Well done, Ryan!

28 - 30 November 2014 organised his first youth camp.  It was held at Hannes Marais' farm near Cookhouse.  The overall theme of the camp was "Identity".  Ryan spoke on physical identity, I spoke on emotional identity and Jay Jay Greyling on spiritual identity.

As part of the physical identity Ryan spoke about abuse in the home and all of the young people made a pledge not to abuse anybody and to report abuse when they are confronted with it. The discussion around the topic was  very lively and revealing.  One of the groups even picked up on this theme and performed a winning drama during the Saturday night concert.

In the emotional identity talk the young people had to identify negative emotions they feel about themselves and then identify the things that brings them joy.  This was done in the hope of discovering themes that can maybe be developed into dreams for their future. The young people gave artistic expression to these positive things that brought them joy.  It was wonderful to see them at work and to behold the final products.

In the spiritual identity time, Jay Jay spoke on who God is and what His desire is in creating each one of them.  The young people then had time to talk to God in a short time of solitude in nature.


Except for the Identity theme, there were plenty of time for games, walks and competition.  The young people were divided into three groups and especially the afternoon soccer tornament was enthusiastically contested.  These kids already have amazing skill.

One of the consistent highlights throughout the camp was the good food that Oom Hannes kept on producing at every meal.  Lip smacking stuff! Thanks, Oom Hannes and Tannie Christa.

The most beautiful thing for me of this camp though, was to see how the young people grew in confidence and started to reveal more and more of who it is God has made them to be.  This did not happen overnight. It has been at least a year and a half to two years' journey and with some even longer.

SUCCESS!

Evelyn

Expanding to Jeffreybay!

I have had such positive reports this past week concerning Sophakama's Tutor program.  Last year I trained a teacher in Algoa Park, who started her own group with children that she teach.  When I enquired this week how it was going, she replied, that the material that Sophakama use has been the most beneficial material she has used and that it is going really well with the group.  I was so happy to hear this.

In July I trained two new tutors.  The one, Deanne Webb, joined forces with Charmaine van Vollenstee in Gelvandale and the other, Xola Speelman, joined the work at Diaz Primary school.  He has now also started his own group in the Township near where he lives.  I am so excited about this new development.

At the end of August I finished my own daily involvement with the work in Port Elizabeth.  The work there is continuing though with 10 tutors who are actively helping kids with reading and maths.

So, at the 1st of September I moved to Jeffreys Bay with the dream of serving kids here and in the surrounding areas.  Since I have the vision to from now on to move from area to area within the Cacadu district, I needed to change my strategy accordingly.  From now on I will not start Tutor groups on My own.  I will rather strengthen existing groups or help people with the same vision to start their own groups.  Strengthening already existing groups, sounds easy enough, but to identify people with the same vision feels complicated.  To me it means that I have to get connected with people on grass roots level.  On how this can happen, I still need a lot more input.  This, however, is my journey, with which I am excited about.

Evelyn

I had to send a child away!

The work in Gelvandale has been growing this last month ­ no actually you can't call it growing, it must be called exploding. We are only 2 tutors now working with 24 children and it is becoming impossible. This past week we had to divide the children into three groups. A Tuesday group, a Wednesday group and a both days group. Even with that arrangement in place, we will still have 15 children to work with on a day. So this week some kids came for Maths help and I had to send them away. It is heartbreaking! Unless we get more tutors, we will not be able to receive any more children. The four new kids that we did accept this week are all Gr 4 or higher with a very limited ability to read. If they do not receive help now, what will happen to them? What kind of education will they receive? I am afraid that there aren't positive answers to these questions. If you have an hour once a week to give, PLEASE contact me. On a more positive note. We took 7 2nd Graders on a camp to Jeffreys bay last weekend at the Global Challenge house. The kids were from Gelvandale, Shaudervile and Kensington. They had so much fun and there were plenty of opportunity to develop and learn new things. Thanks to the donor that made this camp possible!

Sophakama 2014 First Semester Update

2014 for Sophakama started with a bang. In the first quarter I trained 8 new tutors who got involved in the four places of service that Sophakama has been working at for a year or longer already. Thus, our workforce has been increases. Just before the end of the first quarter on 17 March 2014 we had an informal meeting for all the tutors at Lily Groenewald's house. Even though only a few of our 14 tutors could attend (because of their busy schedules), we had a lovely evening of sharing and encouraging each other. It was good to hear from one another what the things were that we were struggling with and also to hear the success stories. We also challenged one another to keep steadfast in our commitment to teach children reading and mathematics, because the task is really huge. Louise Greyling from Diaz Primary School and Anna Marie Tereblance of Acvv Poplar Ave also encouraged us by telling us about the positive impact they can already see in the children and school. Thank you, to each one that attended and a special thanks to Lily for receiving us in her home. The second quarter is starting a little slow with all the public holidays, but we'll be running on most engines starting this week. In two week's time we are having a camp for the younger kids of Acvv. We will be going to Jeffreys Bay – hopefully the weather will still be warm enough for a swim or at least some games on the beach. Well, that's all my news for now!

We are on the right track!

With the Matric results that came out this week, there were again a lot of talk about the state of education in South Africa. The problem areas were once again pointed out to be literacy and numeracy. It is not as if I needed to hear it from someone else. I know it is true. I have seen it over and over again this past year. It is however not enough to identify this problem. Something needs to be done! When I see a child embarrassed in the midst of his/her circle of friends because he/she can not read or do not know how to add a simple number, it hurts. Two questions arise in my mind. 1. What happens to the hope such a child had for a bright future then? (It is a very sad situation when a child looses hope.) 2. Where will that hopelessness take him/her? (I think that we all know the answer to that question. We see the answer on the news everyday.) Thankfully, this is not the only path for such a child. Our path of hope is the Sophakama Tutor Program. Through the STP children can rise out of hopelessness and inability. We take time one on one to lay the foundation for reading and mathematics. We come alongside a child that started to believe: “I can't” and show him/her “You can!” or to those who believe “I don't matter” we show “You are precious!” It is the beginning of a new year. We have an opportunity for you to be part of the team that revive hope in children. To become a volunteer with us, you need to have available an hour twice a week and transportation to get to your place of volunteering. There are currently groups in Central, Kensington, Algoa Park and Gelvandale. We will give training by the end of January so contact me by email: Sophakama2012@gmail.com. It is truly rewarding to be involved with this work. Here are some photos of our last camp at the end of 2013. Peace. Evelyn