her three daughters who live in America came out to SA so that they could be with her on her special day. The Lambano children joined them for cake and ice cream. We are so grateful to have Mama Barbara with us!

After 3 weeks of playing and running around at home, the children are back at school! Although they enjoyed their holidays, they were really excited to see their school friends.

Blessings!!!

We have a new Pregio 12 seater bus. Thanks to Auto Trader for raising funds and buying it for us. God is great!

After the show

Our children are on holiday, so one of the volunteers (Gillian) raised money for the children to go and watch the High School Musical show and afterwards they were treated to a nice dinner. The children had a lot of fun - they were even singing and dancing along.

New intakes!!

We have 2 new children, the boy is 13 years old (although he is the size of an 8 year old) and the girl is 8 years old. Both of these children are really sick, please pray that their treatment will be successful and that they will soon be well.

The boy is really shy and always plays by himself - he is learning to ride a bike.



The girl runs around and enjoys playing with the other children!

Sad news!!

One of our caregivers passed away on Thursday. She leaves behind two daughters. Please pray for the family during this time of mourning.

Our new baby!!

We have a new little boy. He came to us when he was 6 days old. He is really cute and really likes his bottle!

Painting the walls!

It’s really encouraging to see companies getting involved with different ministries! Last week we had people from Arthur Els & Associates coming for a day to paint our wall, fill up our sandpit and provide lunch for the children and staff. They also gave the children new toys which was very exciting. Thank you all for your hard work!