May 2012
This month Bola turned 17 years old. For her special day she enjoyed a birthday cake as well as her favourite meal.
The solar panels of ur solar plant arrived in Johannesburg and should reach their final destination, the Village of Joy, these days. The official inauguration of the solar plant is scheduled for the end of August/beginning of September.
February 2012
January 2012
This month was characterised by two striking events: Jabulile, Nobi's mother, returned to the village and gave birth to a baby girl, Kiara.
In the realisation of our PV plant we have made tremendous progress since our application for a module donation was fully approved. We wish to thank all of our donors for their continuous and faithful support of our joint initiative. We will continue keeping you informed on further progress...
December 2011
One of the church members placed her Durban beach house at Milly's disposal at no charge for a period of 12 days during the childrens' holidays. Our bus as well as a number of contributions in kind and cash enabled the children to breathe and see the sea - for most of them for the first time in their lives! ... a dream came true for all of them! Milly's main problem these days is to collect the children from the beach in the evening... What a wonderful Christmas story! Thanks to all of you who contributed to allow Milly and the kids such untroubled days!
November 2011
Our members - Guido and Sabina - accompanied by two of their friends - are spending ten days with Milly's family in the Village. They assist Milly in daily routine work, deal with a number of necessary electric repairs and Guido can even fit in his birthday celebration. Many thanks for your great input!
October 2011
The Village of Joy has recently seen the dawn of the solar age... During our visit we have purchased a number of solar lamps in order to facilitate the children's unimpeded movement also during night hours. The young as well as the older children were fascinated by the new lights and checked their functioning by simulating darkness with their small hands. It was wonderful to observe their enthusiasm...!
August 2011
Our brand-new Toyota Ses'fikile minibus has finally arrived and will soon hit the road with Milly andthe children on board. Preparatory steps include Milly's driver's licence for this van as well as the installation of an electronic tracking system.... should we have to fan out in search of our beauty.... We are overwhelmed with joy and thank all our supporters for their generous assistance in times of dire need.
July 2011
This month the children enjoy their school holidays and undertake various excursions. The photo shows them in the Johannesburg zoo.
The new Toyota mini van was ordered and is supposed to be delivered by the end of the month. Milly and the children can hardly await this moment - the frequent breakdowns along the highways will come to a sudden stop...
June 2011
The recent terminal breakdown of our transport vehicle - which has served for over 400,000 km - has led to to severe logistical problems in our South African projects. In order to be able to assist in view of this kind of financing magnitude, Rays of Hope turned to HelpAlliance which operates under the mission statment 'Lufthansa staff gets involved'.
Following a thorough scrunity check our appliction was granted mainly due to RoH's proven integrity and transparency as well as the seriousness and sustainability of our projects.
On 27 May 2011, Rays of Hope was in a position to transfer a donation of € 20,000 to Milly's Changing Lives Ministries. In name of our South African fosterlings we would like to express our full-hearted thanks for this support as well as for the ongoing efforts to assist in even raising part of the remaining balance for the purchase of a replacement vehicle.
May 2011
Due to the education in kindergarden and school as well as to extra lessons given by our Australian teacher Emma our children in the Village of Joy enjoy reading books. This picture was taken one Sunday morning when the children took their books without any encouragement from anybody.
April 2011
... The new vehicle needs to have larger capacity in view of the ever increasing number of the children the Village of Joy is sheltering. The search is hampered by the fact that local bus companies quickly absorb all used vehicles so that we need to scout for low priced new vans.
March 2011
Since July 2010 the Australian volunteer teacher Emma has been working with our children. They thoroughly enjoy the time with her and their language skills have improved considerably. Thank you for your support.
February 2011
Our member Jens Ă–streich was able to verify the progress of our projects in Johannesburg. Along with some crew members he supported the feeding project in the morning while they played and dined with our children in the Village of Joy during the afternoon - all of them had a most pleasant time.
January 2011
In January, some of our kids started to go t school and Milly was quite busy organising all the school uniforms as well as the necessary equipment.
As school started the feeding project began as well. One day some members of a Lufthansa crew supported Milly and the helpers in he kitchen.
December 2010
On December 23 Milly excelled in a touching mission when she saved four children left behind by their mother from the outright neglect in the Diepsloot Township. The picture of the children was taken in the Village of Joy after they were fed, extensively bathed and furnished with clean clothing.
November 2010
Procello Informationssysteme GmbH has mobilized a campaign in which Rays of Hope will receive € 1 for each product sale during the months of November and December 2010. Many thanks for this great support which has also been published on their website www.avast.de.
October 2010
Since the transfer out of Diepsloot township the Village of Joy was rented for a generous token rental fee. Due to the changes in the private circumstances of the owner he now wishes to sell the land up to the end of 2010 which poses tremendous challenge on our part. Various alleys are currently being explored how best to cope with this new situation and Milly opened up a new account for buying the property. Please support us in saving the home for our children!
Lufthansa crew member Kai Völlmeck brought shirts, pants and balls from the German soccer team Werder Bremen to a football team of a South African school that is struggling. The photo shows Kai with the school principle Solly and some of the children in the soccer kit Kai brought with the rest of the school singing their thanks.
September 2010
Milly receives additional help with the supervision of the children:
Thrice a week, Mrs. Rodarius fetches Cloe, Francis, Ntombie, Monwabisi an Lucky from school and supervises their homework. The result set in immediately: Cloe passed an error-free spelling test last week.
Every Tuesday, an Australian teacher visits the Village to occupy herself with the children. She bought pillows and a fluffy carpet for the "library" and sorted the books in such a manner that the room virtually invites the children to read.
In their layover eleven crew members of an A380 helped Milly for one day with her school feeding project at Riversands School on September 21th. They scrabbed the vegetables, distributed the meals for 650 pupils and cleaned the montain of dishes afterwards. During these activities they had a lot fun - thanks a lot!!!
August 2010
Siphokazi, Thobile and Nora are allowed to return to their old school, Sekolo Sa Barokgo. This institution wants to give underprivileged children a solid education. However, the three girls have to catch up on the missed lessons within three months.
Little Nobi decided all by herself that she no longer needs to wear diapers during the day. She is growing well and is a happy contented child.
June 2010
On June 22nd, the pupils of the Oberschule Löwenberg worked for one day to collect money for the project "Your day for Africa" organised by Aktion Tagwerk. They managed to gain € 1336,40 from which half of the amount, namely € 668,20, were given to Rays of Hope.
July 2010
Three of or former children - Shiphokazi, Nora, and Thobile - have returned to the Village of Joy. Their long and exhausting odyssee in the township was finally ended when a South African social worker showed some appreciation and allowed the children's custody to be officially transferred to Milly. Needless to say that the children, Milly and we at Rays of Hope are jubilant and thankful for this positive outcome.
May 2010
Two of our earlier fosterlings, namely Brian and Tabo, returned to the Village of Joy in their new function as helpers. Under instruction of Milly's brother Ozzi both complete various assignments on the spacious compund and take charge of never ending repair works. They receive a small Governmental payment for this apprenticeship which is completed by free food and lodging. Their arrival in the village poses a considerable help and relief in Milly's daily operation of the home.
April 2010
Thanks to a donation from Lahmeyer International an electrician checked the wiring as well as the electric protection system on the compound. He also strung wires to all rooms that so far had no electricity - clearly improving the quality of life for all.
Bicycles for the Village of Joy (January 2010)
Thanks to a joint effort by three companies from Bremen our children are now thrilled to own bicycles, scooters, stuffed toys and even computers .... read more...