A very long over due update!!!

Well it has taken a little while to get down and write this and then it has sat written on my laptop for over a month – so sorry everyone!!  I thought we’d update you with project news and then give you a little family news.

Project News
The rest of the 1^st term has gone well.  We continue to have amazing games evenings led by Sian. What a gift she has in this area and the students love their evenings with her. She also did a brilliant lecture on Body Language and how this can play such a big role in interviews, etc. Thank you so much Sian! Liz Pierson also continues to teach music to a few students every Friday and they were able to take part in two concerts this term, which we so enjoyed watching! Thank you Liz!

And not forgetting Jill who has faithfully taught computer lessons every Thursday for over a year now!! You’re a star Jill!!!

I’ve loved my bible studies this last term but did not do as many as I had hoped to do with having a new born to juggle!!  My last bible study of the 1^st term was Easter based and we made wooden crosses.  I love how they so enjoyed this exercise!!

Two of our students have been accepted onto the USAP Programme – Ryan and Destiny.  We are so incredibly proud of them.  There were 700 applicants and 32 places given and we got two of them.  This programme does not guarantee them a scholarship at a US university but it nearly does – in the sense that they have been earmarked already and will be helped with applications etc.  Well done guys you have made us so proud!!!!

14 of our 15 students will be wiritng their SAT’s.  We have had two wonderful ladies volunteer their time to prepare our students for these exams – Rebekah Bell and Charlotte Allum-Smith.  They write their exam on 2^nd of June!!!  So we will all be cheering them on!!!

Taringana – on of our 8 who goes to school at St Georges, made the school chess team.  He has blown all our minds as he has played brilliantly – winning most games and being selected to represent Zimbabwe in a tournament somewhere in Afirca.  Well done Taringana – what an opportunity.

A funny story!!  We had some wood very generously donated to us from Atlas Copco and needed a few bunk beds made for the host families bedrooms that the 8 students are staying in.  I ordered our side of the road guy to make them and went to collect the beds a few days later.  I was met with a very funny sight.  A beautifully made bed but made for midgets who were incredibly fat!!!!  The bed was very short and very wide!!!!!  Sadly this bed was intended for two big guys and would not have made for comfortable sleeping if we had kept it!!  Needless to say we have a proper bunk bed now and the boys are happily sleeping in it!!!  Wiseman who made the beds found it hysterical that he had got the measurements so wrong!!!  He admitted later it was all due to guess work! 

The 15 students initiated a fundraiser to help raise money towards the boys examination fees at the orphanage, St Josephs that they have been volunteering Maths tutition lessons.  Also, Edwin, accompanied by one or two of the other students, has been visiting township schools giving motivational talks to the current O-level students (GCSE). We have been so proud of all our students as they want to give back!!! Well done guys keep it up!

We ended the 1^st term by taking the 15 to Gweru for the weekend. Mark and Hope took them to a wonderful teacher training college a couple of hours outside Harare. It was a great weekend of bonding for the students but also a time for them to see if any of them were inspired to become teachers. We think a few of them might be interested!  This weekend was a highlight for many of them this term.   Here is a cool photo of the 15 at a game park which they stopped off at on their way back.  A first for most of them - seeing african animals!!

A lovely lady called Brenda came out from New Zealand and spent a bit of time at the boarding house.  She did a workshop on how to debate and also showed an incredible BBC series on the World!! The students were amazed by what they watched.

Two young guys, Marko (whose full name is Makomborero - how cool is that) and Josh, have volunteered their time to run courses over the next year to help integrate the new 8 and our current 15 students into their new lifestyles etc. What brilliant men they are - these two men will be able to speak to their hearts and minds and be relevant to our 23 students. They are such a blessing and we appreciate all their input.

Fundraising
We have had a few fundraising events so far this year. Ange Smith ran another Mother and Daughters morning at a local primary school and it was hugely successful. The proceeds came to Makomborero Zimbabwe. We so value her input and passion for what we are doing.

Hwei Tan, another former pupil of Mark's, has just climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for Makomborero. We feel humbled and in awe of her. Thank you Hwei – we know we could never have survived a climb like that!!!!

Susan Leese ran the London Marathon for us this year! Thank you Susan – you did brilliantly!!!!

Makomborero UK has bought a debenture for the London 10km run – we have 6 wonderful runners running for us!!!  Thank you guys!!  Hope it goes well!

Stu Campbell will also be organising another Peter’s Commute this year.  We are so grateful to him for all the hard work that goes into this event, especially with another little Campbell arriving in the next few weeks!!! http://www.justgiving.com/teams/peterscommute2012  (actually the little fella arrived today – woo hoo – welcome to the world Alfie).

Shaun Orpen’s company – Acturis will be running for us in the London 10k.  Thanks guys!!!!  You are gems!!!  http://www.justgiving.com/acturis2012

We are always continually humbled by all your efforts at raising money for Makomborero – thank you, thank you!!!  Thank you also to those of you who have so generously given personally to Makomborero.  We know that without all of you – what we are doing would not be able to happen!!!

We are also thrilled to welcome 3 more local Zimbabwean companies on board – Stanbic Bank, Atlas Copco and Delloittes!! They have generously sponsored 6 students between them and we are so grateful for their support and belief in us!!

Makomborero Zimbabwe Staff
We have purchased a minibus for the project. This will relieve a couple of hours each day for the students who currently use public transport and will also save us money in the long run.   It was a little bit of a stressful process buying the minibus but we have it now, fitted with seats and running like a dream!!!  We are excited to be able to provide another job for someone and we welcome Stephan onto our team – our driver.

We are so grateful for the 4 amazing house parents who host the 8 students in their homes – thank you!!!  Also as always this term could not have been the success it was without Dinnis (our incredible house mum) and Johannes (our handyman/caretaker) – you guys continue to serve tirelessly and we so appreciate you!! Thank you also to our incredible team of teachers – Charles Muchoko, Katy Lanas, Hayden Eastwood and Alison Stancombe. What an amazing team we have been blessed with!

Hopefully we have updated you on this last term. The pressure if on for the 15 as they begin to prepare for their final exams .

Family news!
We were blessed with another special visitor from England.  A special friend Elizabeth came out for two weeks and we so enjoyed sharing life with her.  The kids so loved time with her and our house felt empty when she left.

We also loved having Riems and Jen and their little girl Emily come and stay with us for a few nights before they headed off on their new adventures in Mozambique.  http://casatevelde.com 

We so loved our time with them and meeting their precious girl – we are so proud of them too with their big move to deepest Africa!! 

With the latest three lots of friends who have come out so far this year we love it how friendships pick up from where they left off – thank you guys for blessing us with your presence!!!   

We have had 4 burglaries in 6 months and have found it very unsettling – especially this last burglary as it was stuff taken from inside rather than outside.  Thankfullly our back door was locked and they never got in – just fished stuff through a small open window in the Cottage.  It was also at 7pm when we were putting the kids to bed – so feels so unsettling.  It looks like we will be getting a dog!!! (we now have a puppy – will blog again soon with details)

Little Ella is 4 months (actually nearly 5 months) and is changing all the time.  She is a precious gift to us and has slotted into our lives so well.  She has a gorgeous smile and chats to anyone who is prepared take time to give her their full attention.  It is going way too fast and I still pinch myself at the miracles God has given us – 3 precious children!!  Thank you Lord.  A journey we thought we might never take but now have 3!!!!!

Matt took a while to settle into his new school, it quite literally broke my heart as a mum to see him struggle so much to settle.  I found myself on my knees many an evening, shedding a few tears for him and praying.  But he found a special friend towards the end of the term and it has made such a huge difference.  I realise that this is only the beginning of wanting my kids to fit in, be loved and accepted for who they are and enjoy life!!!  So I know I will spend many more hours on my knees over the coming years with all 3 of them.  Matt also learnt how to swim this term.  From not being able to and then in 10 weeks swimming on his own – so proud of him.  He is such a deep thinker and comes out with stuff I’m sure a lot of little boys his age don’t even think about!!!  Matt is totally obsessed with cars at the moment and lego!!!  Matt loves people and well often be found chatty away to a complete stranger.

Zoe is our little ball of fire – who is a boundary tester, cuddle bunny, loves her bling jewellery, her babies etc.  She is a great little mummy who breast feeds her dolls regularly, gives them cuddles, sings to them etc.  I love watching her.  She is also an aspiring cook who loves to cook up little treats in her pretend kitchen!!!  She keeps us on our toes.  She loves her little school which is 2 mornings a week since January and she is thriving in this little environment!!  She is our social butterfly who loves people and can be incredibly nosey!!!

We had a typhoid scare just after Debs left.  There has been typhoid in Harare over the last few months and I was tested and one of my markers came back positive – so needless to say the whole family had to take samples into the lab and be tested etc and it was all a little stressful as I tried to think of all the people we had come into contact with.  Thankfully the further tests came back negative and it just shows I had been in contact but not contracted it!!!!  There have been lots of tummy bugs going round that we have had but thankfully managed to avoid typhoid!!

Our Easter Gardens we made - Matt and Zoe did one each!!

This 1^st term at times felt like a marathon – one that really took its toll on us physically, emotionally and on our family!!  Mark working two full time jobs and not seeing much of his family, having a new born, doing project work etc etc we felt like we were drowning at times.  It made starting this next term very hard as we knew what we were in for.  We keep reminding ourselves that the end of the year things will ease up and our family can return to some normality – please pray for strength for us to make it to the end of the year!!

We went away for the last two weeks of the holidays.  What an incredible break it was.  We were in Clarens and Lesotho. 

We literally fell off the face of the earth.  It was hard work getting everything in place with the project before we left but all the very late nights were so worth it.  Just loved being a family, catching up with Mark’s folks and my brothers.  Matt and Zoe loved seeing their granparents and getting to know them better.  Granparents are such special people in their little lives!!! 

I also loved special time with my brothers, meeting our latest nephew (who is a very cute precious little boy – loved seeing Rich and Anni as parents – they are brilliant at it and make my heart all warm when I see them with Simon) and just being together – the 3 siblings – very special – lots of fun and wonderful cousin time. 

The cousins just love time together.  The scenery was amazingly breath taking and God felt very near!!!  We were so proud of Pee and Jo and the work that they are doing in Lesotho – they are incredible.  What joy to watch my brother preach in one of the two churches he leads in rural Lesotho.  To see him speak and interact with people in his village was such a joy.  Jo his wife, is a true legend.  She has embraced a very different life and is a fabulous mummy, home schooler, cook etc!!!  I could go on about how proud I am of them but will leave it there!!!!  Guys I know some days are tough but you are doing a fantastic job and building His Kingdom!!  If you would like to see a few more photos of the three siblings together - here are my brothers photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/peteandjowest/April2012

All the cousins!

Funny story!!  This is a roundabout that has been put in the village my brother lives in in Rural Lesotho  – when the kids play on it – it pumps water into a tank that then enables villages to use a tap to fill their water containers and carry water back to their houses.  The funny part is that it is in a part of the village where there are not many children – so in theory it is a great idea but practically not brilliant!  Especially when you see old ladies pushing the roundabout round 200 hundred times to fill a bucket!!!

We also had the chance to visit and stay with my wonderful cousin Kelly in J'burg with her and her husband!!!  They are amazing hosts!!!

Matt and Zoe so enjoyed time with their Daddy too – so wonderful to see Mark connect with them again – I get a little tearful writing that as back into this term, it is so hard for Mark and the kids not seeing each other.  We were so blessed in many ways during our holiday and it made for such a wonderful break – free accommodation, gifts from people, time with Mark’s folks, time with my brothers and their families, a night away just me, Mark and Ella etc.  Feel quite speechless at how blessed we were!!!  We haven’t had a break this long since before having kids and it was incredible!!!  So we brace ourselves for this term, trusting him to sustain us through this tough, busy season!!  Learning to carve in precious family time here and there!!!!

A few photos:
Matt at his end of term concert!  Lovely for my folks to be there too!  Proud mummy and daddy - and granparents!!!

Zoe and Daddy!!!

Enjoying a moring at a little game park in Harare!

There were 4 in the bed!!!

Matthew on the computer!

Hello Ella!!!

We have a kindness jar that the kids put a coloured stone in when they do something kind - it also counts for us Mark and I.  When the jar is full the kids get to choose a day away as a family.  They choose to go to Paradise Pools for the day - about 1 1/2 hrs out of Harare.  What a lovely day!!!

The kids trying out Ella's Bumbo!!!

The kids love our Administrator Hope!

All squeezed into Zoe's bed!

A special weekend for our family in March!!

Happy 2012!!!  Well we are now a family of 5!!  We welcomed our precious little girl Ella Thea Albertyn into the world on 6^th January. 

It has been a very special 7 weeks getting to know her – she has two doting siblings who love her very much and two parents that think she is incredible!!!  I’ve recovered well from my c-section and was so impressed with the care I received from my consultant – what an amazing man!!!  We were incredibly blessed with meals and visitors those early days.  My folks were life savers with school runs and swimming lessons in the first two weeks I could not drive and looking after the kids while I was in hospital, so that Mark could spend time with Ella and I - what a blessing!!  Mark's brother was a great chauffeur for the early morning school run at 7.30am.  He put up with me getting used to getting three kids out of the house on my own!!!  Mark’s sister was out for a week to help out and we loved seeing her and the kids loved time with their aunty! 

We also had a visitor out from the UK for two weeks – Diana – who is another ex-student of Mark’s from Benenden – it was so lovely to have her in our home and to share our crazy lives with her!!  We’ve also just had my good friend Debs out – what a treat to have someone who knows you well and you can just be yourself with.  Thank you Debs for blessing us with your company and Gary thank you for looking after your kids so that Debs could be here!!!  We really want to relish these early weeks with our precious daughter and feel sad that our lives are so manic that she literally just has to slot in!!!!  I’m loving not being pregnant and having my brain back after being so drugged for so many months!!! 

So what did the Christmas period hold for us?

Well the obvious – Christmas – which was lovely in our home with my folks, Mark’s brother and my Uncle.  We had no electricity for 6 days during that period so had to cook the Christmas meal at three different homes!  Mark was crazy busy with recruiting the new scholarship students, he sadly only took Christmas day off! 

We had a lovely civilised New Years with friends over a fondue and I found the weather extremely uncomfortable and couldn’t wait for my c-sec day to arrive – though Ella did give us a few scares and we thought we wouldn’t get to that date! 

We also thought if we did not do Matt’s party before Ella came it might not happen – so squeezed it in among scholarship testing, visits to the township schools, training up an administrator etc.  Yet again, it was a Thomas theme and Mark even dressed up as the Fat Controller!!  Much fun was had by all!!!  Can’t believe we have a 4 year old!  Love being his parents!

Project stuff!!

We have started the year well!  Our 15 have returned to the house eager to learn and we now have a further 8 students who we care for!!  They are a fantastic group of students who achieved outstanding O-level results.  It was a gruelling process for Mark to get to this point – we did an initial cut down to 80 from 270 applications, from 35 township schools and then Mark did a few days of testing and interviews to further reduce to 24 students.  One more day of testing and subject specific testing and decision time!!! 

Here is a picture of Ella helping out the day after she was born on my hospital bed!!! 

Once Mark had settled on the 8 students he felt would best fit the three schools who have given full scholarships, he paid a visit to the students and their families/guardians at their homes in the townships.  He went with Dinnis Banga (our brilliant house mother) and Hope (our new Administrator). All three of them were completely speechless and emotionally drained after having a brief glimpse into their lives.  They could not believe how much they had achieved with so few resources. Here is a collage of the people we met: (We were particularly struck by the very difficult livings conditions of Lisa, Pamela, Phillip, Taringana and Collen). The visits provided real confirmation that we have discovered some young adults that will have their lives (and that of their families) completely transformed.

The students have started in their new schools and are finding their feet.  We are so excited that our new 8 students did brilliantly in their O Level Examinations – these results only came out once they had started at their new schools – so Mark, as you can imagine, was hugely relieved that his selection process worked.

Pamela, Philip and Blessing have started at Gateway and they obtained the following grades :

Blessing – 10As!!; Pamela 8As 1B and Phillip 7As, 1B and 2Cs.

Lisa and Nyashadzaishe have started at Hellenic and they obtained the following grades :

Nyasha – 9As, 3Bs;  Lisa 9As 1B. They have A grades in all their chosen A-level subjects.

Taringana, Collen and Tinotenda start at St Georges on the 10th of February. They obtained the following grades:

Taringana – 10As!!; Collen 9As 1B and Tinotenda 7As, 3Bs.

The A’s here generally represent the equivalent of an A* in the UK.

Here they are!

Starting at these schools is a huge step for them socially, culturally and academically and understandably they were a little nervous. We have been working on getting all their uniforms and there was much excitement during this process.


A few of them buying their new uniforms:

The host families have provided a bedroom for the students and we have kitted the rooms out with bunk beds, desks and storage space as well as a rechargeable light to work with when there is no electricity. They will have all their meals at the boarding house and partake in the boarding house life fully, as the host families are all walking distance from our boarding house.  Nyasha and Lisa have been awarded Full Academic Colours at their school and we are so proud of them and that their results have been acknowledged in this way. 

Receiving their colous blazers from the Head

We hope that the other 6 might have some kind of acknowledgement of their accomplishments too!  We look forward to you getting know these new 8 students as well as our 15!!

The 15 students continue to be part of the USAP programme.  This has been a great opportunity for them.  They have also benefited from being part of this in a social sense as they have been invited to a few functions that the US Embassy has hosted - Jazz Evening, attended seminars, taken part in an Essay competion based on Black History Month etc.  This has been a great confidence booster for them!

During Diana’s visit she painted our logo on the boarding house wall – doesn’t it look great.  Our 15 students loved being involved in the process – amazingly it was the first time many of them had ever painted!!!  

Diana also assisted with admin work, helping the new 8 get their uniforms and set up a model UN club at Mark’s school.  Matt and Zoe had a ball with her too!!!!  She also did some extra maths lessons at a local orphanage which a few of our 15 students had arranged themselves, unprompted by Mark and I and have given up a few of their Saturday mornings to help the young boys with their Maths.  We joined them for their first visit.

Deb’s had a flying visit here!!!!  She helped with project stuff, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  She coached Netball and took part in Basketball, she came along to Bible Study and baked for all 23 students, she interviewed each one of them, visited the township schools where our 8 new students came from to thank the heads for putting these students forward for selection etc.  She managed to cram both Albertyn family stuff in among project stuff and we loved sharing it all with her!  She is a trustee of Makomborero in the UK and we know she will be able to feed back to all the trustees all she has seen!  We even squeezed a trip up Domboshava with her!!

Hope is our new administrator and she has quite literally been a life saver.  We work very well together, especially as she learns the ropes and we learnt together the process the 8 new students had to go through for getting ready for their new schools.  It has been a life saver having someone to do all the running around etc and we feel that she is an incredible asset to Makomborero Zimbabwe.  We were worried about how it would work having her office in our home – but she has slotted well into our crazy lives.

Two young guys, Mako (whose full name is Makomborero – how cool is that) and Josh have volunteered their time to run courses over the next year to help integrate the new 8 students into their new lifestyles etc.  What brilliant men they are – they have come from similar backgrounds to the students and have brilliant jobs and degrees under their belts now.  These two men will be able to speak to their hearts and minds and be relevant to these 8 students.  They are such a blessing and we appreciate all their input.

We continue to have amazing games evenings led by Sian.  What a gift she has in this area and the students love their evenings with her.

I continue to run bible studies and love this time with the students.  The 15 continue to have computer lessons and have a full co-curricular program.  The new 8 students fully partake in the co-curricular programme at their schools.

Please pray for us as we apply for a grant to purchase a minibus for the project.  We desperately need this vehicle for our work, as the cost of hiring and not having a vehicle at our disposal has been tough!! 

The Journey of Discipleship!!
We thought we would share with you a story of discipleship - the ups and downs of it and looking back now can laugh hysterically about the whole thing!!  So if you've never been to Africa you might find it hard to picture but I will try and describe things as best as possible!!!

We have a lovely young man who we have been discipling these last few months - we met him when we worked out in the rural areas in 2010.  He approached us a few months ago with a business plan for a chicken business - rearing chickens from little chicks till they were ready to be killed and sold!  We said that we would loan him the initial set up cost of $150 for the 1st 50 chickens.  The provisor was that he found a market for the chickens and paid us back within 6 months.  He signed a contract with us and off he went.  We got regular text message updates from him on the progress of the chickens, when he bought them, how much they were eating, growing etc.  D-day arrived - day of slaughter!!!  We got a phone call to say that he was struggling to find a market for half of the chickens - so the softies we are, we said we'd buy them for the boarding house and freeze them and use them each week till we ran out!!  Our only provisor for taking the chickens was that they be slaughtered at the boarding house so they were fresh and we knew they had not been sitting in the sun for hours!  Well on D-day - we got a text to say the chickens had be slaughtered and he was on his way into town.  This was obviously against our instructions - so now we had visions of these chickens, piled in a plastic bucket on the back of a truck, cooking in the midday sun!  Mark then went to the house we were going to freeze the chickens at and waited, and waited and waited.  Turns out the car they had hired to bring the chickens into Harare had been impounded by the police as it was not road worthy - so now this guy is on a local bus with the 40 chickens, heading into town and then having to catch another bus out to the boarding house.  Needless to say Mark and I were convinced the chickens would be totally rotten by the time they finally arrived.  Our house mum made the decision when they did arrive that they were ok!!!  So a bit of a journey but also an opportunity to speak into his life about following instructions etc!!!!

The kids!

Matthew!
Matthew has started nursery 5 mornings a week!  It has been a little bit of a shock to the system for him and he has found it hard adjusting to less time at home but he does love his new school.  He is totally obsessed with his cars and plays for hours with them.  Trains still feature highly but his cars are taken everywhere with him – even to bed!!!  He is a deep thinker who comes out with classic conversations and makes us laugh!!  He loves cuddles and is a tease like his daddy!!!

Zoe!

Zoe has started nursery 2 mornings a week and is loving every minute of it – to the extent she doesn’t even notice when I leave!!!  She is our go getter who is fearless!!!  A real carer – who loves fixing our sores etc!  She has taken to holding her little sister lots and loves surrounding Ella with every soft toy she can find!!!  She has a wicked sense of humour!!  She is such a girl – loves faries and princesses and Debs brought her the DVD of Tinkerbell – well it’s a favourite!!!  We are going through a lovely phase where she drops all her 's' at the beginning of words - e.g. special is pecial!, spoon is poon, star is tar etc.  Makes us giggle and we make her stay lists of things - cute thing is she can say 's' if it is followed by a vowel!!! e.g. sausage!  Love it!!

Ella!

Is our little chunky monkey!!!  Falling in love with her more and more and can’t wait to be interacting with her a little to figure out who this little person she will become!!!  Loving the new born cuddles and feel so incredibly blessed!!!  Sleep deprevation is so worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!  Time just goes far toooooo quick!!!!  7 weeks!!!!

We love all three of them so much and love seeing them interact with each other.  Matt and Zoe play beautifully together (most of the time) and I love eves dropping on their little conversations!  They both love Ella to bits!!!!

We hope this has given you a glimpse into our world the last few months!  We have found juggling family, project and Mark’s new job quite tough at times and Mark is weary!!!  Trusting we can find a solution to reduce some of Mark’s teaching load and hopefully enable him to come to bed earlier than 1am each night!!!  As a family we have missed him and he’s found it hard not being so involved in Ella’s life – but it is a season!!!  Please pray for strength for both of us!!  I’m very proud of my man but missing him too!

Here are a few photos:
Taken by Debs on an afternoon family walk

Mark and I on our anniversary night away!

Zoe and I at Matt's birthday party!

Cuddles with Mum!

Mum this is what straws were invented for!!!

How many babies can I fit on my back??!!

Matthew and Diana

Zoe chuffed as punch to be in a borrowed Snow White outfit!

Ella enjoying being outside

Zoe setting up a Teddy's picnic on the Kitchen Floor