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!