First month!

One month has passed since I started working full time with Sophakama.  It has been an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster, but not the crazy type, the fun type.  Leaving full time employment and taking up full time "unemployment" has really challenged me spiritually because now I am really learning what it is to live everyday by the grace of God. 

The past month I have started to take 13 Gr 1 kids from Diaz Primary and 3 Gr1 kids at the ACVV.  They all struggle with reading and many of them are being taught in what is not their mother tongue.  A few of them have never built a puzzle and was delighted when I introduced it to them.  I can already begin to see some progress in some of them and it really warms my heart.  I feel so strongly about getting a child's educational foundation right, because as with building a house, if the foundation is not laid right the house will eventually fall apart. 

I also really wanted to get started again at Mina Moo playschool in Hellenvale, because there are children there that will be of school going age next year.  This has however not worked out yet.  There is a possibility of getting involved with a group of young mothers in teaching them some basic and inexpensive games for their toddlers which will prepare them a little better for school.  I am excited about that, because those mothers can really make a difference. 

Amore

Crossing paths again.

Last year, when I moved to Jeffreys Bay, a friend and partner in the work of Sophakama, Anna Marie Franken, brought Julia to me as my very first visitor.  Ann thought that we could maybe work together at Ithemba and actually we did, but Julia was involved at the Pre-school in the mornings and I at the Aftercare, so we rarely saw each other at Ithemba. We did visit on occasion and went for lunch the other day. In our conversation it came out that Julia still had capacity to do something in the afternoons and so, now she has joined me in Humansdorp at the Child Welfare group. She works with kids in the area of Maths.

Ryan and I met Cindy 18 months ago and liked her immediately. I shared with her about my work and she attended training the beginning of last year. Unfortunately, she could not find a place to serve that suited her schedule. We loosely kept in touch, but then the very day I trained the KwaNoxolo tutors, I got a Whats App from Cindy saying that she is also part of that group. I was so happy to hear that, because I know she has a lot to give. The work in KwaNoxolo is going well. They are waiting for funding in order to train even more tutors.

In 2011 when I returned to SA at church, Dawi Strauss introduced me to his wife, Amore.  Then, when I became involved at the Acvv Poplar Ave, Amore was also involved there as a volunteer, while she was studying for her teachers qualification. Being in her final year of teaching the following year, she could not continue at the Acvv and we therefore did not see each other that much any more. Then last month, Irma Loots re-connected us. We had a chat on one of my visits to PE, where we shared our hearts concerning education. The result of that and other talks is that Amore is finishing her work at the school where she has been teaching the last year and a half and is joining Sophakama full-time in Port Elizabeth in July. I am really excited about all the possibilities her joining brings.

I am grateful that these three ladies crossed my path again this past month.  I am reminded of the words of a Christian song: "Thank you, for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed." How many children's lives are these three ladies and all the other tutors going to touch and change for the better?

Joy!

Last week, I started back at Ithemba and Aleph Surf and it was such a joy to see the kids again after the short holiday.  Their holiday was spent mostly by playing with friends. One boy mentioned having pizza as one of the fun things he did.

In PE after holding my breath for months, the Gelvandale group started again in March. They have two new tutors there, Marie and Susan. Together with Deamne, they make a very powerful team.

At Poplar Ave, Lily and Erika were joined by Merle.

Diaz, still have Yolandi and Leonore helping with kids there.

There are exciting new developments in PE. Last month, I trained 8 tutors for a school in New Brighton and this past week I trained another three more tutors for a school in KwaNoxolo.

I am so excited by the growth we see.

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!