IN MEMORY OF BONGANI
On Friday 3rd july 2009 at 5pm, Bongani slipped away peacefully. Last month this little angel was holding onto every day. He struggled and fought to live despite a CD4 count of 47 which in itself was amazing—he had virtually no defence against infection at all. Another 2 babies were meant to start ARV’s last month—the hospital had no stocks—their next appointment was meant to be on the 23rd June, but the doctors were stricking and we were told by the lone doctor, risking her life to be there, that she didn’t know where to start or how long she could continue to work.
SPRINGBOKS VISIT SHEPHERD’S KEEP
Our Springbok Rugby Squad visited Shepherd’s Keep on 16th June to mark Youth Day.
It was an honour to meet those gentle giants who brought blankets emblazoned with the Springok emblem and nappies as gifts for our babies. The Springbok coach, Pieter de Villiers, was visibly moved and too emotional to be interviewed by the TV crew and members of the team had to be reminded of their tight training schedule by the team manager, finding it difficult to drag themselves away. They listened in amazed silence to each baby’s story, but couldn’t stop praising Shepherd’s Keep. It was truly a priviledge to have them with us so shortly before they went truimphantly head to head with the Lions.
Donors
Matthew 24-40 “And Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward”.
To all our regular donors, past and present — one cannot imagine the pressure of having to provide for so many tiny babies with only the generosity of donors to rely on—so when we say that we appreciate your compassion, your obvious love for children and your willingness to stand up and say ’I CARE’, please know that we are sincere, from the tiniest to the biggest donations—THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU— your support means everything
to our babies!
We need to mention a company that has been a blessing to Shepherd’s Keep for a long time – PAG’s Regional Manager for KZN, Brandon Nash and his Staff have visited Shepherd’s Keep since 2006 on a monthly basis with donations of baby consumables — Bless You — we are incredibly grateful for your loyalty and obvious love for our babies.
Almost done with our Milk Kitchen refurbishment and it’s really exciting. This photo shows the sterilization unit—staff no longer have to carry the heavy 100 litre plastic container of water to the sink to be drained—they just pull out the plug! Our grateful thanks to GreaterGood SA for raising the funds for our Milk Kitchen.
Due to space constraints, we have only been able to list some of our monthly donors and sponsors – BUT thank you TO ALL SPONSORS AND DONORS for your support of our ministry, whether through finances, supplies or sponsorship of equipment—we are incredibly grateful to you all:
SSACT
PAG—Florida Road
Diversified Power Systems
Bothma Signs
Rakesh Maharaj—Nedbank
Mr Naidoo
Lara Mellon
Dynamic Fluid Control
East Coast Plastics
Titan Chemicals
East Coast Medical
Vitalaire
Rennie Padavattan
Mthembu Tissue
Cheron-Lindy Jamison
Rajesh Boodhram
Nashua
Veni and Samantha
A few of our little ones…
Happy Birthday Owami!
Our own little ‘Jack in the Box’turned a year old on the 22nd June. He has started to move himself around on his stomach and pulls himself up onto his feet in his cot. This is huge for him, he was a forceps delivery and had extensive water on the brain and was 2 months prem on top of it all. His prognosis wasn’t good—but there’s always good news at Shepherd’s Keep—extensive occupational and physical therapy have made a huge difference—he is the happiest little chap around!
PHILIP
Philip was adopted by a wonderful couple with biological children of their own! It’s such an incredible feeling to witness something so special.
GABY
Gaby is 3 months old and has been with us since birth. She’s one of the healthiest, happiest babies and has tested HIV negative—a miracle given the fact that she was given Nevirapine at birth which indicates that her mother is HIV positive.
SIYA
Siya arrived as a 2 day old little bundle, abandoned in a market area in Durban Central. He’s a healthy blessing and growing daily.
SIZWE
Our 3 year old who suffers with severe mental retardation and epilepsy is still such a happy child. Our staff know that when everything is quiet and still at night, Sizwe loves to play and laugh to himself. He has made amazing progress and has learnt to roll.
NOKTHULA
Nokthula was a very traumatized little girl and cried pitifully at times,almost inconsolably. Today at 10 months old, she is almost crawling and moves around and around on her stomach. Her favourite toy is a tambourine which she vigorously
shakes and sings along to. Our Supervisor tells us that she loves Colin’s early morning visits and chats away from her cot when she hears him.
THABO
After his traumatic entry into the world, he laughs, plays and talks at 2.5 months old. He’s had his 1st PCR test for the HIV virus and this one came back negative—now we have to wait until he’s old enough to have the 2nd test to confirm his negative
status.
LANDO
Was born in prison and removed from his mother’s care by the welfare because of her long prison sentence. He’s an incredibly content child.
LENO
Full of smiles, HIV positive with TB, but the happiest most content little boy around—a little blessing!
God bless you all
from the desk of Cheryl Pratley
Matron/founder/director