Balls from Bendi !

Such fun at play time today !!!

We now have 22 members !! How awesome is that ? Thank-you all so much for joining up ..it is wonderful to know you are all out there supporting and caring !!  I managed to set up a PayPal button and have received some very generous and unexpected love from USA !! I am waiting for a whole PILE of books and puzzles ordered from the Cornelius family's wonderful donation and Brenda (Bendi) Howell's donation has been used for 15 lovely bright balls ! I delivered these today..SUCH excitement !! The kids were so thrilled they even had their outside playtime extended for a while !! The squeals of delight must have been heard way across the sea to Bendi's ears !!  You guys are amazing ..you squeezed my heart and your contribution to uplifting the lives of these little cherubs is immeasurable ♥♥ A big  Thank-you also to Sandy for paying to have the book plates printed on sticky labels ..this will make life so much easier !! You are a star XX. Local boy 2 year old Noah Stowe donated 10 of his books and some of his toys and crayons ..THANK-YOU Noah..you are the man !!! The kids LOVED them !! Howard donated a gas cylinder !! Thank-you Howard..the kitchen Mama will be so excited ..you have made her life a lot easier !

A face-lift !

I am NOT letting go !!

The book corner is filling up slowly and it gives me such a thrill to see this happening ..I was overwhelmed today to receive a HUGE parcel from the Book Depository with  an unexpected wonderful gift of 15 brand new beautiful books from Adrian , Melissa Charlotte & Sophie Tynan from Brisbane !! I was blown away by this and the kids are going to be over the moon !! THANK-YOU wonderful "other" Tynans ♥..(your huge hearts must be a Tynan thing !!) That tatty old white book-case was given a gorgeous red face-lift and is now looking very spiffy..those new books are going to look wonderful in it !!

Enkosi Bendi !!

Thank-you so much to Kevin for his fabulous support ♥..he has organized a monthly stop-order which will swell our seed fund ! Your contribution towards filling all those tummies everyday will be priceless..Enkosi Kev !!

Thank-you Bendi ~ you made us so happy !!

Sooo happy !!!

WOW !! All these for US ???

The continued support from Marianne at 43 Air school of paper and craft stuff is so appreciated ..thank-you !!! We are slowly but surely making a difference ! Thank-you each and everyone of you for caring.
Love Kay xxx

New Books & Chocolate chip cookies !

Enkosi !!

15 new members !! This is so heart warming !! Thank-you all of you so so much for your support ! Thanks for all the comments too.. A Paypal button is a great idea Hoozie ..I need to go into that ! Aww Dixie..what a sweet offer ..the postage may be prohibitive though..you will have to check first ! Sarah you are an angel ..you have now been put in charge of the music corner !! Cara..you make my heart sing and it is YOU who are an inspiration always XXX Biggest thanks Sandy
for designing the little label to stick in front of the donated books..it is perfect and the same colours as our flag!

Thanks so much to Tom & Alison Barret who came to visit the school with me yesterday. We had such a lovely morning , Tom did the serious stuff going through the finances with Rejoice while Alison and I played with the kids ~I went earlier to be there for "snack-time" armed with a boxful of very oddly shaped home-made choc-chip cookies and Boy..were they popular !! But the BIGGEST treat was 20 brand new beautiful books donated by my lovely Aussie family ! The little one's were thrilled and you can see from the pics the joy that they brought ! There was also a box of Farmyard nursery books for the babies from Megan (my cute granddaughter) as part of her 2nd birthday present ..thank-you Meggie XXXX I am determined to fill those shelves and this is such a great start. I was thinking if any of our lovely overseas supporters would like to donate books they could do so through  www.bookdepository.co.uk where the postage to us is FREE !! Or www.abebooks.com have very cheap second hand books which counter balances the expensive postage . My postal address is P.O.Box 9 Bathurst 6166 South Africa  .

THANK-YOU Tynan Family  !

Next week we will have a meeting with Tom to discuss the finances and what can be done. I was happy to see that they have a valid fund raising number so we won't run into any trouble there . He looked at the roof and the leaking in the back class room and will be getting someone to give us a quote on repairing that . At the moment the cook is really battling as only one stove is in working ~ they have a big gas burner but the  cylinder was stolen during a break in last year ( they have since had Sky alarms instal an alarm system) so we need to be on the look out for a large gas cylinder and some-one who can look at the stove ? PLEASE keep collecting magazines, cardboard cartons , anything the kids can use during craft time like wool, glue, fabric scraps, beads etc etc . The Fantasy corner is pretty bare so any thing there would be wonderful !

Playing games outside

20 lovely new books !

LOVING the new books !

Window art !

Lunch time !

Bookplates designed by Sands !

Happiness is a lovely new book !

Ooooh..loving these cookies !!

YUMMO !!

Enjoy the pics and a HUGE thank-you again for all your support . Love Kay XX

Lookeeeee !! I have created a Blog !!!  (and am feeling ever so smart and savvy and pleased with myself !)
The whole idea of the blog was born after a visit to a very special little school !
A little while ago my friend Jeanne and I visited the Siphucule Educare Centre ( Siphucule is a Xhosa word meaning "To Uplift") a rural nursery school located in the Nolukhanyo township just outside Bathurst .We went just to see whether there was a "need"  and discovered that there very definitely IS !The centre currently cares for 80 little ones between the ages of 1 and 5 including feeding them 2 full meals a day! We were welcomed with open arms by Rejoice Krala and shown around the little school with pride . They have 80 little ones from a year old until school going age and they provide them with a cooked breakfast and lunch every day . They are subsidized by the Social Development Services in Grahamstown for R15.00 per child..but this is only for 60 kids..and only for the days that they are present ! This means during school holidays..rainy days or any other reason the child isn't there they don't get any funding ! The parents are supposed to pay R50.00 a month for school fees as well but very often can't even afford this. Out of this money they feed the kids, pay 8 salaries ( 5 teachers a cook a cleaner and a gardener) plus still have to pay for the day to day running of the school ..buy all the equipment , stationery etc and pay for telephones electricity and auditing of their books ! I asked Rejoice to send me a list of wants and needs ..she  did this the very same day but had to walk to the Corner shop fax it as their telephone has been cut off  by Telkom due to non-payment . ( they are a month in arrears).
 Jeanne and I were very impressed with the garden where they try and grow as much as they can..it was looking a bit sad the day we went because the recent rain kind of washed it away !! Rejoice buys seeds from Pick n Pay depending on whether there is any change left after buying their staples for the week..
Okay..not so smart any more..I tried to insert Rejoice's fax here but didn't succeed !! (I hope to get better at this LOL)This is her list ( I added the stuff in brackets) :
Food (mealiemeal, oats, Morevite, milk, brown sugar,soup,Soyamince, pilchards )
Fruit and veggies (esp peas, beans, onions,carrots, cabbage, spinach )
Seeds and plants
Educational toys
Dolls,cars
Story books ( they have about 7 for 80 kids  )
Blankets
Pots
Floor tiles/ Mat (the flooring at the moment is ancient peeling lino ..)
Outdoor equipment (swings, see-saws, new sand for the sand-pit etc)
Stipend for 8 staff members
Computer ( the only thing in working order is a photocopier ..the computer and printer are broken ?)
Renovation to the building (The roof is leaking in the back class room and roof sheets were blown off in last weeks winds)
Waste material (egg boxes, yoghurt cups, cardboard cartons etc)
Paper for drawing ( HUGE thanks to Marianne at 43 Air school for saving this for us !!)
Crayons

..........and the list could just go on and on !!!

I am hoping through this blog to keep everyone interested in helping updated and really really need your very valuable input and support !PLEASE leave comments and join up !! If you are keen to help in any way ..be it collecting your waste materials/magazines etc  , sharing contacts, coming up with more concrete fund raising ideas ( I have never done this before and feel a bit overwhelmed by how much help they could do with !!) ..sorting out your jumble ..WHATEVER ..apart from loving you forever .. I will be more than happy to collect and store stuff !
 MY mission to fill those forlorn little book shelves and have decided that from now on no more birthday presents for my nearest and dearest (don't know how happy they are about that HAHAHAHA !!! ) but will be donating  books or seeds on their behalf to the school instead ! My lovely girls Kirsty and Fran in CapeTown have both had birthdays recently and forfeited gifts for carrot and beans seeds ! Thank-you girls..there will be lots of happy tummies saying Happy Birthday to you !!
 I have a surplus of lettuce in my garden at the moment  and am very pleased to announce that we sold some at the Farmers Market this morning and our "Seed Fund " now has it's first R60.00 !! Woo-hoo !!!!
PLEASE forward this link to anyone you know who you think would like to join our group
Big hugs ..Kay