Nicola and Graham White's June Newsletter

Hello everyone,

 

Oscar, one of our students, was on his way home to Diepsloot when he came across a riot that blocked his way. So he turned round and stayed at a friends place until about 10 in the evening when he again attempted to get home. A group of men approached him and started to threaten him. It just so happened that the police started firing at this point and in the confusion Oscar got away back to his friend’s house.

 

Many of you will have seen on the news the xenophobic violence that has erupted in South Africa over the past few weeks. On a personal level we have not been threatened at all by this but some of our students have. Many of them live in Diepsloot, an informal settlement which has been affected by the violence, and whilst all of our students are South African the perpetrators have been using the opportunity to rob anybody. One of our students’ dog did get killed in the fighting – but apart from that they and all their families are unharmed for which we are very grateful.

 

The violence does seem to have abated now but it has left SA with about 20,000 non-South African refugees who are too scared to go back to the areas in SA where they were living and many are also too scared to go home, especially Zimbabweans. We have been collecting clothes and baby food at church to take to the makeshift camps where people are staying, but it seems so little when there is so much need. It has also been very cold and rainy here in the last week and people have been sleeping outside at these camps, so it is very hard for them.

 

We have had a very eventful time since we last wrote, so it’s difficult to know what to write about. On the Oasis front we are both continuing to work on the Skills for Life programme. Graham is teaching IT and continuing to be in almost weekly contact with the company that provided us with the computers as they are always going wrong. Nicola is planning and in some cases teaching the Life Skills programme as well as now planning for the new intake in July 2008.

 

The last week of the training course is the 16^th June and following that the students will be dropping into our centre once a week for the next 6 months for advice and internet access while we help them apply for work or further training. We are really pleased that 11 out of the 36 students have got places with a large supermarket to do a 1 year work based managerial training course which will give them both a qualification and work experience. Our second intake of 40 new students will commence on the 6^th July with a three day camp. We have a couple coming out from Australia for 6 months who will be working on the project so will cover the time we are in the UK

 

The electricity supply has continued to be a challenge but Graham has worked hard to try and make sure the IT students don’t miss out too much. Cosmo City where we work is a new town with much building still taking place so we have had various instances of electricity and water cuts with no notice and nobody being able to tell us when they will finish. As you can imagine it can get quite interesting with over 30 people in a house and no utilities!

 

On a more positive note we have had 2 lovely breaks since we last wrote. One was to Lesotho for a couple of days where we caught up with Michael and Adeline Kolisang followed by a few days in Swaziland which is a beautiful country.

 

Then at the end of April Tim came out and joined us for a week on the Garden Route which is just East of Cape Town. We had a lovely time with him enjoying the lovely countryside and coast of this area. He then spent a few days back with us in Jo’burg sorting out all Oasis’s IT problems before flying back to England. There are pictures of our holiday on our website, www.granicsa.co.uk. 

 

Our big news is that we have decided to come back to South Africa in October 2008 for a further 9 months. We just feel that we have not finished what we want to do here and that we would be leaving the work in an unfinished state if we left for good at the end of July. So we will be back in the UK from the 26^th July and when we are not helping Joanna and Liam plan their wedding for the 13^th September we will be concentrating on raising the funds required for us to extend our contract until July 2009. (9 months in SA and 1 month in the UK at the end of our contract). Like the first time here, we need to raise the funds or promise of funds before we return to South Africa. If anyone would like to contribute or would like us to come and speak in their church or group do please let us know.

 

We would also be grateful for any offers of help with a car while we are back and if anyone in Farnham needs a house sitter for the week or two before the 13^th September we would love to help you out!

 

Please pray