POP GOES TO PRINCE ALBERT (in the Southern Great Karoo)

In September Ingrid and I went to address a public meeting in the small Karoo town of Prince Albert where they had expressed interest in starting a POP youth programme. We spent two days there talking to a wide range of interested parties and meeting the very dynamic Mayor Mr.Lottering.

We spent a morning driving around the poorest part of the village and saw lots and lots of babies and small children who were not being cared for. The Mayor and his council agreed to visit Goedgedacht  and will do so later this month.

Jan Nero Bazaar

Bazaar banner

Last Saturday the Goedgedacht staff got together to run a bazaar in our POP centre at Esterhof/Riebeek Kasteel. The idea was for us to raise money to sponsor a blind local athlete JAN NERO who is trying to qualify for the para-olympics in London in 2012.

A great day was had – fabulous vibe – gym in the street, lots to eat, mountains of clothes for sale and Jan enjoying himself. The little girls had such fun dressing up  in clothes found in the piles. Arn’t they gorgeous.

All clothes remaining were taken through to HELP THE RURAL CHILD shops in Cape Town where they get sold and the profits accrue to our projects.

We had such a lot of fun
Love,
Annie

Mother POP Centre plans approved

At last – the Swartland Municipality finally approved the plans for us to build the “Mother POP Centre” at Goedgedacht farm.  For 13 years the Path out of Poverty programme has split itself between our baby unit and pre-school down at the Goedgedacht farm gate, and the Youth centre 2km up the mountain at the Conference Centre. This year  our appeal for funds to build a POP youth centre, next to the baby unit and pre-school, was approved by the National Lottery and now we are ready to build. This centre will include our country’s very first RURAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY.

Ingrid on designated land

POP leadership training continues

learning chess

In the evenings – hungry tums well fed by the wonderful Goedgedacht cooks the young leaders quietened down and went through the  programme they will run in their own communities for the next two weeks of the school holidays.  They learnt to play  board games like monopoly, drafts and chess that they would teach children younger children.

POP leadership training continues

Working in the olive factory

In the afternoons the youngsters on the leadership programme spent time being ‘servant leaders’ – doing things for others. Some cleaned our olive factory, another team painted a new Safe House  for vulnerable children on one of the nearby farms, a group helped  in the vegetable gardens and others cleared invasive bamboo off the land.

POP Youth Leadership Training

Day one. The start of the leadership training June 2011

Last week 72 young leaders from 6 rural villages to came to stay for a week of training at Goedgedacht Farm.  Ingrid and her POP team ran a really exciting programme called “ An expedition in search of your gift”. The aim was to help these young leaders to understand themselves, broaden their horizons, grow in confidence and learn the skills they need to manage a holiday project in their own communities.

Patrick Wolley competing in the Roth Ironman Triathlon on 10 July 2011 for POP

Patrick Woolley is a wonderful friend of POP and is competing in the Roth Ironman triathlon on 10/07/2011 and at the same time trying to raise money for POP. Lots of cheers from us Patrick and thanks for putting your body on the line to give to our rural POP children an opportunity to break out of poverty and achieve their dreams in life. Please support him on http://www.justgiving.com/Patrick-Woolley.

Wonderbags

The wonderbag is a modern version of the ‘hay box’ or way our grandmothers used to cook the Christmas ham and put it in a blanket in the sofa. Its a slow cooker which saves money, time and electricity while at the same time reduces carbon emissions.

  

During the recent POP Easter school holiday programme one morning 100 young leaders from six different rural communities learnt how to make a pot of rice, lentils and curry in a Wonderbag. Each Wonderbag had been donated via Ingrid’s Facebook page over Christmas by friends all over the world and was destined for a poor family. The food was put on the stove for 5 minutes and then popped into the bag and taken with much excitement out to their own families where they are going to monitor how much electricity they save by using the Wonderbag on a regular basis for cooking.

Baby Valentines

Our pre-school children made a big effort to dress up for Valentine’s Day celebrations. I thought you might like to see our latest batch of babies seen here with their carers –
Sussy, Yvonne and Sannah.

Johannes goes to school

A big thank you to all the people who sent good wishes to little Johannes and especially to Tony and Anne in France who have agreed to sponsor his schooling this year and Aly and Riley in Wales who sent us a gift with which to buy him winter clothes and his first school uniform. He started proper school in Grade 1 in mid January. Here are a few pictures which will surely warm your hearts. The good news is that the school bus now collects him from a spot close to his farm so he does not have to walk all those kilometers with his Mum every day.