What a day of fun and excitement. Little ones who looked as if they couldn’t run a few meters suddenly shot off down the track like bullets out of a gun. The shouting and the laughter, the tears and the disappointments all rolled into one big experience for our 109 young tots. Then a lovely meal to end the day.
When I think about our POP programme I’m convinced that the whole show just runs on food. It’s the glue that keeps hundreds of children coming back day after day for a hot plate of food before settling down to do their homework…and FOOD is a vital part of keeping them going to school and NOT dropping out.
This year I’ve been spending time each week with Eldyne, the manager of our POP centre in Riebeek Kasteel and I am absolutely bowled over with admiration as to how she is coping with the huge number of hungry children who come every day to our After–school project.
Just try and picture this. At 2.30 every weekday afternoon there are rows of children sitting in the dust, tightly packed, shoulder to shoulder, next to the gate of our POP centre. They don’t move because they’re frightened of losing their place in the queue. No getting up to chat to friends across the way, no pushing and pulling. All they want is for that gate to open so that they can have their first meal of the day.
Initially we fed 150 children a day and the enormous pot of food prepared by Aunty Hannetjie, our cook, just went round. A few weeks later there were 177 and she was scraping the bottom of the pot out. On Friday last week there were 201 and we ran out of food!!! And we ran out money!!
This is what is happening at just one of our POP youth centres and we have three!
Much brainstorming on our part produced the idea of a VOUCHER SYSTEM. We are going to call a parents meeting and get them to register their children. Each meal will be backed by a voucher sponsored by a friend like you, one of the wonderful friends who are happy to support us doing the work on the coalface.
But there will be a problem. Inevitably the more organized parents will come to the meeting and the parents of the children who are the most neglected won’t be there. Luckily Edlyne and our other POP Managers really know their children well, Edlyne knows the name of every child, which is no small feat when we are feeding 200 + children. They can easily identify the children who are most dirty, neglected and hungry, the ones from the most disorganized homes.
So with your help we will undertake to make sure that these most needy children also get a hot meal each day with the help of your voucher. We will care about them when their parents cannot.
I have worked out that it costs just over R150 (£15) to feed a child for three months. If we can raise R10 000 (£1000) from this appeal we will be able to feed 200 children at our centre in Esterhof for a whole year – so every little bit will help, R50 (£5) or R100 (£10) or R150 (£15) or more if you are able to stretch.
The children’s parents are mostly seasonal farm workers and now that the grapes have been harvested there is almost no work. Unemployment is as high as 45% and these children know that they have to look after themselves. Their parents can’t and often there is just no food at home.
FOOD is our first priority. A child can’t study when he or she is hungry. Can’t even think really.
If you are able to support our children’s food scheme please just follow this link CLICK HERE. Once you have made a donation a voucher will be filled in on your behalf.
Let’s do everything we can to make sure that these special children stay in school.
Annie
Some nice shots of Esterhof POP centre. Shows you how busy it can become:
And here are some pictures taken by Ingrid, our POP Co-ordinator, of a parents meeting at Esterhof in February 2012. They were looking for ways in which the parents can be involved in the centre with their children. About 100 parents turned up and mane were keen to be involved in some way:
The Leadership College will soon be a very special place were small numbers of gifted young adults who live in rural areas can come for short courses on how to sharpen their leadership abilities so that they can make a contribution to the communities that they live in.
We were wonderfully suprised today when Sandy and Judy arrived with 4 computers for our POP 1 Youth Centre! Sandy has introduced us to a programme called Mathletics which is played on the computer using the internet and competing with children all over the world in Maths. It is an exciting way to improve the Maths skills amongst children. We are now only waiting for the computer technicians to come out tomorrow and connect the computers up where after Sandy will train the staff and children in how to use Mathletics! What a wonderful gift to our POP children. Thank you Sandy and Judy AND a big THANK YOU to COOP (Cycle out of Poverty) for sending them on our paths.
In the photo are Sandy, Gertrude, Judy and me.
Ingrid Lestrade
POP Co-ordinator
Towards the end of 2011 we had a scary wakeup call, the Minister of Transport in the Western Cape, Robin Carlisle informed us that the way in which we were transporting our precious children was illegal and dangerous. In good Goedgedacht fashion we acted immediately and began what turned out to be a hugely successful appeal thanks to you our generous friends. Thanks to your support we raised the R810 000 needed to buy the no frills, 60 seater, heavy duty bus which will now take care of 85% of our transport needs. It can also cope with bad dirt roads, which many of your know is a must in our areas.
Many of you helped us to make this a reality and we are so grateful to each and every one of you – thank you from all of us here at Goedgedacht, especially our now safe children.
POP and Grow Peace in Africa are projects of Grow Peace.
Grow Peace is a charity registered in the United Kingdom (No. 109 1687).
Copyright © 2009 Grow Peace. All rights reserved.
