This will be the last blog post this year. It is getting hotter, but also greener. For two weeks it has been raining and we cannot get enough rain.
The work in Tsibogang is slowly rounding off: in recent weeks, we have had several major events which have cost a lot of work and preparation.
In the first week of October, 24 peer educators went with Dr. Hermann to HaPhororo, a retreat house for young people near Pretoria. The house is picturesque in the mountains with a view of the Hartebeesportdam. Every day there are liturgical devotions with chants known from Taize. The highlight of this week y is a hike in the Magaliesberg mountains, which is really exhausting, especially for the people who never climb mountains. In the five days there was much to consider: each one had time for personal reflection on the topic : “My friendship with God”.
In this week also the next Montessori module, took place, which was about language. Reading and writing is a part of the curriculum in a Montessori kindergarten. The module is about learning how to prepare the children for literacy . In our two Early Learning centres we have started teaching writing to our children and they are very keen. 
We do this in the mother tongue of the children, Setswana. In the last few months, I was busy making sandpaper letters (phonograms) on Setswana. This costs a lot of time but is very important; in Setswana, there are sounds that are written with three or even four letters, and the children must know or learn that.
The women in the Montessori course have produced some of their own language material . This is a building block in the course that has given some of them sleepless nights. The material has to be exact and then beautiful.
In October, a Mathematics’ test developed by Dr. Hermann was written in all After school programs .We wanted to find out whether our work with the children has improved their Maths performance.193 children have written the test and 113 of them have indeed improved compared to the test written in March.
On 19 November the sports festival took place from all six After school programs with 232 children and 40 adults. Football, volleyball and netball were played for one day, an organizational nightmare. But it went off successfully.
The schools and preschools are about to close for the summer holidays. The next weekend we will celebrate our all-year-ending celebration in Tsibogang: we remember those who died this year; for the first time, we had to mourn six members of Tsibogang. We will look at a picture show of all the highlights this year and have a big braai.
We are grateful to you for all the support, all the great help that our work has made possible. We thank God for all the protection and blessings. We wish you a blessed Advent and Christmas season.