Graham & Nicola’s Update – March 2009

 

 

It’s been a while since we wrote, but this year’s course is up and running. We had an SMS the other day from a previous student, Thabi, reproduced here unedited!

 

"Hi Nicol is Thabi I wud luv 2 thank u guyz 4 da job dat u r doing. It's very crucial and it contributed 2 us focus(ing) on positive attitude. Break thro 2 excellence is a great course & it motivated my thoughts & even my mentor helped me 2 walk tall. I'm currently studying my general nurse course in Thuto Bophelo academy & I'm doing well. Thank you guyz 4 ur support & I'm proud of you. T S Lewela"

 

This was great encouragement for us. Break Through to Excellence is a component of our Life Skills course which is delivered by another NGO called the Pacific Institute. It looks at the person, their worth and value, their strengths and skills, their dreams and goals and gives them a framework for taking positive steps forward. It has proved to be very popular with our students.

 

Good news update: since I started writing this one of our current students, Violet, has won an internship as a secretarial trainee with Munich Re. Nicola had arranged for volunteers from a recruitment agency to come and give our students practice job interviews and they were so impressed with Violet that they put her forward for the job. Violet, by the way, wants to be a secretary.

 

We are, though, having some struggles and frustrations with some of our current students. At the beginning of the course we did not have the money to hold a residential camp so arranged for three induction days in Diepsloot where most of our students come from. Although many said they would come, only about 50% did and then we had a big scramble to make up the numbers. The course has since suffered from a lack of commitment by some of the students and this is proving to be a frustration for us and the trainers. It is interesting that our partner organisation, the Pacific Institute, will not usually take young people straight from school for this reason. They find that a year of two of having to survive with no work and no money tends to focus the mind and the young people become more committed, but we ask why should they have to go through this first?

 

Many, though, are doing well. We have also seen the benefits of building friendships with the students, as Sipho from the previous course is now assisting us with the computer training and a couple of others are helping to organise the after school community service. It all goes to help build the broader picture that we are trying to achieve; that we can be an ongoing support to many of our students and see them grow and develop over the years.

 

Funding is a real issue for Oasis South Africa at the moment. Our programme, Bridge the Gap, is the only project that is financially secure for this year. We have found that the credit crunch has affected corporate donations and many of our projects and staff are in tenuous positions. We are trusting that God will provide, but it is especially disconcerting for the locally paid staff.

 

So this may be a good point to introduce some of our local staff….

 

   

Arnie is our CEO and Chantel, his wife, who runs the Community Health programme is now on maternity leave with Moya. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Julie runs our protection of sexual abuse programme in the local schools and counsels some of the girls who have or are being affected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

 

Karl is our community action man, who works in the community to foster a good relationship between all the organisations and churches and attempts to get them to work together. He also works with our students, especially those in desperate circumstances.

 

Josephine, Karl’s wife, works with Chantel on the Community Health programme and tries to manage the 20 plus community health workers who are strong willed and rebellious at times! She also runs the clinic.

 

 

 

 

     

 

Sthembile trains pre-school teachers with the aim of upgrading our local pre-schools from just being child-care centres to proper schools providing education for the children.

 

Adri-Marie has developed a curriculum for the Life Orientation subject which the government has introduced into the schools without providing the resources. She is training the teachers in 5 local schools.

 

 

 

 

 

  

These last few weeks have been trying for us both, but especially Nicola. Without going into too much detail Nicola has had a hysterectomy and is now in bed recovering, which the doctor says will take 6 weeks, and I am being nurse! This all happened very quickly because there was a threat of cancer but fortunately she is all clear on that count. The operation left her feeling nauseous and uncomfortable but she is getting better now. Hopefully she will be able to go back to work after Easter.cEveryone from work and church is being great and I haven’t had to cook a meal yet and the freezer is full!!

 

Joanna came out here for 6 days last month for a wedding of one of her friends from Sheffield called Chantelle. Chantelle who is South African came back to her birthplace to get married to a Nigerian who is also from Sheffield. It was an interesting experience and took place over three days. We had to have a great deal of patience as everything happened hours late. We know that keeping to time is not a typical African attribute, but when the celebratory lunch at 13:00pm turned into an 18:00pm evening meal it did break all our records. Then the next day the traditional ceremony in a marquee started three hours late and some of the guests, including us, got food poisoning as the food had been standing around in the heat. But the bride and groom stayed the course and we hope that they are now happily settled back in the UK! We did enjoy the few days with Joanna; it was wonderful having her with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mast & Chantel in traditional attire     

 

Our return to the UK at the end of June is rapidly approaching. Financially we are still over 2,000 GBP short of our target so please continue to give. We would also ask those of you who are supporting us financially on a regular basis to consider continuing redirecting that support to Oasis South Africa after our return. Although I mentioned that we have sufficient funds for our programme this year we are dependent on one donor and it was touch and go whether they would continue to fund us. We would like to get the programme on a firmer footing by getting a regular flow of many smaller donations. Or alternatively you could donate to Oasis SA in general. We will let you have more details in our next newsletter.

 

We realise that we couldn’t do what we are doing without your prayers and support, so thanks to all of you.