Christmas Blessings!

The spirit of Christmas has reached Gentlecare. Recently a group from Firewood Ministries in Worcester walked through our doors and bringing a little of the Christmas magic with them. For some of our patients this was the first Christmas they’ve ever experienced and what a wonderful Christmas it was, smiles and laughter all round!

Thank-you to Rosa & Peter van der Berg and Joan & Dupie du Plessis as they continue to walk for Jesus.

We were also able to hand out some of the wheel chairs we received from Dave Woodhouse and the Northcliff  Rotary to the local clinic. Sr. Raadt received the chairs on behalf of the community. They will at least also now share in the delights of Christmas with proper wheels.

Our latest blessing came in a tiny package with a very sore broken knee. Liza joins us from the hospital who have said there is nothing they can do to help her. It is now up to us to keep her as comfortable as possible... and so the work goes on.

Thanks again to you all for your support, encouragement and prayers.

May you have a very beautiful and blessed Christmas!

From Strength to Strength

After last weeks good news this week there is still more... and MORE!

Firstly our returning volunteer Henderike, is officially back at Gentlecare and has been a huge help.

Granny Olga, who has fought tooth and nail to stay out of the Jacuzzi finally took the plunge (excuse the pun) and when she did she enjoyed it so much we can hardly get her out!

Olga and the rest of our patients are now able to walk the mile from the Jacuzzi, into the massage chair and then into a clean, soft egg shell mattress (thank-you Besom UK).

 

To add to all this joy we got a wonderful donation from the International Rotary Project Rushmoor (UK) Northcliff (Jhb). We received 19 wheelchairs/buggies for our patients and community. It is such a huge gift to our humble community.

A Big thanks to Dave Wood house for making this possible and to all our donors! Without them we would not be able to better the lives of our patients in such a beautiful way!

... and while we are saying thank-you J Thank-you to Alexandra Eberle in Joburg for supporting us by ordering some T-shirts and bookmarks!

Love, Recognised!!

This is a week for celebrations!

Ivonne and Tommie were invited to Cape Town by Inyathelo where Ivonne was awarded with
The Inyathelo Award for Women in Philanthropy

This award is in recognition of "someone who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in her personal giving and in her ability to inspire and motivate others to contribute financially to supporting social development in South Africa".

Please visit their website for more details on this prestigious award:

http://www.inyathelo.org.za/programmes-22

Ivonne and Tommie felt greatly honoured by the award giving thanks to our heavenly Father for this honour as well as the Inyathelo members and staff for recoginising their work and dedication. They enjoyed a wonderful evening and were pampered at the Grand Westin Arabella hotel in Cape Town.

They won a beautiful framed Certificate

And the promise of assistance to link up with companies like De Beers, Anglo American and Discovery Health. Let's hope and continue to pray that this materialises into something which greatly benefits Gentlecare and each of their patients. 

the latest Gentlecare product
beautiful handmade Bookmark
email Ivonne to place you order! 

Karin... our little miracle

This week has been both a sad and miraculous week!

Sadly one of our patients passed away on Saturday and we had to put all the necessary arrangements in place for the burial. It is always sad when we loose a patient but sometimes death comes as a mercy when we remember that the love we have given them at Gentlcare is only a taste of the deeper love and peace they have gone to rest in.

But, with our tears of sorrow came tears of joy.

Ivonne fetched Karin the 16/8/2009 in Merriman, she was in a very bad way. She only weighed 12kg at the age of 13. She was unable to walk and her legs were stiffly bent.

She couldn't talk

She could only eat with her hands. 

She had to learn how to eat, drink and taste food.  It took a long time before she distinguished between different tastes. 

 She could not even sleep on a bed, she would look lost and afraid.

But over time she has gone from strength to strength

 and with lots of daily physio exercises Karin finally took her first steps!

All the prayers and hard work has finally paid off and we are all truly overjoyed.

"And he took a child and set her in the midst of them and when he took her in his arms he said unto them, whomever shall receive one such children in my name, recieveth me: and whomever shall recieve me, receiveth not me, but him who sent me. 
                                                                                                               Mark 9:36-37

Our hearts are filled with joy for her, she is long and skinny but too sweet for words.

This has been a week of joy and thankfulness. Thankfulness not only for Karin's miracle but also to Besom, an organisation in London who has kindly responded to our wish list and donated us new pots and pans, egg shell mattresses and wonderful massaging chairs to spoil our lovely patients in.

We couldn't be happier or more blessed. THANK- YOU BESOM
Thank-you to all of you following our blog, your support and kind words have been deeply appreciated!

MARCHING ON...with a production line!

Every new week at Gentlecare brings its own surprises and challenges and this week was no exception.

 This 18 year old joined us 4 months ago. His mind had been damaged by a life of difficult family circumstances and drug abuse. His body broken from neglect and his face swollen from malnutrition. When he first arrived his condition had us very concerned.

But, WHERE THERE IS LIFE... THERE IS HOPE!

 

 

Over the past 4 months, with the right food and some tender loving care, as his body began to heal a handsome young man emerged.

Now, ready to rejoin society, he says his goodbyes to the Gentlecare staff.

We wish him a long and blessed life!

 Illness is not the only challenge we face at Gentlecare.

High levels of unemployment in Britstown means that the tragedies we see come in the many packages of poverty. Here, a sick  mommy sits on the floor of her house with her children. The blanket is all they own. What would it feel like to be a sick mother with nothing at all?

We at Gentlecare know we can only do so much with the resources we have. We know that the battlefield is vast and terrible and that if we are to survive we must pick our battles. But, when we are faced with that same struggle in our neighbours and their survival is somehow tangled in the same battle, how can we not fight for them too?   We cannot always do much, but what we can, we do.

 This week we were blessed with a very exciting surprise! Henderike, a past Gentlecare volunteer from the Netherlands, has decided to return. She has already given us three months of her love and labour and has decided to come back and rejoin our team at the end of November for a few more months. We look forward to her arrival!

 

Lastly but certainly not least, in order for Gentlecare to keep caring for our beautiful patients we rely, not only on funding from generous individuals but also on the sales of our line of home-made products.

Here are a few examples of the things we make.  

Hand-made bath products: soaps, bath salts, lotions 







                                                                T- shirts


 



                                                                                       Hand-made Cards for any Occassion





                                                                  Hand-made Angel Bracelets

As Britstown is such a tiny town and very poor, we must try to send our products into the cities and onto the shelves of craft-shops. Unfortunately, this has not been an easy task. If you have any suggestions on how we could go about this or who we could approach we would definitely appreciate the advice. Similarly, if you would like to know more or support us personally with regard to these products please send us an email or leave a comment. We cannot always do much, but this really helps us do what we do!

UNMASKING SORROW

‘Then a woman said, ‘Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

                                                                                                                  Kahlil Gibran

Over the years Gentlecare has welcomed patient after patient, from small cold shacks into the warmth of their orange and fuschia care centre. With every new patient they again experience the pain of another life who has known far more betrayal, rejection and sorrow than most would even dare to imagine.

 Yet here, in perhaps what would be the most vulnerable time of their lives they are loved and fed, they are cleaned and gently tucked in every night to rest in the knowledge that they are totally safe and without debt.  It is a time when, as they are facing the fear of the tragedy of their own painful deaths, that they also experience the joy of an unconditional love they may have never before known. This week we unmask the sorrow to focus on the joy of some of the more fun times and beautiful days at Gentlecare.



This patient is one of Gentlecare’s miracles who came in broken and has left healed.

Here our wonderful carers, Marie, Beverly and Liezel celebrate their 3^rd Birthday at the center.

We are always looking for extra volunteers to help out at the centre. Every now and then we are blessed with an international volunteer and over the years those who have joined us have both brought and taken something special from the Gentlecare experience.

 

    Being silly,

                having fun.

 Spoiling patients in the new Jacuzzi

Olga, who arrived unwell, has no family and nowhere to go. Since she has been at Gentlecare she has begun improve and though her legs give her some trouble, she enjoys doing her bit to help out. Folding the washing is a constant job!

Thank-you Olga! 

But sometimes patients don’t get to Gentlecare in time. This week Tommie built a coffin for an unidentified lady who had been found dead and, without family to claim her body, had been left in the morgue for six months. Gentlecare took it upon themselves to at least give her the dignity of a proper burial.