Fund Life-Changing Education for 201 African Kids

Dear Supporters, 

This month Cape Town welcomed students and teachers from Maple Grove Senior High from the US. They came out for a week to work at Ikhayalethemba Sanctuary and the local primary school, ACJ. What they managed to contribute and achieve in a week was incredible and has made a huge difference to the children!

At ACJ, we ran a Holiday Arts Camp for Grade 6 and 7 students from the school. Arts and Culture education is part of the Western Cape curriculum. The area of arts is lacking in some schools in South Africa, mainly because teachers do not have the training, tools, time and resources are limited. So it is wonderful when we are able to run extra workshops like this! The workshops that we hosted included visual arts, drama, music and dance. Many children already have a natural ability in this area and this was a great opportunity for them to showcase their talents.  It was wondeful to see the students really get involved and give it their all, which highlights to us again how important and valuable it is to be able to offer opportunities such as this. 

 At Ikhayalethemba Sanctuary, we focused on gardening and farming! The group worked to make improvements to the current vegetable garden and chicken coop area, where they got stuck in cultivating the garden. The vegetables will supply the children who live at the sanctuary, but also be sold to the community as an income generating project for our partners at Ikhayalethemba. The children were excited to watch the garden take shape and we will continue lessons as part of our childcare program about how things grow and how to look after their garden.  A local gardener and night security have been employed as part of this project.

We are also thrilled to announce that the group, as well as contributing their time, also made a generous donation! This money will be used for art supplies at ACJ and for a rainwater tank, trees and general garden maintenance at Ikhayalethemba.

Thank you!

With Gratitude, 

GVI Cape Town

Links:

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Dear Supporter, 

It was a busy month at Ikhayalethemba in the lead up to Christmas.  

The children and volunteers were involved with Christmas cultural and arts & crafts activities, making Christmas cards and decorations. There was also lots of practice and preparation for the nativity play which would be performed on Christmas Day. Every child had a part in the nativity and the children designed their costumes themselves during lesson time.

It was a privilege to be invited by Mama to Ikhayalethemba on Christmas Day to join the children and her family with the celebrations. The children were delighted to see Tata dressed as Father Christmas! Each child was given a gift from Father Christmas, which was supported by generous from you, our donors. Tata took his role as Santa very seriously and it was a precious memory made for him and the children.

We took photos for the children so that they can fill up their memory boxes. Memory boxes for each child are a requirement of registration as an orphanage here in South Africa. The nativity play was a great success, performed to Mama and Tata Lumka.  The presents and play were followed by a delicious Christmas feast- a traditional South African braai (BBQ) with Mama and her family. We ended off the day with a trip to the beach.

It was a fun day for all with games in the sand and picnics and presents and lots of playing. Thank you for making it possible!

With Gratitude, 

GVI South Africa

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