July 2013

Hi there!
We are still busy building houses for orphans that have been living in unbelievable circumstances.   Our funding for these current 20 houses is coming through the South African Catholic Bishops Conference from Home Plan, an organization of builders in Holland

House 13 (wrong date on photo)

                                                                This is the original home stead

We got a "no strings attached" donation from a church in Malelane so we bought soccer and netball gear.   The kids are so proud of them selves!

                                              Bongani Centre Soccer and Netball teams

On 26th June a group of children went on a hike and picnic.   They tackled quite a steep mountain at the back of Shongwe Hospital.   They had a lot of fun and realized the importance of staying fit!

                                                          Wrong date again - sorry!

09/04/2013

Hi there!   As you can see, Home Plan volunteers visited us for 4 days in March and helped with the painting, and building of the first few houses of a 20 house outreach that home Plan is financing through the South African Catholic Bishops Conference.    They worked hard, painted the houses, cleaned up the rubble, dug and laid foundations and in the meantime had lot of fun!    They were hosted by the local people who are involved in Makhundu Christian Support, including a few of our assistants.

The world at their fingertips

The arrival of five brand new laptop computers has made most of our children think of their future in a different way. Earlier on when I interviewed a group of 20 children from Driekoppies and Bongani,  about what they want to be when they grow up, six out of ten wanted to be in the police force. Most of them actually said they wanted to become traffic cops.

And now when I explain the role of the computer in the world today, I get new careers;

“I want to be an accountant, I want to be a programmer, I want to be a bank manager, computer technician” etc.

Some children already became familiar with the computer through the MCS’s BIG-BOET, and 2-TYPE programs. However the ratio of the computers to the number of children was problematic, 2: 20. The new laptops may not have an effect on the current ratio, but they brought innovative thinking to the staff. The question was how can we use them effectively? A digital projector and a big screen brought the answer.

With these tools at hand, five children sit on the computer, while the rest of the class follows the lesson on the big screen. And group after group take turns. By the end of an hour and a half or so, everybody has learned something. The fascination and eagerness to learn more is obvious in their faces.

On behalf of all the MCS children, we would like to thank the people that donated these computers. Their contribution has not gone in vain, because to the children it’s a contribution that brought the world in their fingertips.

30/06/2012

Hi there this chilly June day!

There are a lot of children who are feeling warm thanks to the SACBC donation of tracksuits and blankets.  On 27th June a Human Trafficking and Sexual Abuse Day was held at our drop in centre in Vlakbult.   It was well attended and a lot of interest was shown.   3 ladies from Social Services came and told the children about the help that is available to them if they should find themselves in trouble.   After that we showed them a DVD drama about a young girl who was sexually abused by her uncle.  Thrn some of the children acted out their own dramas.    At question time the children showed a lot of interest, but you could see the embarrassment and shyness which prevents so many from coming out into the open.   What a world we live in!!   One family who moved into one of the two room houses we built, thanks to the SACBC, told our assistants that they are so happy to have a house, because one girl in the family had narrowly escaped being raped a coupleof times by running for her life, but now she had a door she could lock.   These kids need help if they are to grow into decent citizens - it's a jungle out there!

12/06/2012
Hi there!   The South African Bishops Conference donated funding to buy our orphans tracksuits, blankets, towels, buckets and laundry basins.   Here the kids from the Driekoppies Drop in Centre show off their new tracksuits etc.   This has been well timed with the present cold snap which has everyone shivering!   Thnak you SACBC for your immense generosity.
The building of 2 room houses continues - we have completed 15 already.   You can't imagine the joy generated when these little orphan headed families can move into their new homes which are warm, safe, don't leak - AND- have  rain water tanks and guttering!!   Also a big thank you to SACBC!

We are looking for funding to buy 20 lap tops.   At the moment we only have 5 and so the computer classes are going very slowly.   It is essential to be computer literate in today's world, to be able to do research for projects on Google etc.   As you can see, we also have some budding seamstresses!

March 18th 2012

House no 8 after

House no 8 before

Recycling Puppet Show

Hi,

Here is a photo of a little puppet show we did for the orphans on recycling and collecting rubbish. The children had a huge response and rushed around collecting rubbish in plastic garbage bags which I took to the recycling depo in Malelane. The children expressed amazement at how much rubbish they found - hopefully this kind of "sensitizing" will encourage them to clean up their neighbourhood and the word will spread!

The 2 room houses we are building with funding from the South African Catholic Bishops Conference is going well and the first 10 will be finished soon. The families concerned are over the moon as you can imagine and very happy to be given a water tank and guttering to catch rain water, thus obviating the nasty chore of having to go to collect water in a wheelbarrow if the water lorry rocks up as scheduled - which doesn't always happen and the the household has to try and do without!

9 Feb 2012

House No 5 after

House No 5 before

Hi there!
It is 2012 already and we are off to a busy start! The price of mealie meal per 12.5kg bag has soared which is sad as it makes life difficult for us - stretching available funds.

The South African Catholic Bishop's Conference has awarded us funding to build 20 little 2 room houses plus a water tank for deserving orphan-headed homes. We have built 5 already and will start on the next five very soon. See photos above. Craft classes on a Wednesday are going well. A lot of the older children who were getting on well and producing lovely aprons etc are too busy with school to attend, so we are starting from the bottom again with younger ones who have never seen a sewing machine - patience!!