Clouds of Hope Children's Christian

Care Centre

Directors: B Nhleko (Chairman, Department of Education) Rev. P Mosdell (Vice Chairman) Professor Dr R Govender, Archdeacon T Seleoane, C Pitt, P A Crawley, M Bather

Annual Report: 2010 Clouds of Hope is a Christian non-profit organisation

providing support and services to HIV/Aids affected children in the Sisonke District Municipality. This includes residential

care for orphans and vulnerable children.

Our philosophy is that a sound education is the very best gift we can give our children. It is the spring-board from which they can launch into their future and will enable them to find employment and support themselves and their future families. We see this as their only way out of the poverty trap and so are very ambitious for them to succeed. Sr Abegail puts it so well when she says: “The education we give our children is their wings – so they can fly.”

At the end of 2009, two Clouds children passed Matric and went on to enrol at University to do teaching degrees and two elected to start at FET colleges in 2010. Eleven children obtained “Certificates of Merit” at the annual prize giving. This year we have two pupils in Matric, one of whom is Head Girl. We are very proud of all their achievements.

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Education

A General Manager, Jurie van der Spuy, was appointed to oversee the daily running of Clouds of Hope. He is a retired civil engineer with extensive management experience and is resident at Clouds with his family. Since his appointment, numerous administrative systems, maintenance plans and sound structures have been implemented. They have already bourn fruit and benefited all aspects of life, not least of which is that Sr Abegail now has more time to spend with the children and House Mothers. He also provides a very welcome role model for our boys and is loved and respected by all the children.

Management

It is with regret that we report that our very successful Outreach Programme, which included feeding schemes and food parcels funded by the Department of Social Development, came to an end this year. Many hungry and disadvantaged children now go without our assistance. Clouds is a voluntary organisation with limited staff resources. The Department instituted such unwieldy, time-consuming and onerous approval and reporting structures that we found ourselves without the capacity to cope and so were forced to cease our operations.

Outreach

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Child’s Age Num

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ACUTTS Underberg Anglican Woman’s Fellowship (Pinetown) Beaver Lake Middle School (Curtis Betzler, Seattle USA) Berea Road Primary School Catholic Woman’s Guild (Westville) Children’s Chance for Life (USA) Clouds of Hope (UK) Billiton Dhamagiri Retreat Underberg Grace Alice Baumann Trust Health and Herb (Underberg) Holland Round Table Ken Mackenzie Trust KPMG Lilleshall Trust Livingstone Primary School

Long Walk of Hope OK Grocer (Underberg) Operation Jumpstart Pucketty Farm (Serena Rabone) Richbay Chemicals Rotary Club Mount Edgecombe Sani Stagger St Michael’s Anglican Church (Himeville) St James Anglican Church (Durban) Sombiyani Trust Team Aki Joachem (Germany) U S Embassy (Durban) Underberg Forge Underberg Garden Club Underberg Farmers Association Zondi Contractors

Our Precious Donors

Han Alink (Holland) George and Yvonne Allpass Mark & Trish Anderson Maggie Bather M Bircher Denny Blomeyer L Boshoff S D & C Bruijns A K Cooper Trish & Clive Crawley Mr & Mrs C Donelly K Dyer Jenny Dyer John & Anne Fitzgerald Fouche, Hodkinson and McLaughin R Govender David and Patty Geerdts Josee Goossems (Belgium) Mark & Angie Halliday (Australia) Mr & Mrs A Hankinson Alison Hodkinson

Brenda Hilton S A Huff Tara Jagoe (Ireland) Lise Jorde Mrs Kenmuir John Laing Juliana Lindsay Sarah and Mark Locke (Ireland) Wilma and Ian Locke (Ireland) Liz McKay Tom Mecrow (UK) Steve Mecrow (UK) Cynthia Meinstra Thokozane Ntleko Jenny Pryra (UK) Colleen Robertson Colin and Anne Reardon Di & Atholl Sanders Des and Margaret Shapiro Trevor and Val Smith Mary Terhorst

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Girls Boys

Estimated Cost to Educate one of our Children: R1 320 per month

Estimated Cost to House one of our Children: R869 per month A

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Obituary

Dr Les Pitt Dr Pitt, a founder member, past Chairman, Vice Chairman and a Director of Clouds of Hope, was a friend and mentor to so many at Clouds and in the wider community. His sudden death in a freak accident was a sad shock to all who knew him. Whether as Doctor, manager, adviser or friend, he gave unstintingly of his love, time and expertise. He is truly very sadly missed by all.

Mr Hamilton Thusi At the time of his tragic and untimely death, Mr Thusi was an extremely involved and active Director and Chairman of Clouds of Hope. He was very committed to the community in general and the youth in particular, and served on the local Municipal Council. His loss is sorely felt and we especially miss his tireless interaction with the Department of Social Development. O

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Our House Mothers have completed another four modules of the National Association of Child Care Workers Diploma Pro-gramme. Our Mothers are chosen from within the local community for their warm hearts and ability to care for the children allocated to them. Until the start of this programme, none had received any formal Child Care training. They have responded with enthusiasm and commitment, and it has been a great satisfaction to see how they have taken the training on board, and implemented it to the benefit of our children. All courses must be completed by 2012. 6

House Mothers

Many children at Clouds come from circumstances of cruel neglect and abuse and have nowhere else to go. Some have compromised immune systems, others bear the scars of trauma and abandonment. In spite of this, we are constantly amazed at their resilience: once given the basics that we all take for granted – shelter, security, warmth, food, clothing, medical supervision, and mostly importantly, loving care and attention – they thrive. Therapy interventions are a necessary and integral part of our programme.

Help for our Children

Clouds of Hope has experienced a very difficult financial year due in part to the economic recession. A major ongoing challenge is the reluctance of the Department of Social Development to process our application to be registered as a Children’s Home. This, despite our meeting all necessary criteria and in spite of all our efforts on various fronts since 2006.

The cost of keeping a child at Clouds is around R3 000 per month. With around 67 children in our care and the inevitable maintenance and escalating running costs, our expenses far exceed the small government grants currently received by the House Mothers for the children in their care. The Board is very concerned about this state of affairs and is exploring ways to remedy it so that this special facility can be sustainable and continue to provide the essential service it does to the community.

Finances

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With the help of kind contributors including the Pitt family, local organisations and Operation Jumpstart, we are just completing the construction of a hall to be named The Les Pitt Memorial Hall after our late and much-missed Chairman, Dr Les Pitt. For the first time we will have a venue big enough to assemble the whole Clouds family together—to worship, study and socialise. We are delighted with the progress being made on this exciting addition to our buildings.

Extended Facilities

A key to the ongoing success and improvement of life at Clouds is the tireless and ongoing input and help from so many special volunteers. This diverse group of supporters lends life and variety of a special kind and provides our children not only with expertise drawn from a wide field of disciplines, but also exposes them to different ages, walks of life, nationalities and mindsets. Some are regular faces, patiently helping to get the daily homework done, others help take care of the maintenance needs of our buildings. Some come from far away and stay only a short while, others live nearby and selflessly give of themselves from year to year. No matter their commitment, the children and management of Clouds of Hope are deeply grateful. No one fails to leave their mark.

Volunteers

A Special Award A highlight of the year was the awarding of Unsung Hero of Compassion status to our founder, Sr Abegail Ntleko. This was done by the Dalai Lama in San Francisco through an American group called Wisdom in Action. We made the best of our time and did some very successful fundraising, both in London and San Francisco. To celebrate the award in our community, Clouds held a well-attended and enjoyable fundraising lunch in Underberg in August. It was lovely to hear Sr Abegail relate her experience of abroad.

P O Box 486 Underberg 3257

Phone: (27) 033 701 1024 cloudsofhope@lamington.co.za

www.cloudsofhope.com

Section 21 Co: 2002/026476/08 NPO No: 044-624

PBO No: 9300 24461

Thank you to all our donors. Without your help

we would not be able to take care of these children.