Our Family News April 2017
Princess Our little n day tio on adop 2 See story
on page
And Jesus C hrist our Lord was shown Son of God to be the when God p o w e rf ully raised H from the de im ad by mean s of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 1:4
-5
May your Ea s filled with b ter be lessings!
To whom does the Door of Hope belong? This is an important question to answer and to keep at the forefront of our minds at all times. The person who conceived this project and has sustained it for 17 years is the one who deserves the recognition. He deserves the credit for all the children saved, the families united, and the tremendous work that is being done. To whom does the Door of Hope belong? It belongs to God. He is the one with the awesome heart for orphans and we, as His followers, are compelled by His love. We are His servants here to do His work, in His way, to show the Father’s heart to countless destitute children so people can see how great God is. And He is GREAT!
Richard Allen
“Father of orphans, champion of widows, is God in his holy house.”
We have our own fundraising page on GivenGain. Here you can donate to one of our projects - choose from assisting with our everyday needs through to one of our major events.
PSALM 68:5
doorofhope.givengain.org
Our Singing Princess Little Princess, as she affectionately became known, was one of the tiniest babies we ever received. She weighed no more than a small bag of sugar at her premature birth. Due to her early birth and low birth weight she was at medical risk. Princess also had some heart problems as well as slow development issues BUT we had hope.
were flowing. They spent some time together and when it was time for our baby to go to her new home with her new family, her brother made sure that she was not staying behind.
Over the next two and a half years Princess spent some time in hospital and received therapy but we gradually started to see an improvement in the petite little girl. Princess had a feisty personality and liked to pull funny faces. You would often see her dancing and singing. Late in 2016 we received the very good news that our little princess had been matched with a family and the even better news was that she would get a brother too, who by the way, was adopted from us a few years earlier.
It was a bitter sweet day and the baby we thought would be with us for a long time, happily walked out the doors holding her brother’s hand whilst singing and laughing. Our weak little lamb had become a strong little lion. 
The big day arrived and we were all very happy but also very sad. Our little princess leaving was going to leave a big empty space. She had a small body, a wonderful mind and an even bigger smile. The first family member she got to meet was her new forever brother. He kissed her and gave her a gift and then he and Aunty Angele prayed for his new baby sister! He then took her hand and went to mommy and daddy. Baby P was overflowing with excitement and jumped into her new mommy’s arms. Tears and laughter
Nadene Grabham and Angele Kyamba
Latest Stats
1546 Babies saved to date
633
successful
adoptions to date
183
Babies SAVED via our “Hole in the Wall�
(baby bin)
60 Currently in our care
Total Babies IN since Jan 2017
10
Total Babies OUT since Jan 2017
8
! r e n r o C Comedy Laughter is never in short supply at Door of Hope. Our children are always getting up to fun and games and our toddlers especially are learning just how strong their heads and necks are. One afternoon Aunty Lydia said to them “Come and I will teach you to be a real African”. The kids quickly ran and grabbed their buckets or containers. Aunty Lydia pretended to fill them up with water as she chanted for them to walk, walk slow and to not spill the water as we are in a drought and water is important. The kids walked slowly to the other aunties and when they reached them the aunties would pour the pretend water into another bucket. The kids would run back to Lydia and refill. When Lydia would replace the buckets on their heads, the kids would be so excited and yell “Aunty we must walk slow”. The aunties were laughing so hard because of the children’s concentration and they all had loads of fun.
Village Update House renovations
Renovations of the main house are drawing to a close. The good news is that God has unexpectedly provided forever families for almost all our older toddlers to date and the remaining should be matched shortly. This means we have gained some extra time to get things ready. Our next group of toddlers will be old enough to be considered for the Village around the middle of the year. In looking at these events we remind ourselves that this journey is not a sprint but a marathon. There’s a long road ahead of us but step by step we move closer to the goal and trust God to control the circumstances we cannot.
Teams We have had a few groups join us at the Village in the past number of months and we are grateful for each one. We are particularly grateful to the teams from Iowa and the first official partnership team from North Carolina Baptists on Mission. They spent extended time with us labouring hard at the Village and contributed significantly with development funds they raised. Each group has contributed in its own special way and is helping to bring to life the vision of a true home for abandoned children.
“There’s a long road ahead of us but step by step we move closer to the goal and trust God to control the circumstances we cannot. “
The laying down of what affectionately became known as the ‘yellow brick road’.
Snippets Toyota Quantum We were recently blessed with a new vehicle for the Village through our partnership with North Carolina Baptists on Mission. A wonderful tool for us to use in our facilitation of teams coming to help build at the Village. Thank you Richard, Paul and the team at NCBM and all their supporters.
Jeff Nell We are excited to announce the addition of Jeff Nell to our team. Jeff is married to Heather and they have three young girls, Hannah, Claire and Julia. He is taking the position of Property Development Manager and will oversee the maintenance of our various properties and the building development of the Village. We look forward to the valuable contribution he is going to make and trust his time at Door of Hope will be blessed.
Volunteer Story My name is Tania Jurgeleit and I am a trained Early Childhood Development Teacher from New Zealand. I have just returned to Door of Hope for the third time now. After visiting for 6 weeks in 2013 I decided Door of Hope was an organisation that I wanted to get more involved in, so I began fundraising for a longer visit as soon as I returned home. That longer visit was in 2015 for 11 months. By the end of 2015 the plans for the Village had begun. The proposed Early Childhood Development Centre for the village was something that I was very excited about, so I put my hand up to help with that. This meant returning home to reapply for a volunteer’s visa and do some more fundraising. My church at home got behind me 100% and helped me reach my fundraising goal for 2 years volunteering. We did this through a quiz night, a garage sale, a women’s high tea, as well as a lot of very generous people giving financial gifts. My 2 year visa was approved in December, and in late January I began to make my way back to South Africa. As soon as I arrived back to Door of Hope it felt like I was home again. After numerous hugs from the Aunties, I popped around to see the toddlers who were lined up at the gate to investigate this
new person. As I crouched down, a little hand reached through the bars and rested on my cheek. I took this as confirmation that I was back where I needed to be.
“My church at home got behind me 100% and helped me reach my fundraising goal for 2 years volunteering.” Now, as I eagerly wait for the Village to begin, I am spending my time between all three homes. I am specifically working with the toddlers and equipping the Aunties with some learning activity ideas and resources, as well as having the privilege of communicating with the generous people who donate to Door of Hope. It is starting to seem like there are not enough hours in the day now, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I look forward to seeing what the future holds.
We need your help! Nan 1 star
Nan 2 foll
Nido 1+
To assist please contact info@doorofhope.co.za
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Prayer List Mothers-in-crisis
Upcoming teams
Destitute children in South Africa
Building plans for the Village and processes to follow
Healing and restoration for our children
Praise God for the new addition of Jeff to the team
Adoptions
Financial provision
twitter.com/DoorofHopeJHB facebook.com/doorofhopeSA
Door of Hope 15 Barbara Avenue, Glenvista, 2091, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 432 2797 Fax (local): 086 631 5850 Email: info@doorofhope.co.za www.doorofhope.co.za
Non-Profit Organisation: 009-149 • Public Benefit Organisation (Tax Exemption): 9208/629/15/5. All donations are tax deductible. Section 18A certificates issued on request. Please provide full name and mailing address. Bequests are exempt from payment of Estate duty.