CONGRATULATIONS, CRISTINA!

Cristina Kessler, award winning children’s book author as well as friend and supporter of Hope for Limpopo can now add another notch to her impressive ‘winning’ belt. Cristina recently attended the 2011 Florida Writers Association Annual Conference as a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. By the conclusion of the 3-day conference Cristina had been awarded First Place for her genre of unpublished Travel books. Congratulations, Cristina! We look forward to the first of your many published adult books. Cristina and her husband Joe have been longtime friends of VMS director Sue-Anne Cook and TVEP director Fiona Nicholson as well as sponsors to VMS students. To learn more about Cristina and her published children’s books please click here.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

As we last reported, our much-anticipated 2012 Beetles arrived on Thursday, October 13th midst a flurry of media attention. Fathers and Sons of West Springfield, MA graciously offered to purchase the red Beetle so that much of the proceeds could be donated to Hope for Limpopo. Once again we must express our gratitude to Oprah, Volkswagen of America and Fathers and Sons Volkswagen dealership for assisting us in our efforts to aid the impoverished children of Vhutshilo Mountain School and the women and children survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence in the Limpopo Province. Although we are grateful for all of the recent publicity, we are anxious to refocus the attention on our South African friends and HFL supporters whose consistent assistance makes the existence of Hope for Limpopo possible.

And now the bad news. Unfortunately we’ve just learned from our friend Sue-Anne Cook, director of Vhutshilo Mountain School, that she is being forced to make preparations to downscale the school for next year. A newsletter from Suzi explaining the reasoning behind this drastic measure is forthcoming but suffice it to say that the South African Department of Education (DoE) has been obstructive and uncooperative when it comes to adequately educating and supporting these impoverished children. We will publish more detailed information very soon but please understand that Hope for Limpopo has no intention of relinquishing our own efforts to help Vhutshilo Mountain School and the children we have come to love as our own. Thanks to your never-ending support we will simply redouble our efforts.

The Cars Are Coming!

If you’ve been following us, then you know that in November, 2010 because of our involvement with Hope for Limpopo,Inc., we were chosen to be ‘Audience Guests’ on Oprah’s last gift-giving show. Beyond being showered with lavish gifts, most of which we either gave away or sold with the profits going to HFL, we met the most amazing people whose ‘goodness’ and ‘compassion’ astounded us. Last week we got the news that the long awaited arrival of our all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle was imminent. Today we are pleased to announce that the national 2012 Beetle delivery event coordinated by Volkswagen of America will occur on Thursday, October 13th. Coinciding with this event, Fathers & Sons of West Springfield, MA and Volkswagen of Northampton, MA will be presenting us with the keys to these fabulous vehicles. We are grateful to these two dealerships for their pledge to bring attention to Hope for Limpopo and the many needs of our impoverished friends in South Africa. Father’s & Sons has offered to purchase Nancy’s specially chosen red Beetle, proceeds of which will go to Hope for Limpopo; the check presentation will also occur on Thursday October 13th. Please feel free to contact us or the dealership directly if you are interested in owning and driving this fabulous piece of television history.

Tshilidzini Special School

Classroom for visually impaired children

Jenna Praschma, Sector Manager for TVEP’s Access to Justice and Trauma Services, brought us to the Tshilidzini Special School, located in the village of Shayandima. Tshildzini Special School, created in 1971, is a boarding school for hearing, visual and/or physically disabled children, many of whom are from impoverished families unable to afford specialized treatment. The school is currently at capacity with 483 learners.

While we were quite impressed by the well groomed grounds, dedicated staff and well behaved students, we were dismayed to hear that the school receives government support of only R15/day for each student which equals $1.81 per student per day. Keep in mind that this is a boarding school which not only houses the students but feeds them 3 meals a day AND educates them. Most of us in the US couldn’t buy breakfast for that amount of money.

The students and teachers alike welcomed us into the classrooms and demonstrated resourceful learning/teaching techniques with the limited supplies available to them. Mr. Luies, Deputy Principal, admitted that he has physical therapy equipment languishing in a storeroom for lack of qualified personnel to operate it. We witnessed visually impaired students pounding away on antiquated Braille typewriters and no specialized auditory equipment for the auditory impaired. Updated equipment and specialized professionals (OT/PT/SLP/TVI/O&M) are non-existent. School supplies are meager.

It came as no surprise to us that the school was unfamiliar with what various worldwide community service organizations such as the Peace Corps have to offer. The school personnel are stretched thin and simply have no time nor resources to access this information. Hope for Limpopo will make an effort to network with TSS but unfortunately we are also stretched thin at this time.

If you know of service organizations which might be willing to fund raise for TSS or if you have the capability to research grants and are able to complete the grant application then please contact us. Unfortunately we are unable to apply for these grants ourselves at this time but would be more than happy to assist you with the necessary information.