Hi Karen
Thanks for letting us have a copy of your on line newsletter – what wonderful work is being done by the money donated to Amistad.
Just to correct your understanding of our numbers. We have 25 permanent children, but we also provide a medical service to sick or dying HIV+ children who we care for under a “Place of Safety” mandate. Since we cannot take any more permanent children, once these children are stabilised, they have to go to other facilities if they don’t have any family to return to. We have 5-8 of these children at any one time. Since this overloads the home they are in and we are limited to the number of children we can look after, we were trying to get the 10 bed Hospice set up.
The building that was built by the church through missionary teams is situated in the middle of a squatter camp and, after much thought, we decided that it would be too dangerous for our caregivers and other staff to come and go from work. It would also mean that Lyn couldn’t go to sit with a dying baby if the call came late at night. That squatter camp is known for attacks and hijackings so we felt it was not a good idea to finish off that building. What we have done is buy the property next door to one of our current homes and we are renovating it to make it suitable for a Hospice. We have received the funding for the purchase of the home and some of the renovations from Luxemburg – the government has given two thirds and one of our sponsors a third. After 2 years of proposal after proposal, the money has finally been cleared and, once the house is in Lambano’s name, we will begin renovations.
What we still have not received funding for is the rest of the renovations and the running costs. As you can imagine, the running costs are high because, according to the law, have to hire trained nursing sisters to run a Hospice. Still, we believe this is something the Lord wants us to do and we believe He will make funds available.
Warm regards
Peggy
Peggy Burger
Bookkeeper
Lambano Sanctuary
