It´s already April 2012

Just one of those days. I am back in Madrid already 2 years. But still a big part of me is in South Africa. I am still working with Thalente. I am doing everyday things for my friends overseas. But still it´s moving inside of me. I am worried, I am restless, I think and I cry. The work in South Africa goes well and continues as I hoped for. Still there are somethings that would not have happened if I would have been there and somethings would have happened in my presence. Should I feel guilty about that or should I think it is what should have happened. I remember once that some one said to me: The people are born at places/situations that are choosen for them........I still do not believe in that, maybe I should.

Today I have been dedicating some time to look for KONY 2012 picture, just to join like everyone around the world. It´s organised by INVISIBLE CHILDREN which is another great organization in the USA. As I was going trough the web I found a page where they try to put NGO´s in a bad picture. They sabotage NGO´s, like INVISIBLE CHILDREN. Because they say the NGO is not dedicating 100% of their donation money to the NGO but 32% to incomes. This really makes me angry, ofcourse these people working for a NGO need to be paid. This people have to live, if you dedicate/work you deserve to get paid. How else can you do your "work". I have lived it myself, I had some sponsors to help me out a lot but I did not have 100% salary. I used my savings and obviously I run out of it and had to stop. How do people expect to do what you do without a salary. Yes I also realise that some NGO´s are giving way to high salary to their workers but that does not mean all of them. And so there are a lot of people out there working as hard as anyone elso but voluntary. I take a bow for all of them. And if you earn your money by working at an NGO I take my head off and would like to be one of them. People do not realise how high a running cost (water, gas, rent office, house, car) can be. If you want a NGO to work 24/7.

I hope http://www.kony2012.com/ will be a succes...Its about time.

Than it was time

Hi to all, as most of you know I went back to Spain. It was a very difficult decision but one that I had to take. If it´s the right one, time will tell. I can look back on a great 2 years. I have met a lot of different people, I have learnt new cultures and I have been in new situations. I have learned a lot about live and about myself. I will never take anything just for granted. I am very lucky beeing born in a free country and being able to travel and live in foreigh countries with no problems or more paper work than necessary. To have a house and food everyday. Health system that works. Also I learned to deal with people which I trusted and could not be trusted, that was a hard experience and a lesson for live. You can never be prepared for that 100% but it´s something to keep in mind. With this I also learned to know who are my friends. They are very valuable for me. And I am sure who reads this is, you are one of my friend! So to you, YOU ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!

About the situation if South africa, the organisation www.Thalent.nl continues. We found a great lady within the community and she will make sure everything will continue. I am still in close contact with her and the organisation. For Khulani Simunye there is a little stop but will consider to continue in cooperation with Thalente I am very excited about that. We will see what the future brings.
As for my boys in the house, they have a beautifull future as well. One has taken his own path and is taking care of himself. the other one I had to leave him behind in a student residence but I am trying to bring him over to Spain. He has so much potential that I think he needs more oportunities and I think Spain (Europe) can offer him that. He is doing great at school and being more or less independant, at this moment, but there are some people who keep a little eye on him on a daily bases. I am very happy about that situation but I do miss him a lot but patients is something which I had to learn as well.

So the conclusion of this experience is very positive, I am a "richer" person, much more sensitive (who would ever thought that it could happen to me) and happy to have been part of some changes in peoples lives.

With lots of love,

Lilian

Is my father right.....he always is.........

It´s a longtime you heard from me again....a lot has been happening. As I told you besides by doing the things I am doing I also try to keep the organization Khulani Simunye running. It´s all a challenge. We had our first guest in January, 4 people form the organization “Thalente”. They help Khulani Simunye financially with school fees, registration cost etc...... and they decided to help me out as well...It´s because of them that I am able to continue what I am doing. What am I doing? Is it ok what I am doing? Is this what the people need? Am I really helping? Sometimes these questions come up. I always write about nice things that are happening because they stay the longest in my head but it is not always nice. I have been here now almost 2 years and I have met a lot of different kind of people. I have seen different kind of situations. I have seen people doing bad things to other people. People threatening each other, jealous people. People always asking for help, they are not willing to do anything. Lying people. Fake people....................but the people I felt for and that I came her to help are here also, somewhere. They are here for sure, I saw them again the other day, a teener boy trying his best to help his little brothers. The love and kindness in their eyes. But who is that person that you helped and now is taking it all for granted and gets angry when you can not help? Who is that person that you offer something and it´s not good enough? Why do I have to start watching my back? Do I have to question every step I make? Is this what I came her to do?.........
I came her for that teener boy that was not doing well and after a couple of conversations, big mistakes he made, I almost lost hope but now he is the best of his class and will continue as well as he can......That is why I am here!!!! For that boy that I have to kick his ass all the time but he still has dreams and tries to follow them, yes it cost me a lot of energy but he will get there and he appreciates it. It´s for that one that had a hard time but wants to full fill his dream and is doing great at school and is happy.
Another question I have...... I have been told not to give up my whole life for the people here in need because they are born here for a reason and I was born in Europe for another reason........Is this really true? I can not believe some one really makes a plan like that.

I can not safe the whole world but one at the time is enough..........that is what I believe in.

But still there is the question..... Is my father right when he says; What are you doing there, think about your future?...........................................

With love
Lilian

Merry Christmas and a great 2010

WE WANT TO WISH YOU ALL A LOVING XMAS AND MAY YOUR HEART BE FILLED WITH PEACE AND JOY FOR THE NEW YEAR

WITH LOTS OF LOVE FROM THOLA IKHAYA

KHUMBULANI, PERFECT & LILIAN

Up date our house Thola Ikhaya "find a home"

We have had some changes in our house. Tessa has left our house and now it´s just Khumbulani, Perfect and me. The plans of taking more boys in the house have changed as well as we financially can not effort it but we help some of the boys (3), we wanted to take in the house, with food parcels ones a month. I also keep a close eye on them. They all passed to their last year. I am very proud of them. Perfect passed with great marks to grade 10 if he continues like this he will become the lawyer he dreams about. For Khumbulani we have a changed plan he will not be going to do his last year at the school he went to, he will be going to study and work at the same time. Perfect has joined a dance company and has been performing a few times now (photo´s included) he realy enjoys it and will continue next year. Khumbulani started a weekend job and also works as a volunteer for an organisation which helps out animals. He works in the Music shop, they sell donated stuff to fundraise money for the organisation. He enjoys it very much as he checks all the electronical stuff that´s delivered before it will be sold. They are very busy even on their holiday. Also for next year they will help me out with the things we want to do for Khulani Simunye. Also for our house Thola Ikhaya it´s going to be a great 2010...With lots of love........

I was invited as a guest speaker for grade 1 at the school our children go to.....Look at the picture!!!!! How cute they look, the future of South Africa.

New year new start

Hi family and friends,

It´s been a longtime you had some news from me....

I would like to tell you some great news. After a few months with a lot of doubts and worries I finally got the answer on the question "Can I stay or not?" YES I will stay for at least one more year !!!!!!! I am getting help from sponsors....... Sponsors for my 5 boys school fees/transport, my teen mom school fees/transport/rent/groserries, food parcels for 3 students and help with the rent for our House "Thola Ikhaya" (Find a home).....I am so happy with all this help, I herewith would like to thank all the sponsors, Susane van Rijn, Stacie Mohagen, Organisation "Thalente", Sonsoles Garcia, Jan-Paul & Rob, Mom and Dad. Also I would like to take the opportunity to thank for all the help I received last year, as you will understand I can not do this without your help!! thank you all so much!!! There is also another change for next year, I will be helping the organisation Khulani Simunye with the field work. As my friend Lizzy is leaving South Africa to have her baby in the Netherlands I will take over some of the work she did. I am very happy with this responsibility. I will continue with all the good work the organisation does. Most important will be helping the community out with getting their birth certificate/ID books. Also I will continue with delivering bread to other organisations which we get from the factory. "Kids in action" will also be one of the activities I will do with lots of pleasure. We also would like to restart with the english lessons and create more workshops for the people from the community to make sure they learn skills which might help them with an income. We have a lot of plans for 2010 and we will still need your support to make it all happen. It´s going to be a great year !!!!!

Our house

Just to give a small up-date about our house.... We are doing great, the two boys are doing well at school and they stay out of trouble, so we are very proud of them. By selling their necklaces they are able to provide themselfs with extra´s. One of the boys is starting with his drivers licences and the other one will start dance lessons. They are investing their money in things they are good at, what gives them reason, hope in their lives and realy enjoy. Soon my mom will come to visite us again, and all of us are looking forward to see her here in South Africa again. They call her Gogo (grandmother). For the moment we can not take more boys in the house which I regret because I know another boy who realy would like/need to live with us. He is trying on his own to make a better live for himself but it would be much better if he stays with us. He is 17 years old and has made some mistakes in his live already but is willing to leave everything for a better future. But I am sorry to say that financialy we can not effort to have another boy. If you or some one you know who can help us out please let me know, it will make a difference in their lives as I have seen with the boys in our house.

New school year starting 2010

At this moment I support 6 teens to continue their education. I hope (and they say they will) go to their gratuate year next year..(School year South Africa January - December).2010 will be very important for these teens, they will get their Matric (High school diploma) and ofcourse all the soccer world cup is going on......
This year with help of my friend in holland, the Rise Foundation in the UK, family and friends we were able to help these teens to go to school. For the next year I again can count on my friend in Holland to help with financial support (and mentally), 50% of the whole year. So herewith I would like to request if there are some more people, friends, family, companies, organisations etc. who can help me out to continue with supporting these teens at school. For 50€ pm/per child I can provide them with school fees, stationary and transport. Ofcourse you can also help out by donating smaller amount for school fees 20€ pm/per child, Transport 20€ pm/per child. General Stationary any amount. Or any other donation is very much welcome.
Please help me out so these teens can continue at school.

Thank you so much in advance,

Some changes......

Good news, we desided that the other boy should stay with us permantly not only on weekends and holidays. Altough we do not have a fixed sponsor we desides that it is better for him to stay with us. We went to get his few cloths and schoolbooks at his aunties place this weekend. She was sorry for him leaving but happy for him that he can stay with us. I must say I am REALLY pleased to be able to take him away from that place. I have been here over a year now and I go a lot to the rural aerea but where he lived I really do not like it, it even makes me scared. I do would like to request if you can help us out with the grosseries. We spend per month 3500R (318€) for the 4 of us. It´s per person 875R (75€)....... Thankxx in advance. The boys have at this moment enough cloths and shoes. They received a lot from friends in spain and my dad did a clean up of his warobe. They love the shirts and sweaters. Now when they wear those cloth they say: "Hey Lil, listen to me I am your dad!" ;-)

Still clothes are always welcome because as you know I also keep an eye on some more teens boys.......

Soon I will give you an update about plans for them....I want to try to create a more stable future for them.

As I said before I am already here more than a year !!!!! I have got a visa now untill 2011. Will I stay that long ???? I have NO IDEA..... Yes I would love to but I also know that I want to go back to Spain some day....

Orders

I finally sent out the orders..... Manon, Nell, Brenda, John & Ingrid, Suzane and mom you will receive the orders in about a week. Please let me know when you receive it.

I do have also other things to sell. The boys at our house are making necklaces and a friend, Stella also started to make pins and post cards with beads. Please if you are intrested in selling it for them please let me know. All the profit goes to them directly and you only pay what you sell. I attach some pictures of the work.

Would you like to help me out??

Since three months I am supporting a teener mom. She lives nearby where we live in a township. She has no contact with her family and is living alone with her little son. She is still at school and does not have a job. Within the community they help each other but some times that is not enough. I desided to help her out and she is willing to work for it. She does some beatwork she makes little dolls out of beats. For the ones that do not know beatwork I add some pictures. She makes the dolls on a pin and I would like to sell them for her overseas. So if you think you can help me out with selling them please let me know. This way she can make her own money. You can sell the pins for 2,50€ or 3€ and maybe sell 2 pins for 5€. But it´s up to you....If you are able to help us out selling them, just send me your home address and the amount of pins you would like to receive. I will mail them to you and all the money you receive you can transfer it to my bank account wich I will include in the parcel. You do not have to pay in advance you only transfer what you sell. The pin comes with a little card, thanking the buyer for the purchase, it´s in three languages Dutch, English and Spanish.

Thank you so much in advance,

Lilian, Nosipho and Andile

Next step.......

Now we have the house ready I would like to share some photos with you. Also I would like to tell you that we started with the 2nd boy. He is staying with us now for the weekends. He comes friday´s after school and stays with us untill the monday morning. As I told you we have to take things slowely. He will have to adjust, and we also. Untill now he is doing great. He really enjoys it and we enjoy his company. In the future we would like the boys to introduce themselfs to you by having their own weblog where they can tell you what is going on in their lives and ofcourse how they are doing in the house but it´s up to them if they want it. I will discuss this with them when I get back from Spain. At the moment I am for one week in Madrid I will be back on the 8th of April. Tessa my friend is taking care of them these days.

Our House:

The House

The pets

The garden

First boy room still needs a bunkbed

Second boys room also needs 2 bunk beds

Boys bathroom

Kitchen

Living and diner room

Tessa´s and Lilian´s

Nieuw project.....mooie veranderingen (English version below)

Hallo allemaal,

Het is lang geleden!!!! Mijn weblog werkte niet goed door problemen met internet.
Het is druk geweest, veel veranderingen maar ik voel me super.

Ik wil jullie vertellen over mijn nieuwe project. Sinds oktober heb ik een tiener in huis omdat hij geen goed thuis had.Tijdens deze periode ben ik er achter gekomen dat er veel tieners zijn zonder een goed thuis. Ouders willen niet voor ze zorgen, de familie doet er niks aan en ze zijn niet instaat om voor zichzelf te zorgen.
Ze kunnen nog niet full time werken omdat ze hun school niet hebben afgemaakt en dus nog niet opzichzelf kunnen wonen.
Gelukkig met hulp van een vriendin en een buitenlandse organisatie kunnen 5 tieners weer naar school.
Ze zitten in hun laatste twee jaar voordat ze hun middelbare school diploma hebben.
Het was nogal een probleem om ze naar school te krijgen want ze zijn "te oud". Maar nu zijn ze erg blij weer terug te zijn en de school heeft ze ook met open armen opgevangen.
Nu de volgende stap is een paar van hen te helpen met een huis situatie. Zonder een goeie huis familie situatie zal het een moeilijkheid zijn om naar school te blijven gaan. Ik heb besloten met een vriendin (zij woont al 4 jaar in Zuid Afrika) een groter huis te huren waar we verblijf aan 6 jongens kunnen bieden. We kennen de jongens al en ze willen heel graag bij ons komen wonen. Al weten ze dat we huis regels zullen hebben. We zullen het stap voor stap moeten doen. We zullen ze 1 voor 1 in huis nemen om te zien hoe het gaat. De eerste tiener woont al bij ons en doet het heel goed.

Natuurlijk is het een hele uitdaging financieel gezien. 6 tieners zijn al een uitdaging......maar we zijn bereid om het te proberen omdat ze het waard zijn........ Natuurlijk kunnen we het niet met z´n tweetjes financieren en willen we vrienden en familie om hulp vragen.

Spullen die we nodig heben voordat de jongens komen:

1 Grote koelkast 250€
4 Gordijnen 85€
3 Stapel bedden 450€
12 Handdoeken 40€
12 Lakens 70€
12 Dekbed hoezen 100€

We hebben onze eigen meubels en keukenspullen, dit bij elkaar is genoeg voor ons allemaal

De vaste kosten per maand:
Huur 500€
Water electriciteit100€

Andere onkosten per maand

Boodschappen 400€
Kleding 25€ (spaarpot)
Medische kosten 30€ (spaarpot)

We zouden graag willen weten of jullie ons kunnen helpen met een maandelijks bedrag.........of eenmalige bijdragen. Alles is welkom en met jullie hulp zal het een succes worden.
Als je geintereseerd bent laat het me via email weten dan stuur ik de bank gegevens door.
Jullie hulp word zeer gewaardeerd,

My new project...beautiful changes

Hello to you all,
It has been a very long time !!!!! My weblog did not work well as I had some internet problems.
It has been busy, a lot of changes but I feel very good.

I would like to tell you about my new project. Since October I have been having a teen(er) boy in my house as he had no good place to stay.
During this time I noticed that there are a lot of teen(er) boys with bad house situations. Parents do not want to take care of them, the family does not do anything and they have to take care of theirself.
They can't have full time jobs as they did not finish school. It is very important that they first finish high school before they can be independent.

Luckily with help of my Dutch friend and an overseas foundation/organization we were able to send 5 teen(er) boys back to school. They are doing grade 11 which means only two more years. This has been very difficult as they are already "too old" to go back to school. But now they are very happy to have this change and the school was happy to have them.

Now the next step is providing, for some of them, a family house situation. Without a good family house situation it will be a big challenge to finish school. I decided with a friend (she lived here already for 4 years) to rent a bigger house where we can have in total 6 boys. We know the boys already and they are very happy to come and live with us. Although they know that we will have some rules. We will have to do it by steps. We will take them one by one to see how it goes. The first teen(er) boy is already living in the house and is doing very well.
Of course financially it will be a big challenge. 6 teen(er) boys is a challenge...but we are willing to give it a try because they deserve it.......of course we can not do this on our own so we would like to ask our friends and family for financial support.

The things we need to buy before more boys come in to the house:
1 Big Fridge 250€
4 Curtains 85€
3 Bunk beds 450€
12 Towels 40€
12 Sheets 70€
12 Bed Covers 100€

We have already furniture and kitchen supplies as we are using our stuff together.

Then we will have every month fixed cost:
Rent 500€
Water Electricity 100€ and some irregular costs (estimated) per month
Grossery 400€
clothing 25€ (will be safed)
medical 30€ (will be safed)
We would like to know if you can help us out with a monthly support ........or an onetime amount. Everything is welcome and with your help we can make it work.
Please if you are interested to help us out send me an email and I will give you the bank details.

Your help is very much appreciated,

The house is finished

Just want to share with you some photos from my friend. She has been building her house with help from some friends. She prepared some bricks herself and had some financial help from Holland. They helped her with details for the house. She is very proud of the house although for her it is not finished yet as she wants to make two rooms more. But for now she can live in the house and enoy her own property. We spend X-mas at her place. It was very special, my mom really enjoyed it

Yes I am still here

Hello everyone,

I have not been updating a lot lately on my weblog. I am very sorry. It´s not that nothing happened because a lot happened.

When I got back from spain the spanish girls came over. It was great having them around. We did a lot of things with them. You can read their experience at http://www.proyectosawubona.es/ (spanish) Also my mom is here. She has been working very hard. She loves the country as much as I do. But in two weeks she will be going back after three months and that will be very difficult for her.

In these three months a lot happened we had some fun experiences and sad ones.

We had another visitor Henk-Jan from Holland he joined us with our daily activities.

You can read his stories at his site http://www.thalente.nl/ (dutch)

The big sad thing that happened is a tornado passing one of the townships we work. It was on a friday in November. I was sick and sleeping on the couch when out site it just turned black like the night. My mom could see the tornado coming but I could not move. In the afternoon I received a call from my collegues that it was a disaster. They had never seen anything like it. You can read about it on our website http://www.khulanisimunye.org/English/Body_Eng.html (english).

Me and my mom helped out with the sorting all the donations that came from everywhere.

I did not go to the township because I was to afraid to see all the missery that a tornado left in 7 minutes. We did go to the funeral of the 8 people that died and it was my first time to see the houses destroyed. It was horrible and it made me sad.

Now the goverment is trying to help the people getting their lives together but it goes very slow.

Also last week they had another disaster, the place where a lot of people where based after the tornado, the youth centre got burned down. It is realy not fair having so many terrible things happening to a town that already lives in a challenging situation. The story just goes on..............

Update

I am back !!!! I was for a week in Madrid which I enjoyed very much. I have seen a lot of my friends. Was good to be back for a week.

Just before I left I did the last english course. We do it in blocks of six weeks. We made it a special course. We did games, educational games, and we danced. Just have a look at the pictures and you will see. Coming saturday we will start with the next block of six weeks.

While I was away we received our official registration number. So we can start looking for sponsors and registrate us on different kind of official websites.

The coming two weeks my friend Sonsoles is here with her friends, the girls created Proyecto Sawubona http://www.proyectosawubona.es/ They support us from Spain. Also my mom has joined and she, like me, already loves the people and the country.

This week we will promote the STAND UP TAKE ACTION please have a look at their website and maybe you can help as well. http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/
Join millions worldwide to STAND UP and TAKE ACTION against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals. Last year, over 43 million people Stood Up to demand that world leaders keep their promises to end poverty and inequality. We will be doing it on Friday at a Youth Center in Molweni, Saturday at a Lounge of a new organisation and Sunday, if the weather is not to bad, at our garden meeting.

Also this week our important aim is to help people to get their official documents, IDBOOKS, Birth certificates etc. As for one time this week on Friday the political part ANC organisted for the community a social worker who is coming to the community. This is much better for a lot of people as normally they have to travel (cost money) to get to the social welfare office. We try to make sure the people have the right documentation before Friday.

Well it´s another intresting week in this country. I feel good and I am ready for anything.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

My birthday was great !!!!!! With my new friends and in a new country.
On Friday morning I was surprised by Lizzy and Precious with a nice breakfast at my house. They also brought me flowers from the garden and a nice card. After that Lizzy and I went to Durban to arrange some paper work and as we had to wait we went to relax at the beach. It was a beautiful day in the morning but in the afternoon there was a lot of wind so we were glad to go back home. At night I invited my friends for dinner at a nice restaurant near our house. We had great food and a nice talk. We could not stay until very late as the Saturday was going to be a busy day.

Saturday night I went to the movies with some friends and we had diner.....was great and relaxing after a busy day.
Sunday I took Precious and here children to do some surprise things. They did not know where we were going. Once Precious told me that she would like to take her children to the airport. They wanted to see a airplane close by. They always see it in the air and they do not know how big it is. So I took them to the airport, it was really fun. Than we went to the beach. I had brought my picnic bag with bread and drinks. The children knew the beach but Precious never went their with her children. It was a great birthday present for me to see them playing and enjoying each other. After that it was ice cream time and after a long beautiful day we went back home.

I received a lot of phone calls, text messages and emails for my birthday.........thank you all for being my friend, new friends, old friends anywhere in the world.