Postal Details

Hi
Details of our postal address were requested but I'm sorry I don't know how to reply to a posted comment so the best I can do for now is to add a post with our details on. Hope this works for you.

ISAIAH'S UMUZI WOTHANDO
c/o Bulawayo Baptist Church
cnr George Silundika Street & 2nd Avenue
Bulawayo
Zimbabwe

Thanks for your kind offer.
God bless, luv 'n' friendship in the Lord
Sis'Bee

Dec'07 Update - I.U.W.

Dear Family & Friends of Isaiah’s Umuzi Wothando

Yesterday was the start of another Year and again I have myself sitting here contemplating things which should already have been said and done, and stuff which still needs to be included in a newsletter update.

Of course, by now you have all come to realise that my updates are not as regular as I wish they would be, but nonetheless I hope they are worth waiting for. I also hope that you have settled down in a comfortable chair, with a pot of tea, coz a cup won’t be enough, and that this news update gives you as much enjoyment reading as id did for me typing it.

A revelation for the new day and the start of the new year, with all these wishes for a good year being sent through cyber-space I found myself wondering if it would be a good year or would not such good things happen! My conclusion was that there is no such thing as a good year or a bad one, in fact it’s more a reality of how best you use the opportunities you are given. My pray for all, is that we make the best of the opportunities we have and are given and that it may be one full of fantastic memories and precious moments, however you spend it just take care and enjoy life in 2008.

Since my last update so much has happened, there have been changes to our family and always we are experiencing great excitement in watching the children grow and progress. Of course we have so many people to thank along the way for so many special parts are played by each one of you in your support for this project. I hope I manage to capture and relay as much of the excitement as we share with the children each and every day.

The first week of December saw a vast number of changes at the home and it’s kinda hard to know where to start. Keep reading and you’ll figure out why I say that !

To start with … on a happy note, Moses moved from our home to his new Home with Martin and Mercy. We are pleased that he is settling well into his new environment and we wish them all the very best with their new roles as a family. Martin and Mercy, there will be good times and there will be tough times but just remember a parent never fails, they just create good learning experiences for others! Enjoy every moment you have together as a family!

Khanyile spent Christmas with Martin, Mercy and Moses and at this point we are not sure when he will be re-intergrated with his family. May we ask you to please pray for a smooth and steady transition when the time comes for him to move. It will be a difficult time for both Khanyile and for Martin and his family too but we trust in God knowing He knows the plans He has for Khanyile’s life. May Khanyile always know the love we shared with him and times we will always treasure, when God gave us the privilege of caring for him.

Sadly in we said good-bye to Janina Moore on the 3rd of December, her having dedicated involvement with the home since August 2006. To cut a long story short Nina worked as our House Mother on a volunteer basis. As a Polish National, and therefore a “Foreigner” in this country Nina continually had to renew her work permit with the Immigration Office in Harare. Unfortunately this time upon application for renewal the Officer did not extend her permit and was not at obligation to give any reason for his denial – so of course he did not ! She was simply advised to leave and if she wishes she could reapply after March 2008. So Nina caught the train to Victoria Falls where she then made her way up to Kathu in Zambia, where she had been offered a counselling post at an orphange there. We wish her the best of success in her new endeavours and we look forward to keeping in touch with her. We thank you Nina for your dedication and your love for the children of Isaiah’s Umuzi Wothando, we will miss you !

Nina had a special boy at the Home – Jeremiah (known as Baby Chipo at Mpilo). He was possibly 3 months old at the time when he came to our home with all the other children in October, under nourished and extremely thin. Due to his physical weakness his vocal muscles were under-developed and he was unable to “cry”, he would grunt and groan when needing attention, almost as if he was in great pain. Nina focused on Jeremiah day in and day out, with regular hourly feeds, 24/7. Within a week incredible progress could be seen in this little boy - his once prominently protruding ribs were now not as visible and he could now cry when hungry or wet. In a week he went from lying aimlessly to moving his arms and legs and even feeling his hands, he begun to smile and the morning Nina left she told me Jeremiah gave her the biggest smile ever – as if he was saying thank you for taking such special care of him. Jeremiah is a placid baby, and continues to make steady progress.

The first week of December saw another baby girl being placed into our care. Bridget was found abandoned, days old, in a pit and brought to our home after spending a week at Mpilo on anti-biotic treatment for any possible infection. She is a strong little girl, feeding well and of course making good progress. As well as our little girl we also received a little boy – Sibusiso, also abandoned at a few days old. With the excitement of Christmas upon us I haven’t had much time to get to know the new babies but it seems they are settled and doing well.

In the second week of December I went with my husband Kevin to Gabarone, Botswana to visit some family there, and to take a break from work. It’s been a hectic year with all the country’s unstability and my mind required some refreshing to say the least. I love to browse the shops and as you can imagine living in Zimbabwe right now has seriously deprived me of that ! So it was a fantastic week away for me.

I have to mention here I have really special friends, most of whom who greatly support the work I do with these children, and they are a constant encouragement for me. A couple of friends who knew I was going away offered to contribute some money towards buying Christmas gifts for the children so not only did I have the blessing of time away with family but I was also able to do some exciting shopping ! To quote a friend of a friend who kindly donated a substantial amount of money “We each give according to our ability. Remember the widow's mite... We give because it is our responsibility to do so. It is a privilege, and it brings us great joy." Thank you to each and every one of you for sharing your blessings with us. And to all our friends who made Christmas such a wonderful treat for our children I say thank you again – you will never know the joy you brought to that little life by the smallest thought or token you gave.

At this point I need to share though that although I had a fair amount of money to spend I was very concious of being responsible with the money – I strongly heard God’s spririt remind me the importance of financial responsibility. I believe God always provides financially for our needs and I truly believe that if we are not responsible with it we will never get His fullest financial blessings. So I didn’t just buy for the sake of buying, I thought carefully of all that we needed, and shopped around getting the best value for our money. It was sooooo much fun! Joyce, our Matron know has a digital camera complete with battieries & charger and memory cards so when I’m away they can still capture those precious moments.

You will probably find this email jumps from one topic to the next, and it may not make any sense to you but I’m trying to write down all the things I have to say and for me it’s easier to do it in the order it happened and that way I am less likely to forget something important, so please bear with me here.

So the shopping was great but the next hurdle would be getting it through the border, and some of you may know what a mission that can be all on it’s own. For those who know my husband, you will understand in knowing his patience level is extremely intollerant and now to top it off we had to face a border control with purchases over our duty free allowance. I had heard that duties had been increased daramatically but nonetheless I trusted that God would cover it for me. The cash sistuation, or more appropriate – the lack of it – was another hurdle I feared as if I had to pay duty how would I pay for it with the little cash we were allowed to take out with us. I took my cheuqe book along and just as well, I asked and was allowed to pay using that – what a huge relief – you see God had it covered, all along He knew the plan and He had it in His control.

I really missed the children while I was away, you miss their giggles and chuckles, their all speaking at once and their rushing about. I then came home to find new teeth, sitting, crawling and standing babies, and I was only gone a week !

Little Ruth looks like she has grown the most, she smiles as soon as she sees your face and as long as you are talking she is smiling away. She sleeps and feeds fairly well.

Junior (Thembani) has his first tooth and as Selu puts it “Leave me alone – I’m teething” – I think she means he is a little grumpy ! Everytime I see him it looks like he has gained more weight – he isn’t the tiny undernourished little boy he was when he first came in August 2007. I am always assured by the Matron and her carers that his feeds are being controlled, but it’s good to see he is doing well. Not only has he now got teeth but he is also sitting, occasionally propping forward against his belly ! He smiles a lot and is also beginning to do the baby talk thing ! He demands a fair amount of attention and is not fond of being left on his own.

Davis had two teeth appearing as I left and now he suddenly has 4, two on the top and two on the bottom. He has the cutest deep chuckle and his smile covers the whole width of his face. He is a very gentle baby and now that he can crawl is becoming very active. He and Junior have their own conversations in the lounge.

My baby girl - Nomalanga ! Well I just love her to pieces and as much as I try not to have favourites, she is just special. I must be honest though that she doesn’t get anything more than any of the others – ok, expect hugs ! Noma is starting to stand on her own now and hopefully she will be walking soon – I know Sarah took quite a while to walk from standing on her own so I am not putting any expected time frame on Noma. Let’s say - she will when she is ready.

Noma can be a very serious child, especially when just having woken up, but it doesn’t take her too long to snap into happy mode ! She has developed this little mischievous grin especially when she sees the camera come out !

Sarah, the Matron’s favourite I might add – is otherwise known as big-mama by the older children and the staff, runs about the home at 180km/hr. She is a strong willed character who knows exactly what she wants but on the same token she is becoming a more loving child who can be quite gentle especially around the babies. Sarah often spends weekends away with families as she is so easy-going! For a long time Sarah had only two bottom teeth, but now she has another two on the top and another two on the bottom, making six in all.

Towards the end of November on one of my visits I noticed that the children’s bicycle wheel was broken, it seems that the bigger boys were trying to ride it and of course their weight stripped the plastic spokes. We found someone who had a spare wheel lying about and Nyasha was tasked with fitting it – whilst 6 anxious boys watched. I made the mistake of telling Godknows that we would get him a bigger bike so he should not ride the little one, well each time I visited after that he would ask me if I had brought his bicycle. So guess what we bought them for Christmas in Botswana? Yip, 2 bigger bicycles and you should have seen their excitement when we brought them into the lounge as they finished opening their gifts... it was too special for words.

We made sure we got sturdy training wheels and so there was little difficulty, cuts and scrapes as he learnt to pedal away. In time the training wheels can be loosened and eventually taken away. We managed to get a 16” red one and a 20” blue one.

Nhlanhla, our quiet little fellow was delighted with the new bicycles too. He is very good at sharing and patiently waits his turn. He gets very upset when things are snatched away from him, well who doesn’t – but he gladly shares with the other children.! He is looking forward to starting school next week or so with Godknows at Tennyson Hlabangana Primary School in Ilanda, not too far from the home. The boys were delighted at receiving their school bags, coldrink bottles and their new school shoes.

Nyatasha, now known as Mathew, is our little actor of note ! He goes around mimicking everyone and it is so funny to watch the expressions on his face when copying someone. I am seriously considering Drama Classes for him – who knows one day he might be a Zimbabwe Star Actor. He is quite mischievous too and you have to keep an eye on him all the time. I noticed him the other day sitting at Joyce’s desk, with the phone against his ear, motioning with his hands, talking and laughing – oblivious to anyway watching him, seriously he is so comical.

Munaso is our “speedy” boy, nothing is done at slow pace with him, he dashes in and out and is quite happy to play by himself as long as he has the freedom to run around.

Panashe is forever talking and laughing. His speech is quite clear now and his English vocabulary is becoming more varied. He loves to take my cellphone and pretend he’s talking to his special friend Melissa {in the UK}– and then proceeds to tell me she is at work and she’ll come tomorrow! Mel, this is where you smile and say “my precious boy” – no tears just smiles! On Sunday morning he was walking out the playroom when I came through the kitchen, as soon as he saw me he dashed back into the playroom to tell the other children I was there, and then proceeded to run back to me continually calling out my name.

Nkosilathi has made incredible progress and is now beginning to talk – we praise God for this as we were beginning to wonder if he would ever talk. He has just recently started saying one syllable words like Hi and Bye – but this for us is enough to remind us that miracles do happen. I think he will need some kind of speech therapy as his voice is more of a whisper something we will look into soon. Kudakwashe tries everyday to do just as much as all the other children. He is very active both in and out of his walker which he is rapidly growing to tall for. He is also mastering the “potty training” and he is doing extremely well, communicating when he needs the toilet. He is a very happy child, with incredible strength and each day seems to make more and more progress. He is starting school in January at King George which is a specialised school for children with disabilities.

The end of December saw another two new babies come into the home, a little girl Amanda & a little boy Bhekibuhle. I’m told his name means “to see the light/beauty”.

This brings the number of children with us now in our Home to 17 precious little souls. Each one of these children is so special and each one of them has a totally different character from the other, it’s quite amazing that 17 children can all be so different. I guess somewhere in between all this info should really have been something about our Christmas Party – our first official party of the Babies Home. Well I’m afraid without the pictures this update is already 5 pages long and if I have to include the Christmas party it will be a whole heap more, so keep your eyes posted for the Christmas Update next….

Until then God bless, do take care,
With luv and friendship in the Lord always - Sis’Bee