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Music as Therapy for Orphans

As I am sure you know, I am a South African.

I live in a country that is so unique and yet so diverse. We have eleven official languages with eleven distinct cultures. I live and work amongst the Setswana speaking tribe. One thing about this people group that always amazes me is the sense of rhythm that the children from the village display. They can be walking down the road with nothing but the sound of goats bleating in the background and spontaneously start dancing to an inner beat, an inner sound that they seem to be born with. It's beautiful to watch. Recently I again witnessed this natural born rhythm, this time in the children who attend the Helping Hands preschool.

Marisa Covert is a music therapist by occupation. She has given a year of her life to work with us at Helping Hands. Watching her work with our pre-school children the other day was such a joy. Their little faces could barely contain the smiles that stretched all the way around from ear to ear. The excitement was palpable as, out of a tin, she hauled instruments small enough for their chubby fingers. I watched in amazement as the children sat quietly listening to the beat of the song Marisa played on her guitar. One by one they started playing their castanets, shakers, triangles and other instruments. This was not the clanging of children making a lot of noise. This was a symphony of sound. There it was! That natural rhythm I had witnessed so often before. Three and four year olds that could hear a beat that emanates from deep within their African heart.

These children come from severely disadvantaged homes, some are orphans and most of the others are vulnerable in some way. What a privilege to be able to bring music at a formal level to them. Who knows what seeds of greatness are being planted.

Marisa provides music and music therapy to most of our Helping Hands children's programs. Apart from working at the pre-school she works at our after school Learning Centers as well. She will soon be adding value to our Orphan Intervention Program where we help children deal with grief after losing a loved one. Added to this busy schedule, Helping Hands will be making Marisa's expertise available to two rural schools where she will spend time giving one-on-one therapy to children in need.

With kind regards,

Michelle Tessendorf

Helping to Build Literacy in South Africa

We are currently working on a project that I know will excite you as much as it does me. It is one of those projects that flows naturally out of the work done by Helping Hands In Africa. It is such an excellent example of how offering a helping hand to a community ignites in the people a desire to want to help themselves.

Some time ago, in partnership with La Casa de Cristo Church in Scottsdale Arizona, we started a pre-school and after school learning center in Molelwane village. The children's learning inspired a desire by some of the adults in the community to also want to learn. (Many of the adults are illiterate). Two women from our village church approached the Department of Education to sponsor them to become Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) facilitators in Molelwane. Gladys and Lydia attended training workshops and have received level 1 certification. They have also received a very run down and broken "portable trailer" from the Department of Education from which to run their adult classes. Helping Hands is partnering with these two women to get their little business up and running. We have undertaken to repair the building for them as well as to provide them with tables and chairs. This project has multiple benefits:

• The school that Lydia and Gladys will run is a form of job creation and is their own business. As trained and registered facilitators, the education department pays them a monthly stipend. This stipend will increase as they receive further training and increase their certification level.


• The village of Molelwane now has access to adult education. In a letter I received from Gladys and Lydia, they said, "Our aim is to help the community of this rural area. If they are given basic education and skills, this will help them to alleviate poverty and to uplift their standard of living."


• Adults who can read and write are able to assist their children with homework. They will help their children break the cycle of apathy that leads to poverty. With the example set by Gladys and Lydia, who knows what other innovative projects the people from the village will come up with to help their own community

I am so excited about this project, not only because of the obvious advantages to the village, but because of the ripple effect our work is having in this community. Our vision is to help communities help themselves. We initially planted a seed of hope with a feeding project. This seed has grown into a thriving church, a pre-school, learning center, home based care for the sick, care of orphans and vulnerable children, and a vegetable garden small business - all run by members of the community. Today the adult literacy classes, tomorrow... who knows? It is an exciting adventure in community development.

It does however take partnership from those of us who have something to give. In these tough economic times, it is the poor who suffer the most. I would like to ask each person reading this post to very seriously and prayerfully consider two things.

If you are not a monthly partner, would you please consider becoming one? No amount is ever too small (or too large). Click here to begin helping the children of South Africa.

If you are already a partner, we would like to ask you to consider an automated deduction from your account to ours. This is a new feature we are offering. The more people who sign up to donate this way, the more cost effective it becomes for us. It also saves you the cost of a stamp! Please click here to download the autopay signup form, or you can phone our Phoenix office (480-966-9037) for more details.

With kind regards,
Michelle Tessendorf
http://www.helpinghandsinafrica.org/

Who Does Helping Hands in Africa Help?

I would like to take this time to remind you who Helping Hands serves. Would you take a moment to look into the eyes of these young girls and remember...

Remember that all over Africa there are children being orphaned at a rate that history has never seen before... remember that these children are in their formative years and that they are watching and waiting to see how the world they live in responds to them.

In the villages where Helping Hands serves, hundreds of children are experiencing hope. They are seeing in their village a passionate response to them. They are not forgotten, they are not rejected and they are not alone. Through the assistance and intervention of Helping Hands they see a community who sees them. In their formative years they are learning that although they are poor, although they face many losses and heartaches, the world they live in cares for them. Apart from providing basic needs such as food, Helping Hands has developed programs that are aimed at helping these children grow up to be whole and sound, to know that they do have a place in this world and that this world is eager and happy to give them this place.

It is my joy to serve in this cause. Every person who works and serves in and through Helping Hands is required to passionately remember the children we serve and to embrace this vision with faithful and joyful hearts.

As you remember the children and remember their lives and remember their hope for a future, would you add to your commitments to faithfully care for the children of Africa and their place in our world.

With kind regards,

Michelle Tessendorf

The Zoo Walk - What it Means to HHIA

Helping Hands had its 2nd annual ‘Walk on the Wildside’ fundraising event at the Phoenix Zoo on March 21st to benefit the improverished children of South Africa. The monies are helping feed children that otherwise would have little or nothing to eat. In addition it will help conduct many social and educational programs in the villages where the children live that will ultimately lead to better conditions and restoration of hope where orphan rates are as high at 50-60% and unemployment runs in the 85-95% range. Try to imagine yourself in this type of situation!

Participation in the walk doubled over last year. The event was expanded to include music by the Christian Group ‘What 4’ who entertained the walkers in a post event program. The great thing about having the walk at the Zoo is being able to stop and see all the animals along the way. Most of the animals were out feeding during the walk (8:00 am to 9:00 am). The Zoo is closed to the general public during the walk so it’s a great way to see everything without the crowds!

The 3rd annual walk is already being planned for March 20th of 2010, so mark it on your calendars!

If you would like to get involved with the Zoo Walk or other volunteer opportunities with Helping Hands in Africa just send an e-mail to info@helpinghandsinafrica.org or call us at 480-966-9037 and indicate you would like to become a volunteer.

In His Service
Ron Meister
U.S. Office Director

Postcard From South Africa

My name is Kirsten Matthias. As summer started in the USA, I was privileged to be able to take advantage of an amazing service opportunity. I am a part of a group of students from Arizona State University who have united with Helping Hands in order to minister a VBS program to 20 orphans, poor and vulnerable children from Top Village, South Africa.

Our goal has been simply to love these beautiful children and instill in their hearts just how special they are to the Lord. By interacting and investing in them, we hope that we can become the faces of love, helping them to understand the reality of hope. It breaks my heart to see underprivileged kids surprised by these truths. All week we have been teaching and playing with the group, showing them that they are valuable and worth spending time with.

We are greeted daily with a storm of hugs that melt my heart. During games the children love to get one of our mission group members to be on their team - just to be able to hold hands with these special children is worth being here.

All of my perceptions were flipped with a small incident that took place. My shoe came untied. I had a girl on either side of me, holding my hands. I stopped, and began crouching down to tie my lace when the girl on my right jumped to the ground and tied my shoe as fast as she could. With a warm smile she stood and I thanked her. It is remarkable that these children, who need the most help, are so willing to help others. They literally jump at the opportunity to serve us - yet we came to serve them.

The reality of poverty has now affected my life. I am forever changed by Helping Hands and my experience with the beautiful children in Top Village. I encourage others to organize missions groups. Take advantage of the opportunity to positively affect the poverty stricken families in Africa!

Kealeboga .... Thank you (in Setswana),
Kirsten Matthias

Visit the website: http://www.helpinghandsinafrica.org/

We Have Reached the 1 Million Mark

Helping Hands has served 1.152 million meals to orphans and other vulnerable children.

A vulnerable child is one who lives in an indigent household and has typically lost one parent. The term "indigent" is understood to mean the lack of necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter. In South Africa, a poverty line of about US $100 per month per household is regarded as the "ultra poverty line" and is used by the national government to denote an indigent household.

It is estimated that 22 million people in South Africa survive on less than about $20 per month.

The new South African government has struggled, amongst other things, to compete in a global market resulting in huge job losses rather than job creation. Added to that, the effect that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had on sub-Saharan Africa is devastating. Already poor households lose the little income they have when breadwinners get sick or die. Then there is the extra burden on the extended families as they take in the children left behind by those who have died. Fifteen years after the election of a democratic South African government and Apartheid has ended, and despite gains made by the present government in terms of providing housing, water and electricity to previously disadvantaged people, the poor remain as large a group as ever with their suffering as bad as ever and in some areas perhaps worse.

More than half of South Africa's children (55%) live in the "indigent" category.

Structural unemployment has become chronic with 42% of South Africa's children living in a household where nobody is employed. These children face discrimination, isolation and extreme hardship. They typically do not have access to the resources necessary to grow, be healthy, live in safety, become educated and develop their full potential.

This is why we provide a daily meal to the children in the villages where we serve. This is why we provide free preschools and free learning centers and free grief counseling and free care to the sick. This is why we do what we do. Somebody needs to do something - we believe WE are that "somebody".

Our next goal is by 2013 to have served 2 million meals.

With your continued support, we can certainly do this.

With warm regards,
Michelle Tessendorf
Helping Hands in Africa