Path out of Poverty

Bus Appeal – Thank you, we made it!

Sarah — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:43:52 +0000

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.

2011: Another successful year for POP

Sarah — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:39:01 +0000

Our Path out of Poverty Programme, which has just celebrated its 14^th anniversary, had yet another bumper year full of big wins and major achievements. Under the leadership of Ingrid Lestrade the programme continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Some of our 2011 highlights include: the opening of POP 3 in Riebeek Kasteel, which after 8 months is thriving and is often filled with the sound of children laughing and singing. Our first POP Cup was awarded, thanks to a generous donation by Bill and Suzette Griffiths, this Cup will be awarded annually to the best POP sports person. At the invitation of Mayor Lottering our POP team embarked on two emotional but rewarding trips to Prince Albert. Annie and Ingrid visited the Karoo town in September and then a team of 13 POP staff spent a week in the small Karoo town doing a community enumeration. This involved the team visiting every home by day and running programmes for the youth at night. Discussions around a future partnership will continue in 2012.

The major win of 2011 was seeing the foundations being laid for our POP Youth Centre. For the past 14 years our POP work has been spread across the farm, but by May 2012 we will have one functioning centre for all of our POP needs. In addition the centre will also be housing our new Goedgedacht Leadership College, so watch this space for further developments as we embark on this new and exciting POP journey.

Bus Appeal

Nix — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:12:36 +0000

I was on my way to a meeting in a little town called Citrusdal this morning and I was the first person to arrive on a terrible accident scene. I piece of road repair machinery had hit a truck full of farm workers and there were bodies all over the road. It was a terrible scene and very scary.
I was reminded of how important our bus is in the transport of children and how grateful I am for your help and support in helping us get a bus. Thank you for making this possible and ensuring that all our children arrive and go home safely every day.
Ingrid Lestrade.

Childrens Dreams at our POP centres

Nix — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:31:21 +0000

I am sure you are dying to know what the POP children and youth DREAM about right? Well, all I can say is that I visited three POP centres today and came home laughing, crying and smiling at the same time.

One little boy made a sport field with sand around it and green grass in the middle. He said that it is his DREAM for Goedgedacht’s sport field to be GREEN through out the year and not brown like sand as it is now because we have to save water during the summer months!

Another little boy made his face up like father Christmas because he wants to have lots of presents to give to all children in the world! Isn’t that cute?

So, what is your DREAM that might seem impossible now?

Ingrid Lestrade

POP Co-ordinator

POP Children Dream the Impossible Dream in 2012

Nix — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:49:55 +0000

We are starting 2012 with our January school holiday programme with the theme of “Dream the Impossible Dream!” which will help every POP child and youth to hold on to their dreams with passion, commitment and restored excitement through out this year depsite the ever changing circumstances.

We started this morning – I have managed to visit 4 of our 6 rural communities where we had programmes with our POP children and youth. As I was driving back to Goedgedacht farm I could not the images of the hunderds of children and young people whom I saw today out of my mind…some so neglected and hungry that it appeared that they had very little to eat during the Christmas holidays but yet full of smiles and a deep sense of hope which is mainly created by all of YOU who are supporting our work in communities where otherwise there would be no possitive activities during school holidays.

We are DREAMING the impossible DREAM of setting up 7 more RURAL POP YOUTH CENTRES in 7 additional rural communities and include a further 7 000 in the next 5 years to reach our goal of 10 000 pairs of feet on their paths out of poverty. Now for most people I know this dream seem impossible but for us we see the faces that have nothing but their feet walking their PATHS out of POVERTY every day with so much determination and courage that inspires us to continue to look for creative and simple ways to protect and inspire our POP children to keep trying no matter how many times they fail! We believe POP can keep every rural child and young person in Africa’s DREAM alive.

Thank you for helping us to walk with these feet till they have shoes and an extra pair to give to others who are less fortunate than them.

Ingrid Lestrade
POP Co-ordinator

Rural Youth Leadership Academy

Nix — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:16:19 +0000

Our Rural Youth Leadership Academy well on it’s way. Most builders finish work on the 15th of December but our group of builder are trying to make as much progress as they can and they worked up until the 22nd. We are very grateful for their support and keenness to get the job done.

It is getting hot here in the Swartland and you can almost feel the heat from these pictures. We are very excited about this new centre of ours and hope that great things will come from it.

‘Academy’ sounds very posh which is not our intention but we do want to make it 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 will be focusing on the principles of ‘servant-leadership’ and instill in these young people a love of service and commitment. Wish us well and all advice on how we can go about this undertaking will always be welcomed.

The 2011 pre-school graduates

Nix — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:56:50 +0000

We wanted to remind all our supporters that our children come from the Swartland and that we are the bread basket of the Western Cape by taking photos of our children in the nearby corn fields.

POP enumeration at Prince Albert

Nix — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:18:43 +0000

The POP team arrived safe and sound back on Goedgedacht after a trip to Prince Albert in the small Karoo about 5 hours drive from Goedgedacht farm to do an enumeration study of the houses there.

Although we are all exhausted we are so grateful for such a truly humbling experience. There are just no words that can really describe how much we have been touched. We managed to enumerate more than 800 houses and now have enough information to see just how many children and youth are in need of your support and POP’s help!

Please continue to support us so that we can help the children whom you have seen this past few days.

Many thanks.
Ingrid Lestrade

The Straw bale Maze

Nix — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:15:07 +0000

It’s up! It’s complicated and if you don’t answer the questions correctly you will go round and round for hours. All the questions in the maze are to do with climate and the importance of climate in these uncertain times. Designed for young people but all will be welcome to visit us and ‘walk the maze’.

POP Bus to See the POP Children Travel as Safely as Possible

Nix — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:41:57 +0000

Robin Carlisle, the Provincial Minister of Transport says:
“A child cannot be at greater risk than in the back of a pick-up van. If there is an accident the carnage beggars description. Which is why it is illegal. It makes no sense to enrich young lives by the work you do, but imperil those self same lives getting them to and from school. A well maintained bus will last for many years and poses almost zero risk to its passengers. It opens a new world of safe trips and tours. Please don’t transport children in pick-ups.”

And here we have been transporting hundreds of children EVERY DAY by pick-up. This has been a serious wake-up call causing me deep concern and making me acutely aware that we must change fast.

It is now imperative that we:

Work immediately towards becoming compliant with the legislation.
Move children more safely.
Do so as economically as possible.
Find a vehicle that is large enough and robust enough for the poor gravel roads.

We aiming to solve this problem by purchasing a tough, old fashioned, no frills, 65 seater ‘Leyland Bus’, with heavy duty suspension. A bus that would be long lasting and economical at cost of £65,000.

The good news is that by trading in two of our older vehicles and approaching two local trusts I have already managed to raise £41 000 towards it. I am nearly there. So our friends and supporters are heling us raise another £24 000 to reach this vitally important target.

All donors names will be on a plaque inside the bus so that the children will know all those that were concern of their safety.

Please contact us if you would like to contribute to this indispensable cause.

Yours sincerely,
Ingrid Lestrade