The recent placement of a boy named Tom brings us to a total of 25 children. Tom joins the rest of the Open Arms family as a very bustling 1 1/2 year old. He was immediately made to feel right at home with his other Open Arms brothers and sisters. As winter sets in in South Africa, the children are keeping very busy and we continue to be grateful and humbled to care for such special children.

Co-Founder Bob Solis is planning to walk across South Africa next August to raise funds for more cottages at Open Arms Home for Children. The walk will cover more than 750 miles (1,200 km) and will start at Open Arms Home in Komga and end in Cape Town. This two month effort will hopefully raise enough money for 8 more cottages at Open Arms and allow us to grow capacity from 30 children to more than 75. For more information, go to www.alongwalk.org. Go Bob!

We were recently able to surprise the children and staff with a brand new Toyota Quantum 15 passenger van. We are very indebted to Bertha Jensen of Phoenix who gave us the money to purchase this vehicle. Thanks to Bertha, we are now able to take the children to appointments and outings more easily. We are also thankful for another generous donor whose gift is allowing us to access the local municipal water system. With a well and rainwater, we weren’t able to maintain a consistent supply of water. This generous gift will allow all our children, staff and visitors a safe a reliable source of drinking water from the local municipality. We hope the project is completed my March, 2008.