THE BEGINNING ( ENGLISH VERSION )

From now on we are going to try to keep everyone informed about our feelings, preparations and so on regarding our plans in South Africa.
AND WHAT ARE THESE PLANS.....?

As you maybe have seen on our blog, or we told you ourselves, our house is now for sale.
Quite a big step for sure, but for a few years now we are very busy with and interested in South Africa. And after two very impressive visits to this beautifull country we knew fore sure that there is a future in South Africa and we want to be a part of that future.

A beaitifull country, many lovely people and an amazing nature......but of course a lot of bad things also, we are aware of that.
Where are we going to? In the neighbourhood of Durban, Kwazulu Natal, Valley of the Thousand Hills.
When are we going? When we finished our work with painting , our house is sold and all arrangements have been made. We expect and hope at the end of this year.

Kwazulu Natal is one of the poorest provences of South Africa. Unemployment is huge, a lot of "unhappy" people and of course an area where HIV/AIDS, with all of its problems, is battering the lives of the people.
Only one of the effects of this problem are the countless children who are in one way or the other a victim.
Some became orphan, got infected, got abused in any horrible kind of way or are living in unacceptable and insecure surroundings.

We ourselves had a bit of experience while we were there. That's when we realised we want to be in some way involved to try to make the future for these kids a bit more better.
Ingrid and I know that it is very difficult but we believe in it and we are going to make it succesfull.
Together with some other people, who are in South Africa for a longer time and want to achieve the same goals, we are planning to start a " place of safety".
This means a temporary shelter for kids with the age of 0 till 18 that need a safe place due to different circumstances. From our point of view not just a roof but also healthy, secure, lovingfull and a bit of helping to grow up.

In the present it is often like this: a child needs to get out of a situation and with a little luck he/she can come to a place of safety....a lot of social workers are then involved....due to the huge working pressure sometimes the welbeing of the child is lost....the kids can only stay for 6 months and sometimes in the fith month they realise they have just one month left....so they have to put the kid in another place just because time is up.....wich is very bad for the kids.

Because there are a few other people we are going to work with will look after the right procedures and timesceduals, we are convinced that the children are placed in a good invirement
after 6 month or even better when such a place is found earlier.

As soon as we have more specific news we will put this on our blog.
When you have question or remarks....please put them on the blog or just send a mail to: johnraaphorst@hotmail.com.

Hope to see you next time on our blog and thank you for reading.

With love, Ingrid and John Raaphorst