Baby House Opens!

News!  The baby house opened today.  Mama Mampo is the lead housemother.  God is keeping everyone here on our toes as He is providing more children to be cared for at Restoring Hope Village.  This time is is babies!  There are 2 here and 3 more soon to come.

Please visit the RHI website HERE for a new video and more info.  In the video Bussi gives a tour of the village.

Sibusiso (See boo See so), almost 4 months old,  arrived almost 2 weeks ago.  As with most neglected babies, he was under weight and needed close attention for a while.  He was placed in the girl's house for now and Mama Salina has loved him dearly and nurtured him into a happy little boy.  It is concerning for me (bob) when a baby comes into care here and is very contented.  That usually means he has been neglected to the point he cannot make his needs known by crying, is not happy and does not move much.  Fortunately, it does not take much genuine love and good nutrition for them to come around rather quickly.  Concerning to this grandpa but I am amazed by the care given by the godly women here.  Grandma Susie has been busier than ever as she helps Lois and the house mothers care for the babies here.  

"Kitty," my nick name for her, came to live with us 5 days ago.  At 10 months old and only 11 pounds, Lois put her under very close observation and care.  I had the opportunity to hold her for several hours over the past few days.  Initially it was very difficult to look into her eyes and think about the neglect she had endured.  1 1/2 weeks ago she was discharged from the hospital and lost weight while living at home.  Since no information is shared with Brian or Lois regarding the past of these children, we have no idea what caused her current status.  Again, love and nutrition (formula) slowly met Kitty's needs and within 3 days she was acting like a 10 month old.  Nothing is sweeter than a baby's cry when she did not even have that ability when she came to us.  She is finally eating enough to begin putting on weight--another real joy to everyone when she downed her first 100 ml bottle (about 3 1/3 ounces).  The first few days she was "force fed" (yeah, really) with a small syringe.  Sunday she moved up to a larger syringe and finally today Susie got her to take her first bottle.  God is so good.  God chose to spare the lives of many of the children here by sending them to receive the care they need.  So many others are not so fortunate.  God has provided so many wonderful South Africa staff members who love the Lord and love serving Him here.  We are blessed to have a small part in this.

If you wonder about our responsibilities here, the best answer we can give is that we do whatever it takes to help this organization run.  We both live out or Faith in Jesus Christ in front of the children and staff here every day.  Making Jesus known is our goal and motivation for being here.  Teaching moments occur often and sometimes when least expected.  Our desire is to see these children know Jesus and learn to obey Him!  We have learned that routine life is the best teaching tool on the planet.  

Susie has been focused on getting the new baby house up and running.  During our time here she will be overseeing the operation of that house and working with the house mothers in providing care for the babies.  Getting clothing, supplies, furniture and bedding from storage to the house has taken her free time recently.  The house officially opened today!

Bob takes care of maintenance and construction matters.  Moving furniture, completing the "punch list" on the baby house and so on.  Both of us take turns driving children and house mothers to and from school and the clinic and wherever they need to go.  Seems like one of us is always headed out somewhere.

We made it!! Only took 35 hours door to door, 4 a.m. (Central time) on Tuesday to 10 p.m. on Wednesday (local time) a week ago!

Lois told us that in honor of our sleeping in late, they had arranged for a surprise for us, but not until afternoon. After lunch, which we skipped because we ate breakfast at 10, the first baby came to live at Restoring Hope Village. The hospital started out with 5, and one has gone for adoption somewhere (it appears). That leaves 3 at the hospital, potentially to be assigned here. God knows, so keep praying.

Baby "Unknown" came to live here, and since he was the only one, he was assigned to Mama Selina for his care. He is about 3 months old, but very tiny, so nutrition and regular 3 hour feedings are mandatory. Quite a change for a mama to have to get up twice during the night for a feeding. Today I went to train both housemothers in the special care for a neglected newborn who has continued with nothing more than feeding and "nappy" changes since his birth. Sterilizing bottles, only 75 ml. of formula because he can't hold more than that without vomiting. They have to learn to do things by a procedure instead of their idea of what is ok in their eyes. During the sterilizing training, Mama Thembisa turned off the sterilizer (in the microwave) after only 1/2 the time had elapsed. I had to make her turn it back on twice because she thought it was enough.

Anyhow, that was my first step in fulfilling our purpose in coming here. Next we will get the house that is ready to open spic and span from all the dust that has blown in. Monday we will (hopefully) know if we get the other 3 babies or will open it to older children. If it is babies, the bunk beds must be disassembled and removed, the bedding back to storage, and cribs come out of storage and assembled for babies. Beds for housemothers brought in, and paint the rocking chair that another organization has for us. 

Next we will write up procedures for how things are to be done, and a chart for recording all the necessary facts about the babies' care.

Forgot to mention, but because the baby boy came without a name, they had a naming party at the Village Bible Study last night. We have to assign him a surname also, but his first name is Sbusi (a Zulu name, as I understand). Turns out that is short for something, but don't know the rest and can't recall what it means. I think it is survivor, and determined, maybe. He was found abandoned in a field by someone who contacted the police, and has spent his life since then in a crib at the hospital, ignored most of the time. Makes for a very content little boy.

We are settled in and working on the many projects here for us. Thanks to all for praying for us.  More to come!

Love you all,
Bob & Susie

December Birthdays

For those of you with December birthdays you sometimes know what it is like to be "cheated" when your birthday is so close to Christmas.  Not at Restoring Hope Village!  One Saturday every month is dedicated to celebrating that months birthdays.  Here are the birthday girls for December.

Happy Birthday DK, Jessica, Lois and Motsodishi!

A birthday party means someone has to make a cake...4 cakes for this day!  Here is Komohalo helping Grandma Susie with the cake decorating.  "Komo" is a great helper for any task!

Welcome to Restoring Hope Village

Susan and I arrived at Restoring Hope Village to a very warm welcome and big smiles from the children and staff here.  What a pleasure to be serving God in this place.  Yes, there are many pleasures from seeing children grow in the Lord as well as every other way to just being close to so many people!  There have been some awesome changes in the lives of children since we left here in April.   The staff here has worked very hard to bring these changes about.  Susie and I both had to ask Atlehang  who she was because she had changed sooooo much and looks healthy and happy.

After reading many articles on getting over jet-lag, I have ditched their ideas and developed my own method.  Very simply, if you are tired, sleep, no matter the time of day.  If you can't sleep at night, get up and do something.  That is why this post is being written at 12:30 at night!  Seems to work well for me but not sure about tomorrow morning with church and our duties transporting people!  Might have to get up on time!  Susie on the other hand has had no problem--I am jealous.

Oh, one of the pleasures of life here can be seen comparing the thermometers of Ames, IA to Welkom, SA.  Sure will miss snow skiing this year!

Amazon Smile supports Restoring Hope International

Now you can support Restoring Hope Village by shopping at Amazon!  .5% of your purchases will be donated to RHI for use in the Operations of RHV each time you make an Amazon purchase using the Amazon Smile website.

Check out this link to get started:  http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-3925275

You can contribute to RHI by making your normal Amazon purchases.
Thank you!
The entire RHI family.

Here we go again!

Monday begins another 3 month term in South Africa.  As Restoring Hope Village grows, there is more work every day!  We anticipate being involved in the lives of all of the children in many ways including Bible memory and studies, interpersonal skills, homework help, gardening, maintenance, sewing and fun things like teaching house mothers and children skills.  It will be awesome being involved daily with the 25 or so people who make up Restoring Hope Village and the other multitudes of people in the community and church!

Look for updates on FB and Here!

Thank you for your prayers as we continue this venture in serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Bob & Susie

During the summer months our "farm" produces organic vegetables for our table as well as other families in central Iowa.  We only grow organic and have taken the challenge to keep our small acreage totally organic-no chemicals.  So many health benefits are derived from chemical-free food.