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...