September 2009 school holidays: “The rural voice!”

For those of you who were wondering what our children and youth were up to during this past school holiday, we have decided to let you in on their excitement! The theme for the week was “The Rural Voice” and it aimed to teach our children and youth what it means to be a real servant leader by using their gifts to make a difference in their own community. This programme ran for 4 days and was attended by 163 farm children and youth from farms in the Riebeeksrivier Valley and surrounding areas.

The Tiener Aksie (12 – 13 years) and Youth in Construction (14 – 20 years) youth groups went to visit Greenpoint Stadium where some of the soccer world cup matches will be played in 2010. This was the most amazing experience for them and we thank the West Coast District Municipality for making this wonderful trip possible for our rural farm children. After this incredible experience they went to our new Southern Cross POP Youth Centre in Esterhof, Riebeek Kasteel where they planted grass in the court yard and at the entrance of the building with some 100 very curious children from Riebeek Kasteel watching them from a small distance. I am sure that they can’t wait to join in on a youth programme and hopefully we will be able to give them a school holdiday programme in December / January.

The highlight of the rest of the week was seeing these children and youth working together to make wooden benches for their parents to sit on, painting white T-shirts (with messages like Stop drinking, stop hurting, stop abusing, etc. on it), making small things e.g. cars with wire, beading and embroidery.

Here are some pictures to show you our children and youth at work during the September school holidays.

                    

 Here are some pictures of our children and youth going out to the farms to put smiles on the faces of the rest of their community.

            

The days of having boring and uninteresting school holidays are officially over for the children and youth who are part of our Path out of Poverty Programme. They had lots of fun, learned valuable new skills and most of all were able to give of themselves to the larger community and touched the hearts of their parents. Thank you Sophie, Jaco and Edlyne for implementing such an amazing programme! We are very proud of you.

Thanks for reading this blog and for all your incredible support. We would love to hear from you too so please do send us your comments.

Till next time!!

Love, Ingrid

Ruth Williams hitting the road….

Ruth Williams, a teacher from Bishop Gore School in Wales, competed in the 10K Swansea Bay run which is the fastest 10K race in the UK and it is also recognised as a UK Official 10K course.  

Ruth running in GREEN the last km!

This year’s race took place on Sunday, 27 September 2009 and had 3 500 entries that consisted of elite, serious and fun runners. The route was from the famous Swansea rugby ground St Helen’s along the main road down to Mumbles, left onto the sea front and back to St Helen’s along the promenade.

This was Ruth’s 8th time to run it but for the past three years she has done it to support our work in our Path out of Poverty (POP) Programme. She was very happy to be the 1 312th person to cross over the finish line with an official time of 53 minutes and 28 seconds which was under her planned 55 minutes! This was her fastest time ever and the picture shown was taken in the last few kilometer! I just love the fact that she wore GREEN! Now, in her own words “when the race got tough I visualised the beautiful surroundings of Goedgedacht farm, thought of the wonderful young people I have met and worked with there and remembered that the inspiring work that happens there – and that got me through!!’

We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and amazing supporters like Ruth who are prepared to give so much of themselves to help our rural children and youth out of the poverty cycles that have thus far prevented them from being happy, healthy and confident human beings. Thank you so much Ruth!! We appreciate every mile that you ran for us. You are an inspiration to us all!

Keeping children warm this winter

I have been wanting to put up some pictures to show the results of our blanket appeal but Ingrid wont let me onto this blog!!!! The students from King Edward VI school in Southampton who came to stay with us here at Goedgedacht last month brought with them a veritable mountain of bright and beautiful blankets knitted by staff and parents. In addition Helen Ellerby the the group’s leader brought the most gorgeous quilts made by her Mum and the ladies in her quilting group. The little ones in our baby unit and the children in the pre-school have been the lucky recipients of these very special gifts. Thank you all so much.

And a special thank you to our friends and donors both local and overseas who responded to our recent appeal for warm blankets for children and a special big thank you to Rick and Margie Garratt and the staff of Home Choice who sent us out 50 lovely warm blankets too. Marieta our nursing sister has been handing the blankets out on your behalf and you will see from the pictures that its been a touching but heart-breaking task.

There is still so much poverty on farms in this area and it was clear that many children have been really cold this winter so they were so grateful.

King Edward VI: what an amazing week!

You are probably waiting in anticipation to read more about the incredible week that our visitors from KES had on Goedgedacht farm. The good news is that you don’t need to wait any longer…here it is! The rest of the week was rather dull for the visitors because the weather was tipical Western Cape winter and all they could do was hide from it…..JUST KIDDING!!! Those of you who have been to Goedgedacht probably went WHAT!!! NOT POSSIBLE!!! – you are right. There is always something to do for everyone on Goedgedacht farm whether it is cold, raining or 45 degrees celcius. 

 

Our visitors were divided into two groups for most of the week. In the mornings one group assisted the teachers in our baby unit and pre-school with various activities such as story telling, singing,

“our children all excited to hear the story of the gingerbread man”

 drawing pictures, playing, etc.  The whole group performed a play called Noah to the little ones which they enjoyed very much. I am sure that they will never forget this play because as it was performed to them the rain was

“little ones watching the play called Noah”

absolutely pouring outside the pre-school building – what perfect timing that was! 

 The second group assisted our Path out of Poverty staff members with the renovation of our 9th safe house for orphans and vulnerable on farms in the Riebeeksrivier Valley. They worked very

    

setting up a safe house for children on farms

hard to clean the inside and outside of the house as well as clearing the area around it so that a vegetable garden can be set up next to it. 

The afternoons were spent in the after school support programme that aims to provide educational support to primary and high school children living on farms. The KES students brought with them paint brushes and paint, a parachute, T-shirts and fabric dye, stationery and beads to make friendship braceletts. Our children, staff and the students from KES enjoyed making friendship braceletts for each other, learning various educational games while using the parachute and getting T-shirts dyed as well their faces painted. It was hard not to get involved in the exciting buzz in the afternoons.

 

     

    

“the afternoon programmes”  

The visit was not yet over. Those of you who have been to Goedgedacht farm before will agree with me when I say that after talking to Peter Templeton, our Co-ordinator’s, for a few minutes you walk away feeling very inspired and obligated to do everything in your power to protect the future which is OUR CHILDREN AND THE EARTH. The group from KES felt like this after an hour long tour with Peter showing them some of our climate change initiatives such as wonderbags, the biodigester and our climate change path. Below are some pictures to give you a glimpse of this experience.

         

This brings us to the end of a very exciting week with the visitors from King Edward VI School in Southampton, UK. A special thank you to Helen Ellerby who have made this visit possible for the second year in a row. We have enjoyed your visit with Caz and the 16 very talented students and can’t wait for your next visit. Thank you for reading our blog and please send us your comments. Till next time…good bye.

Sport and Health Day for 500 Rural Farm Workers and children

On Saturday, 15 August  our Youth in Construction youth group and the visitors from King Edward VI hosted a SPORT AND HEALTH DAY for about 500 rural farm workers and children living on 32 farms in the Riebeeksrivier Valley. The theme for the day was …..the beginning…..(of what you may ask – more Saturdays on farms where farm worker parents and children can experience life’s joys together!) and the main aim was to give everyone involved an opportunity to learn more about HIV/AIDs, TB, receive training in First Aid, indigenous games and sport codes like netball, rugby and soccer. We included a fun run and training on how to ride a bicycle to spice up the day even further. It was great fun watching a seven year old child and some 50 year old adults holding on to the bicycles very tight and too afraid to let go of the handles (not forgetting the smiles of the biggest achievement ever of course!) as they experienced their first ever bicycle rides. This was made possible by our own Community Cycles Project which is based in Riebeek Kasteel.

The day’s festivities took off at the Goedgedacht Amphitheatre where everyone got a chance to get to know more about Goedgedacht’s Path out of Poverty Programme and learnt how to dance the macarina! As you can see in the picture there are some of us that still need a lot of practice….When the muscles were warm enough about 250 people hit the gravel road up the Valley to complete the 6km fun run. I decided to join in and to my surprise managed to finish the race (I will not say after how many minutes or hours) while taking pictures along the way!  Thanks to Inspector Lategan and his local police officials we managed to avoid all the cows and sheep along the way and completed the race safe and sound.

As Karen Hendricks, the last person to finish the race, came limping into the gate of the Goedgedacht sports arena everyone cheered her on in appreciation of her courage to start and finish the race despite the fact that it was quite uphill and it being her first time participating in a fun run. Well done Karen! You have been a true sport as well as everyone who participated in the race.

                 

It was a truly magical day for all of us involved and thanks to the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport everyone received two much needed meals (breakfast and lunch) for the day.

Our grateful thanks to all our staff, the facilitators of the various sport codes, indigenous games, first aid, bicycle, HIV/AIDs and TB training, all the paticipants, the drivers, caterers, farmers, all our funders, King Eward VI School and last but not least our Youth in Construction youth group for making this day such a huge success.

 

Little Justin told me that he is going to practice very hard till next year to make sure that he finishes alongside me in the fun run next year! I hope to see you next year. When? Where? Keep reading our blog to catch up on all the news of Goedgedacht Trust!

Thanks for reading our blog and please do send us your comments. We would love to hear from you too!

King Edward VI School arrives!

We were very happy when HELEN ELLERBY and CAZ NOYES arrived on Friday, 14 August 2009 with 16 students from KING EDWARD VI school in Southampton in the UK. This school has visited us last year as well. As soon as they received their rooms and put their bags down they made their way down to the youth centre where they received a very warm welcome from our group of 35 YOUTH IN CONSTRUCTION members and 8 staff members.

Within moments after this warm welcome the youth centre building was filled with young loud voices singing “be the change you want to see in the world” and “what have you done today to make you feel proud.” It was very difficult to get this group of very good singers (me included of course!) to stop so that they could perpare for the following day’s Sport and Health Day for our farm worker community.

After everyone finished off a delicious plate of food and poeding they joined together and made various signs that would be used at the planned Sport and Health Day for Farm workers.

In no time, the group put together their talents and came up with the most beautiful handmade arrows and signs that were put up the following morning at the Sport and Health Day event. Some of the boys used their power to pump up a few soccer and rugby balls that would be used as well.

After such a warm welcoming, delicious food, making signs and receiving instructions for the following day’s event everyone went to bed with a sense of excitement that made it for most of us very difficult to sleep that night.

The group from King Edward VI will be staying with us till Friday, 21 August 2009. We have lots of exciting activities for them and they too came prepared with some very interesting things. Don’t worry, we will definitely keep you posted on how things are going. Please send us your comments. We would love to hear from you as well. Also, thank you for all your support.

Day visits from UK schools

We were very grateful to be visited by three UK schools this past couple of weeks despite their busy sport tour schedules. Austin Friars St Monica School arrived first on Wednesday, 22 July 2009 and received a warm welcome from our little ones in the baby unit and pre-school. It was wonderful to watch the group of 37 students and 4 teachers  go down on their knees to meet their new friends. Before we knew it our pre-school was filled with lots of singing and laughter.  Eventually, we managed to very reluctantly get them to say goodbye to their newly made friends and see the rest of the farm which included a stop at our sport field and amphitheatre, eating some of our very delicious scones, tasting Andrew Max’s table olives, a visit to the olive peace grove and finally a stop at the youth centre where Sophie Isaacs, our Youth Worker explained her exciting youth project activities to them. Then it was time to wave goodbye to our friends from Austin Friars as they head off to play a match against Swartland High School in Malmesbury.

Second to arrive was King’s High School, Warwick on Wednesday, 29 July 2009. This school visited us a few years ago and have been great supporters of our work. We were very happy to receive the group of 31 students and 4 teachers in the morning because they could also meet our little ones in the baby unit and pre-school who sang “did anybody tell you, I love you today…..I put you on my lips and let me be the first to say I love you.” After this the tears came out before anyone could stop it…even I had a few running out of my eyes (totally unexpected) when a tiny 2 year old gave me the warmest hug ever!

This group had just enough time to pay a quick visit to our newly established baby unit building which is situated behind the pre-school building. Here after they saw the rest of the farm and had to leave at to arrive in Stellenbosch in time for their match against RHENISH GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL.

Thank you Edwan Doran Travel Agent for making these visits possible.

This past Wednesday (5 August 2009), we had the last of the day visits from Duchess Community High School, Alnwick, who last visited us in 2004. Ms. Naomi Richardson and Ms. Denise Drummond who came in 2004 came again on this trip with their headmaster, Mr. Hall and a group of 51 rugby and hockey players.

The group arrived in the afternoon and had enough time to first stop at our second POP Youth Centre (in Riebeek Kasteel) where Edlyne van der Westhuizen, the newly appointed Centre Manager, showed them around and explained the various sections of the centre. After this, we made our way back to the farm just as the rain started pouring down only to get as far as the entrance of Goedgedacht farm because the bus could not go up the hill due to the wet road. It was clear that nothing was going to spoil their last few hours in South Africa! So, with great enthusiasm and excitement, the team got out of the bus and walked up the hill for 2km on the muddy road to meet our 50 children (7 – 14 year olds) who were waiting patiently for them to arrive. As soon as they arrived at the youth centre the games began. Together, this big group of 100 children and youth played a few indigenous games as well as some board games.(see picture above) 

The time just flew by and before we knew it it was time to say goodbye. Did they walk the 2km road down to the bus in the rain again?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Of course we could not let our visitors walk down hill for 2km in the pouring rain……we transported them like with a tractor and truck down to the bus. This must have been the highlight of their trip because they could not stop smiling!

I am sure that the late Mr. Debbage who came to visit us with the 2004 school trip, but suddenly died in June 2009 would have smiled too. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Thank you Ms. Richardson and Ms. Drummond and the rest of the crew for visiting us. We all enjoyed seeing you again and meeting the new faces. Good luck to Kathryn (watch out for the flip flops next time!) and Tom who will be head girl and head boy next year!

What an enjoyable time we had with all your visits! Thanks for all your support to our work in trying to get rural children break the cycles of poverty that have trapped their previous generations for so long. Please send us your comments and your scores! We would love to know how you did in your matces so please send us your scores! Chat to you all again soon.

Cowbridge on Goedgedacht farm (evening programmes)

Wales is not known as the land of song for nothing. On the first evening (Saturday, 18 July 2009) – which was also Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday – the young people from our Tiener Aksie (teen action) and Youth in Construction youth groups welcomed the students and teachers from Cowbridge with an evening of karaoke and dancing. The room was filled with songs like Delilah from Tom Jones and everyone trying to do the macarina!

There are so many highlights that I can mention but of all the evening programmes that stood out for me was the one in which we tried to explain the concept of Apartheid to our own youth and the young people from Wales. Not knowing what was heading their way and in complete trust, the group of 82 youngsters lined up in our barn only to find out that they were about to be separated because of the “color of their skin”. How was that possible in this day and age you may ask? Well, Colonel van der Merwe and his troops made sure that they conducted the same pencil test that were used in the past to classify people as White, Black and Coloured.

A few games were played in which the groups competed with each other. In one of the games each group got a number of chairs and had to get from one end of the room to the other end. The group who were classified as White received the most chairs which made it so easy for them to get to the other end. The Coloured group received slightly less chairs than the White group which meant that they had to put in a little bit of effort to get to the end of the room, but it was not impossible. As for the Black group, they received only three chairs which made this excercise impossible. At the end of these games, we could all feel the frustrations of the young people who belonged to the Black group – they began shouting “it’s so unfair!” Luckily for Colonel van der Merwe and his troops, the games were over just before the Black group could start an up rise against this very unfair system.

At the end of the evening we all came together and talked about the importance of learning from our history to make sure that we as the future leaders of our own countries do not repeat the same mistakes that were made by our leaders of the past. One of the most important lessons that Apartheid could teach us all is never to think of ourselves as being superior over others because of how we look, where we come from, what I have, etc….all those things are far less important than striving to treat everyone else with repsect and dignity at all times even after they hurt us – because we are all human beings no matter how we look, what we have and where we come from. Let’s remember this and together try and change the future of our countries.

I will put some more photos of this evening as well as recently held winter school holiday programme, Glenthorne Secondary School’s visit and more of the Cowbridge Comprehensive School visit in our photo album on our website. Some of these photos will be posted onto our facebook group called Goedgedacht Path out of Poverty Programme. So, if you have not joined this group yet please make sure that you join soon so that you do not miss out on all the wonderful and exciting news of Goedgedacht Trust. Thanks for sending us your comments and giving us your support. We appreciate it very much.

Cowbridge on Goedgedacht farm (continues)

During the week, the group from Cowbridge visited the San centre, Khwa ttu on the West Coast, where they learned all about the San culture. One of our Youth Workers, Niklaas Kok, came back from this trip with stars in his eyes and when asked why he had stars in his eyes his reply was simply ”I am definitely a decendent of the San people”. He elaborated on his statement by saying that he never felt like he belonged anywhere till he visited Khwa ttu and met people who look just like him with – as he puts it – very minor differences. Apparently, he was not the only one who was convinced of this fact – Jaco Albertus, our newly appointed Deputy Programme Co-ordinator for the Path out of Poverty Programme, has quietly worked out this fact for himself. Two of our staff members are smiling from ear to ear knowing that they do belong somehwere in this world. Thanks Cowbridge!

We could not let the Cowbridge group come this far and not show them our second Rural POP Youth Centre that is in the almost completed in Riebeek Kasteel. So, we all went over the mountain to have a look at this absolutely beautifully designed building and were met with a broad smile from Oom Kosie who has just moved into the caretaker’s flat to start his very exciting new job as Care Taker of the new building. Dawie Amerika, our Community Cycles (in partnership with the Bicycle Empowerment Network in Cape Town) Project Leader allowed the group to visit his container from which he repair and sells second hand bicycles.

Clearly, Mr. Hopkins (see picture) is just as excited as we all are for the doors to open and did not wait for anyone to give him permission to show off his ram shank (hope that spelling is correct, Mr. Hopkins) while the students cheered him on! So, you see there was time to have fun as well. 

In the next blog I will tell you all about our exciting evening programmes that enjoyed together….stay tuned as they say on television!

Cowbridge on Goedgedacht farm (continues)

On Monday all our children and youth returned back to school after their winter school break. We had to find ways to make sure that the Cowbridge students were occupied during the day which was not too difficult if you are on Goedgedacht farm. In fact, we have an inside joke amongst us saying that people who are in need to get some peace and quiet moments they always come to Goedgedacht and find it in a split second, but if we need those moments we have to go off the farm.

The big group of 40 (35 students and 5 teachers) were divided into smaller groups and helped out in the pre-school and baby unit, the olive peace grove and assisted with designing the framework for our latest development…wait for it – a real climate change path on which children, youth and adults can walk and learn about various climate change initiatives on Goedgedacht farm!

In the afternoons the group who helped out in the pre-school and baby unit assisted with the 75 children in our after school programme and others helped out in the olive factory where they are busy with table olives.     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Don’t worry, we kept in mind that it was the summer break of the Cowbridge students and have of course ”reluctantly” put in some excursions into their programme. Thanks to Mr. van der Merwe, the very friendly principal of Schoonspruit Secondary School, our visitors got a chance to see where the majority of our Youth in Constructionyouth members go to school. To their suprise they also found Christolene Stuurman, who is one of our bursary students and an active member of our Youth in Construction youth group, doing her practical teacher training for her four year teaching degree. She is currently in her second year and is a real product of our concept of “trying to keep rural children in school for as long as possible”. The dance class of the school performed a lovely dance and for the next few days the conversations amongst the Cowbridge students were about how much better Schoonspruit looked compared to Cowbridge and some even tried to copy some of the dance moves……I won’t go into the details of describing how that turned out! (smile)

 

As I am writing this blog, I am remembering more and more stories….the secret is therefore to keep visiting our blog and make sure that you are the first one to know what’s happening on the farm.

Thanks to all our friends who are visiting this blog and supporting our work, because without you these experiences would not be possible at all. Make sure that you send us your comments because it helps us know that you are with us in our journey to make sure that all rural children have a fair chance to escape the cycles of poverty that have trapped their previous generations for so many years.

Till next time…..cheers!