Savannah's Bags of Hope

Thank you Growth Group for the amazing package you sent!!!! You helped a lot of kids and showed God's love to a lot of special people. Thank you so much for your generosity.

First thing we did was to share some of the stuffed animals with an orphanage nearby. The kids LOVED them! We also gave them some of your beautiful hats.

 

 

 

 

We also were able to share some of what you donated with our Digital Closets mission with Hope of Glory. More hats and stuffed animals went to them and they were thrilled. We wish you could've been there to see the happy faces of the children! It was difficult to take pictures while everything was going on but here are a few of the many sweet faces you blessed.

Then, the final phase of your donations: Savannah's Bags of Hope! In each bag we were able to put in a jacket or sweatshirt, hat, gloves, suntan lotion, food, gospel tract, note from Savannah, water, stuffed animal and a few more things. Without you those bags wouldn't have been so full of such quality and thoughtful items! Below you'll see pictures of Savannah getting the supplies organized, the final product, and a few pictures of some of the people you helped. It was GREAT to have those wonderful bags you sent as well. Thanks so much!

 

It's really hard taking pictures when we give out the bags because we don't want them to feel bad or make a weird impression. But oh how we wish that we timed it right to show you a picture we failed to capture. This precious little homeless boy in the two pictures above melted our hearts. When he found the stuffed animal you sent inside the bag, he turned around with the biggest most beautiful smile you will ever see. We wanted to scoop him up and take him home. It gave us joy to see that your generosity gave him a bright spot in a dark life. God bless you!

These two gentlemen are an interesting pair. One has no legs and is confined to a wheel chair while the other pushes him around. The able bodied man never asks for anything and if anything is received he always gives it to his friend in the wheel chair. You don't know what people's real stories are but there is something about these two that pull at our heart strings.

This picture is hard to see, but this is a sweet lady named Precious and her little girl. They are sitting sort of in the middle of the picture by the sign posts in the middle. Precious has the warmest smile and she always calls Savannah by name and the little girl just lights up when she sees Savannah. They are almost always on this street corner begging for food. You have blessed them with warm hats, gloves, sun screen, a stuffed animal a gospel tract in their language and all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thank you!!! 

 

 

 We have a few more bags to give away over the next few days but we wanted to share the impact of your donations. It's hard to capture pictures at just the right time or even at all, but please know that the love of God has been shared with dozens of children and adults. On their behalf we say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Tshepo Ya Bana

It took us about 45 minutes to get to Tshepo Ya Bana from our home. We were able to take highway all the way to the game reserve.

Just before you get to the game reserve there is a small informal settlement (squatter camp).

Entering the game reserve through a gate.

Some great signs . . .

Once you are in the reserve and make the turn needed to get to the orphanage it is nothing but dirt roads.

While driving to the orphanage we saw giraffe . . .

Wild boars or wart hogs . . .

Kudu . . .

Ostrich . . .

Some kind of elk or antelope . . .

And here we are at our turn. 94, Tshepo Ya Bana.

 

It's not fancy once you make the turn onto the long driveway, but it's great.

This is Jonna  . . .

 

and this is Darin. They are the house parents for the orphanage. (These pictures were taken in the play room.)

They have two kids. Their daughter (bottom left) is 6 years old, her name is Jori. They also have a son named Tyson, he is 9.

These are the current volunteers. All from Holland, but all speak English really well.  The one in orange on the left is Anya. She will be there until December so Gabby will meet her.

At the orphanage are two "Mama's".  This is what South Africa calls all older women.  If I need to ask an older woman something in the store I say, "Excuse me, Mama." :)  Anyhoo, this is one of the sweet Mama's in the kitchen. If they are super old, you call them Granny's.

This is the other sweet Mama.  She is holding a precious little 2 year old who has cerebral palsy.  She is there because her mom was very young when she had her and the orphanage is trying to help this mom by taking care of her little girl while she finishes school.

Here is a bedroom for the boys.

Here is a bedroom for the toddlers and infants.

This is the kitchen table where you, Gabby and Sam, will have dinner.

This is the family room. Jonna, Darin and their 2 kids live in this house with the orphans. There are typically 6 to 10 orphans at one time.  The volunteers almost entirely care for the orphans while Jonna and Darin manage the house and other responsibilities.

This is the play room.

A major cuddle muffin.

The little girl in this volunteer's lap was healthy until about 18 months old when she had an unexplained virus or stroke that gave her palsy symptoms. She is mentally perfect, but her muscles are not.  She is in therapy to relearn everything. She is now about 3 I think.

This volunteer has been here just one week so far and doing great.  All the volunteers said they LOVE serving at Tshepo Ya Bana.  It will be hard for them to leave as they will miss these little ones.  These orphans love all the volunteers, but since volunteers are in and out they don't necessarily speak of them often after they leave because some one new is there to love them. So enjoy them while you can and know that God sees your service in His name and He is glorified!

 

This little cutie was adopted today! It was awesome to see her go home and have a family.

This is her new Mommy.

OK, lets check out the grounds. This is the house from the outside, basically taken from the backyard.

The back of the house is on the left.

This is the front yard and driveway. There is a gate to get into the grounds. Darin and Jonna both said it is very safe, especially since they introduced lions, rhino, cheetah and elephants to the park. Nobody is stupid enough to walk around the area and try to rob anybody with predators on the loose! The entire Tshepo Ya Bana grounds is completely fenced in and safe from the animals.

 

This is a little grilling area.

Some tables and a playground.

More of the playground . . .

 

 

I love this little monkey.  They all just warm your heart instantly!

This is their pool. It doesn't look great now because they are draining it for the winter, but they said the volunteers love to use it in the summer.

Across from the playground is a lot of space. They have a big blanket down for the infants and the little ones with special needs.

They have a great garden where they grow lots of fruits and veggies.

Misc. buildings on the grounds. Not sure who lives in them but they are orphanage property.

 

Going for a walk.  They have a great routine. Breakfast, walks, playing, snacks, lunch, naps, more playing, more snacks, dinner, baths etc.  The volunteers basically care for the kids from 6am to 7pm with alternating shifts and breaks.  Sounds like you follow/get trained by another volunteer for a day or two and on day 3 you are on your own.

from the playground there is a little walk to the volunteers living quarters.

Here it is.

They hope by September to have this patio remodeled into a bedroom and bathroom so they can house 4 volunteers instead of 3.

Then back here behind the volunteer house they will put a new patio.

Here are two pictures of the same room. Two volunteers share this room.

Bathroom . . .

Living room . . .

View out the living room window. In the morning you will often see giraffe, zebra and all kinds of animals.

 

Kitchen. They provide basics, but if you want yogurt or basically anything besides what they provide you will need to shop and buy it.

 

Anya again, her room is smaller and sleeps one volunteer.

Then you walk back through the path . . .

And are back to the orphanage house. Playground is on the left, pool on the right.

To drive out, you are back on the dirt roads . . .

And once we were on the main road to the game reserve gate, we saw a wildebeest. Exciting!

 I was able to ask Jonna (and Robb asked Darin) a lot of questions.  I will compile what we learned in a pdf and send that along soon.  After asking some questions, as the day has gone on, I have new questions and I will share those with you on the pdf as well.

Overall, Robb and I could totally picture Gabby there. It's simple and modest but very peaceful and very full of love. Oh, the head head person is named Chris, her husband recently passed away. It is her property if I understand correctly. She and her husband adopted 4 boys who never received a home. They are now teenagers and live with Chris on the property as she helps oversee everything.  There is also one maintenance man.  We felt very safe and really enjoyed the volunteers.

Well, that's all for now. Again, I'll send more info from the questions we asked soon, as well as other thoughts, hopefully in the next few days. Thanks for your patience.

Blessings,
Katie and Robb