Sunday, October 26, 2014

New Mattresses Have Arrived!

The New Mattresses Have Arrived!

The children of the Tshilidzini Special School (TSS) face many challenges every day of their lives. The school houses and educates 481 hearing, sight and physically impaired and impoverished children from the Limpopo Province in South Africa. The daily government stipend of $1.34 per student does not go far when the needs include food, housing, clothing and education. When we last visited the school it was in desperate need of repair and school supplies were meager but the staff was dedicated and the children were beaming. The dormitory was undeniably dismal with its urine stained mattresses reeking of incontinence and misery. Consequently, when the Headmaster requested new mattresses for the children, HFL quickly set out to accommodate them. Our aggressive research uncovered waterproof, hospital grade mattresses and although the price of $100 per mattress was steep, we knew that these eager pupils deserved a good night’s sleep if they were to be prepared to be attentive learners. HFL followers matched a $2500 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation and the first 50 mattresses were purchased, delivered, and gratefully received. Though we have a long way to go to provide adequate sleeping arrangements for the remaining 431 children, we are grateful to all who helped us begin to meet this urgent need.

Please consider helping us to meet the goal of supplying mattresses for every needy child. If you would like to purchase a mattress or share the purchase of a mattress for one of the TSS students, please contact us.

Thank You.

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See HFL blogs at http://hopeforlimpopo.blogspot.com/.
Visit HFL website at http://www.hopeforlimpopo.org/.
Contact us at info@hopeforlimpopo.org.

Unloading New Mattresses
New Mattresses!
Old Ones!

Monday, October 20, 2014

One Small Step

In August we challenged our HFL friends and followers to seek the smallest effort they could make in the name of “Ubuntu” (caring, sharing, and being in harmony…) Thank you to all who responded. We’ve heard that some of you ‘liked’ us on Facebook; some encouraged friends to join our mailing list; one young follower shared our HFL story with his classmates; another posted our website at the “water cooler” and one faithful follower is considering making an “inexpensive craft” with schoolchildren … a beaded bracelet or bookmark with HFL logo and an explanation of ‘ubuntu’. We’ve enjoyed hearing about “The smallest effort one might trade for the feeling of Ubuntu.” Savor these efforts and you’ll soon look forward to similar small moments!