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,