Support for Special Needs orphans in Cape Town

In the light of the Easter festivities we decided that it was time for a holiday. Among all of the exciting activities we took the children from the orphanage to Monkey Town. The day started with all of us making ‘enough sandwiches to feed an army’, and dressing the children for the day’s event. After setting off and with everyone in high spirits we arrived all eager to meet the residence. The day couldn’t have been more perfect with the sun beaming down and the children loving every second of the day. The children behaved perfectly, however the same can’t be said for the monkeys who decided that it would be funny to give one of the boys a little present on his head.

As we made our way through the park there were a few hairy moments where the children were a little intimidated by the monkeys, but then who wouldn’t be with a big scary ape climbing all over you. We were lucky enough to watch the monkey’s feeding time at lunch and even decided to serenade a chimpanzee who was supposed to dance, but he was obviously having an off day and decided to throw fruit at us instead. The day ended with the children playing on the jungle gym and the trampoline which was a big hit with everyone. All in all it was an apetastic day. 

We would like to share the most recent trustee report from the GVI Charitable Trust. This report covers the six month period from July to December 2011.

We are delighted to share that this has been by far our most successful period, raising in six months nearly as much as we did the whole of the previous year. This increase in funding has brought a corresponding increase in the impact we have been able to create on our programs around the world.

During this period we have invested in sustainable education across Latin America including support for the elderly in Guatemala and income generation schemes to support education in Honduras and Ecuador. In Mexico we have worked with a community to establish a recycling centre and in Kenya our partners in Mombasa will now realise their goal of seeing impoverished students through to completion of the primary education earning recognised qualifications for the first time. 

These are just a few highlights of an amazing, productive and rewarding six months. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and played a crucial role in these achievements.

• July - December 2011 Trustee Report (PDF)
  

As our staff and wonderful supporters have been working hard to raise funds for this Special needs project in South Africa plans have been advancing after very productive meetings with our local partners at the Ikhayalethemba Village Orphanage.

Our partners are very keen for us to move forwards with setting up a dedicated centre for working with the special needs children which will also to act as a training and respite centre for parents and special needs children from the community.

We will be able to use a current building for which we will focus on converting into a suitable centre with funds raised through the GVI Charitable Trust.

Our team are now busy working on a detailed plan outlining what needs to be done to the building and what equipment we will need to create the centre.

This is a very exciting and positive progression for the project. Many thanks to everyone who has supported us and we look forward to sharing news about future developments.