Life-changing Education for South African Children

Dear Friend of YOUPSA,

At YOUPSA we bring our energy, expertise and joy to every space where we meet children. Creative spark and sense of possibility are a constant thread in our every interaction.

During these past months we have seen the Afterschool Enrichment Programme help newcomer children feel a sense of belonging; support young people through life changes; and spark creativity and confidence. Our educational programmes foster curiosity, emotional growth, self-expression, and connection.

Your partnership with YOUPSA is what makes this vital work possible. View this newsletter as a window into the powerful experiences that your generosity towards YOUPSA brings to life. A huge Thank You to our partners, sponsors and friends! 

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We love having visitors!
'A Chance for Children Foundation', a very kind sponsor of YOUPSA, came to visit South Africa and finally met the children in our programmes. They invited one group of our children to spend the day at Buffelsdrift Game Lodge. It was a dream come true for these children to see so many animals out in the wild.

While driving up and down bumpy tracks through the bush in a game drive vehicle, we spotted giraffes, rhinos, springbok, wildebeest, buffalos and more. So much important learning takes place on an excursion like this, lasting a lifetime.

We also had an 'elephant experience' where we interacted with 3 tame elephants, feed them and get an elephant hug each!

Thank you to Tai and her kind friends from ACFC!

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Superheroes of the Savannah
The YOUPSA children brought the book "Superheroes of the Savannah" to life!

First we watched educational nature videos about two very special African animals, the bat-eared fox and the honey badger. What happens when a bat-eared fox teams up with a honey badger? Pure magic! 
In the book, a bat-eared fox comes across a fearless and tough honey badger, and decides to stick with him for protection. The honey badger isn’t keen about this, until he realizes that the little bat-eared fox has some useful skills too. 

The children drew their own savannah superheroes and discovered that even the smallest friend can possess the mightiest skills. Friendship and creativity are the true superpowers! Isn't their artwork just amazing?!

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Swartberg Pass and Prince Albert Tour
Educational outings are an integral part of YOUPSA's weekly programmes. This was the first time ever for these children to visit the Swartberg Pass, Prince Albert and Meiringspoort Waterfall! Initially it was a very cold and windy day.
 
Winding roads, steep cliffs, high mountain tops, breathtaking vistas and pristine nature – it was a day of true adventure! The children could hardly believe they were there. The Swartberg Mountain Range is the longest mountain range in South Africa, and the tallest in the Western Cape Province.

Coming down the other side of the mountain, we explored the town of Prince Albert. We visited the Prince Albert Open Studios. The children in this group are very keen artists, and they enjoyed all of the beautiful paintings, photographs and sculptures. It was their first time to see artwork in person!

Karoo Looms was the next stop on our tour. Here the children learned about how Mohair from Angora goats and sheep's wool is prepared and spun into yarn, then put onto a loom and woven into various attractive products, like colourful rugs.

For lunch it was wood-fired pizza for all at 'O for Olive', what a treat! Most children never ate pizza before. To top it all off, on the way back, we visited Meiringspoort Waterfall. Wow, what a magical spot!

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Maths in natural and fun for every child
Learning maths can come in various forms. In every one of YOUPSA's programme sessions we provide hands-on, collaborative opportunities to interact with numbers and mathematical concepts. Here we learned practical new skills by using dominos to practice number recognition, addition and subtraction.

Many children in South Africa feel that they cannot do maths only because the quality of instruction in schools is very low. With our approach, every child loves to engage in maths!

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Visit to a world wonder
YOUPSA gave a group of children the opportunity to visit the internationally renowned Cango Caves. Being in these huge chambers underneith the Swartberg Mountain Range, seeing the various formations and learning the history, was an awe-inspiring experience.

There was huge excitement to finally be able to see these special natural wonders, not far away from their homes and yet unreachable for children in the rural areas. Concluding with a delicious lunch for everyone topped it all off.

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Literacy in action at YOUPSA
Children in our programmes love reading the different 'Elmer the Elephant' books by David McKee. We read 'Elmer on Stilts'. In this book Elmer and his friends devise an ingenious plan to evade a group of hunters in the forest. They fashion their own stilts so that poachers cannot track them down.
Our children loved reading and discussing this humorous and educational story. They made their own gorgeous Elmer drawings. And there was a big surprise for the group – Ray built special stilts for the children to practice walking on - just like Elmer and his friends did!