Sophakama, has already had quite a road. It all started last year, when Evelyn Lotz returned to South Africa from Jerusalem, after 4 years of teaching there. She felt that her one claim to fame is that she has experience in teaching children to read. After speaking to some people, she discovered that there was a need for this, because of the large numbers of learners in classes in schools. So in September 2011 her friend Anna Marie Franken of Global Challenge Expedisions invited her to come and do a week long Edu-camp with some local children of Ithemba (Jeffreysbay) and some children from Jehovah Jireh (Alexandria). In December 2011 she took some kids from ACVV in Kensington and again some children from Ithemba for a second Edu-camp. These two Edu-camps were such a learning curve in trying to discover what the ingrediants for such camps could and should be. The third camp was then in January 2012. This time though, they did not go to Jeffreysbay, but to Alexandria to work with a bigger group of kids from the Jehovah Jireh home. It was during this Edu-camp that Bongiwe Magongo and Ryan Johnson joined Evelyn. It was also during this Edu-camp that the penny dropped, and the realization hit home that Edu-camps are indeed a needed ministry. The next week back in Port Elizabeth at the house of Stephan and Alida Bothma, Anna Marie Franken joined Bongiwe, Evelyn and Ryan for a meeting where Sophakama (we shall rise) saw the light.
