After a long break it is time for an update. Winter is over and the schools are reopening tomorrow for the last term of the school year. We are asking ourselves: Where is the year gone?
The children of the nine after school programs are about to prepare for their final exams. In the week when the Spring holidays started, all ten year olds and above wrote a HIV Test where the overall results was 72.3% which is the best result ever.
The other day one of our helpers in one After school program told me that a girl came to her after one of the HIV lessons and requested not to attend them. When she asked her why she said: “My mum is HIV positive and she is not well. I am scared that she might die soon.” The volunteer took this as an invitation to help that girl to debrief and explain to her what she could do to help her mother to get better and to remind her of taking the ARTs.
In our two Early Learning Centers the children are keen to write their names. We have seen a lot of improvement when it comes to using the Montessori material. Our toddlers are unstoppable to test the Practical Life material. Here pouring water, squeezing water out of a sponge, pouring water with a funnel are most wanted materials for them. It’s so interesting to observe them when they copy the older children.
The Tshepanang group had their annual workshop near Zeerust where the 48 participants prepared themselves for the coming year by brushing up the lessons on compassion, HIV counseling and testing, grace, forgiveness, abstinence. Twenty years ago we have started running these workshops on character building and helping young people making good choices in their lives. Has it made an impact on those who were taught? We pray and hope that is has and goes on to have an impact in future.
The highlight of the workshop was the celebration of one Tshepanang Member (Kelebogile Modise) who graduated at UNISA and is now intending to enroll for a BA Education. This is really good news and motivating that all the struggles paid off.
20 Tlamelang members had a retreat day recently under the heading: “Which race do I have to run and what helps me to keep running? “(Hebrews 12,1-3) The day was spent in a nice retreat centre in Zeerust where the stillness helped us to connect to God and to focus on our journey with him.
Christel Lorato Hermann