Arrival of new wheelchairs

Friday 22nd October, finally we see the result of months of hard work and effort of fundraising as we arrive at Happys to meet thula, our wheelchair supplier. God had also helped organise the day for us too, when we arrived the entire school were together in an organised assembly sort of way (a very rare thing) and there was a company there (im not really sure what they were promoting) with an entire PA system which gave us a platform for presenting the wheelchairs and turned it into a ceremony. It couldnt have worked out any better! thankyou God!

The state of some of the wheelchairs were just not worth thinking about, ripped seats, ripped back rests which meant thy had no back support, broken wheels, no foot plates so they had no where to rest their feet, they really were disgusting! But there was nothing more joyful to see them lifting themselves out of these wheelchairs and into a brand new one whilst the urban beats were pumping out the speakers and the other students were cheering at the joy of their friends.

Nozipho also recieved her electric wheelchair and almost lost her hearing at the same time through the amount of screaming and clapping. Thula lifted her out her chair and into her new one and showed her how to work her new chair. Understandably she was incredibly nervous at using it for the first time as she was centre of attention in front of the entire school including the teachers "Hamba, hamba" they were all screaming at her (which means go). For the first time since she was 15 (shes now 29) she was able to move for herself, to get to where she wanted to on her own, what an incredible thing! She also has leg rests, before people would accidently knock her legs and she couldn't do anything about it.

It was such a beautiful day and i feel very blessed to have been a part of it and witnessing their joy as they received their new chairs. I know that they are very thankful! 15 chairs were delivered in total and there is still more money coming in to buy a couple more!

Tomorrow Thula is coming back to start and fix the 18 chairs that can be fixed...

Pen pals

Anna organized for the hall green kids to each write a letter for the kids at happys. Here are a few extracts from the replies:

- i love being friend of jesus

- i like the junk food as a child

- i live at Eshowe farm a place it is difficult to me, i hate farm

- We have a sun, but sometimes we have a rain

- i like to speak the jokes

- i like playing soccer ball and sex (Ayanda, age 12)

- i love you so much my friend, thats the end of my letter to you

Photography class

Last week i held a photography class at the happys school. I taught them about documentary photography, what it is and how they can achieve it and gave them the task of documenting their daily life. Private photos, photos that others are unable to access, photos that tell the truth. I gave them all a disposable camera and i had them developed yesterday, below are some of the shocking, intimate and beautiful photos. some of them really grasped the concept. I hope to combine them into a book format which will then go on sale to raise money for the projects here in south africa. I would also love to find an exhibition space for them too somewhere here in south africa. we'll see...

Donations for happys

Thanks to the generous members of Westville who had a clear out of clothes and toys we were able to donate these to the happy's children. A fair few of them were in need of some clothes! We managed it into a jumble sale sort of affair letting a handful of children in at a time. It was quite funny, they ALL wanted a teddy bear. even the boys. One of the older girls i took in who was maybe about 16 wasn't bothered about the clothes, she had seen 2 of the boys with a squeaky dice sort of thing ( a bit like a dogs toy) and she wanted one of those, straight in and straight out and happy with a squeaky dice. It was so good to be able to see the children's ecstatic faces as they were let inside the room and were allowed to pick something for free.

We are told to be like children. We should be so thankful for all our blessings, ALL of them, because some people have nothing that they are so happy when they receive a second hand teddy bear for free!

The queue under shelter as it started raining

An appeal for donations

This is my friend and sister Nozipho. She showed me a picture of her when she was 9, before she was disabled. She has rhumatoid artharitus. Shes at the front on the right.

Im trying to fundraise to get her an electric wheelchair because at the moment she has to be pushed everywhere. An electric wheelchair would give her so much more freedom. She is 28 years old.

If you would like to donate please email me at naomi_midgley@hotmail.co.uk

Classroom signs

Finally finished the wooden signs for the wooden shed classrooms and put them up the other day. Unfortunately i made it out of wood that pretty much disintigrates in the rain so i couldnt put them on the outside of the classroom so i had to put them on the doors instead which stay open so it worked out ok. they just have to shut them when it rains! Londiwe was a babe and held the signs up for me while i put them up. Shes the girl in the second picture.

got my new gloves on

For those of you who dont know phila, the is the most comical, outgoing, demanding, joyful person you will ever meet. She is pure joy to be around. In her lively demanding character she demanded some gloves to stop the skin getting hard on the tops of her hand. She doesnt have the full use of her hand so she wheels her wheelchair with the top of her hand, this result of this is in the photo below. Someone very kindly donated some money for some good long-lasting leather gloves. She was so happy...