Praise and Prayer Points

1. Kids: We were sad, but relieved, to see the five siblings go to live with extended family. Two new sibling sets joined us and the four new kids have been slowly settling. The children are in a different age group and this has been a major learning curve. The change is challenging at times but it refines and grows us. To date, uThando leNkosi has seen 25 children pass through our doors! What an incredible miracle.

2. Staff: At the end of July, our House Parents, Albert and Natasha, will be leaving us. They will have been serving alongside us for 10 months. Please pray for them as they step into whatever new things God has in store for them. Also, please keep praying as we go into a new phase of advertising and interviewing for the position of House Parents.

3. Volunteers: We are so grateful for the enthusiastic and energetic volunteers who have stepped up to the vision – they are a big part of expressing love at uThando leNkosi. A special mention to the Grade 12’s from various High Schools who did some community service with us as part of their curriculum. Thank you for your time and energy!

4. Prayer Team:  As we said above, the House began from a place of intense prayer and absolute obedience and taking God at His word – and it will ONLY be sustained by the same! We really need to rebuild a solid team of people who get the vision and the mission and will devote themselves to praying for, lifting up, encouraging, bringing words, and breathing life into the House.  If you want to be involved and commit yourself in this way, please let us know!

Our second newsletter of 2010 is now available! If you would like to receive our newsletters, please send us an email with 'Subscribe' in the subject line.

Here is an excerpt from the newsletter...

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Babalwa says it best when she writes, “The past quarter has been one where we have been so encouraged and full of praise and glory for God and also where our faith has been challenged in many situations. We have seen prayers answered and we want to be a people of hope in all circumstances.” At the outset we want to give praise where it is fully due! We have seen several places of safety and other NGOs shut down over the last few months due to lack of finances. UL started off as a faith organization – our very first instruction from God was to never ask for finances or fundraise but in everything to bring our needs to Him who is more than able to provide. Time and again we have seen Him be faithful to His promises. This last month was especially difficult as the bank balance was dismal and we looked to be unable to pay staff salaries. One evening last week, Sheralyn (Trustee) was watching a DVD which told the story of an orphanage that was run by faith and NEVER lacked anything. Her faith was boosted and she began to pray. The next day we received the government grant money for our first lot of kids – the grant which we have been struggling to obtain for months! It was enough to pay bills and staff salaries! Our God is a God who supplies all our needs – even though He sometimes leaves it to the last minute. We have been reminded that this House began from a place of intense prayer and absolute obedience and taking God at His word – and it will ONLY be sustained by the same!

Our first newsletter of 2010 is now available. If you would like to receive our newsletters please send a message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with 'Subscribe' in the subject line.

Here is an excerpt from the newsletter... for the full copy, please drop us a line.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It has been a couple of months now since our last newsletter and much has happened. Our house parents, Albert and Natasha, have been slowly settling in – and deserve a giant reward, along with the other volunteers, for keeping the children occupied, entertained, and alive through the [long] Christmas holidays. The kids had great opportunity to visit the Barnyard, the Science Centre, to go to the beach and even to see helicopters with Albert and Natasha. We would like to thank all of you who have helped out over the last few months with your time and energy, for those who have so generously supported uThando

PRAYER: Please join us for Saturday prayer at the House. This is a great opportunity to keep more regularly up-to-date with what is going on in the House and to be able to pray into specific needs or to witness God’s miraculous answers to prayer. The prayer time is open to anybody. Also, we are looking for people who can specifically commit to praying one day a week either for our House Parents, Babalwa, or Tracy – please contact the office to let us know if you would like to support in this way.

TIME: Volunteer to spend a couple of hours a week at the House, helping out with making meals, playing with kids, doing structured activities, doing the school-run (pick-ups after school), assisting Babalwa with admin, or taking kids on outings.

SKILLS: If you have any special skills that could contribute to the smooth running of the House or the holistic care of the kids, give us a shout. This could include your mad skills with a vacuum cleaner, lawnmower, hedgecutters, arts and crafts, baking, enrichment work, painting or car washing!

SAFETY AND FOSTER CARE: If you would like more information on how you can get involved in safety (48hr emergency care) or longer term care of children, please give our office a ring.

Prayer meeting times have changed...we hope more people can now join us, pray with us and grow together.

Please join us for a time of prayer on Saturday 6 March from 3pm to 5pm. NThis is a great opportunity to keep more regularly up-to-date with what is going on in the House and to be able to pray into specific needs or to witness God’s miraculous answers to prayer. The prayer time is open to anybody.

It would be great to get a response from people to get a general feel of how many people can come. We really see it as a time where we can be together, pray and be encouraged and filled with hope in what the Lord is doing at the House and staying connected with each other as well.

For more information or directions, please contact Babalwa on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

What area of uThando are you involved in?

I'm a Trustee

Tell us where you grew up and a little about your family?

I grew up in Joburg. My parents still live there, and my brother is down in Cape Town - he is an actor.

How did you come to know Christ?

What area of uThando are you involved in?

I am one of the founding members and a Trustee. I also help with the
website and IT related jobs.

Tell us where you grew up and a little about your family?

I was born in a small town called Zeist in Holland. We moved to Cape
Town when I was 7 years old. My dad is South African and my mom is
German and I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters.

In September uThando got fantastic house parents- a wonderful answer to prayer! (We also got given a dog-with kennel and bowls, some new toys, financial donations, and an old lawn mower - all things that were on our prayer wishlist -GOD IS SO GOOD).

So even while God was faithfully providing... there was a problem, we were receiving kids, but slowly and generally only for very short placements  24-72hours.

Last week Monday we began an eight day time of fasting and prayer! God really super encouraged us! He also challenged us to move into the area of working with families of origin - something we know very little about, so if you have ideas or experience, PLEASE CALL! :)

On Saturday we had an AMAZING time of prayer, where God really presenced Himself! It was such a blessing.... dum dum dum and then on MONDAY. We got phone calls for seven children! On the last day of our fast God amazingly answered our prayers!

Five of those children are now in the house. Another one comes to visit during the day, but sleeps at home at night... the house is full of children! Our hearts are filled with wonder!

God is alive! God is good! and God answers prayer!

If you would like to be involved in volunteering at uThando please email or call us!