NEWSLETTER – ENDING 2020
Hello to everyone ,
It’s great to be able to share some news with you from the village. It has been a tough year for us and for all of you I’m sure, but we are grateful that the Lord has protected us here at iKhethelo & we are doing well despite all the disruptions.
We often pray for all of you our extended family across the globe and we hope you are all well & coping during this crazy time.
This Newsletter includes some of the highlights from 2020. Even with COVID-19 and South Africa being in Lockdown we still have some amazing stories and fun things that we have been up to over the year, so here goes…
Lily of the Valley Endeavor (LOVE) is running a VIRTUAL GALA to help raise much needed funds for iKhethelo and Lily of the Valley Villages. Find out more here…
EDUCATION
The biggest disruption for the children this year has been school. All schools closed in March 2020 in South Africa and it was only after 3 months that certain grades started returning back in stages. Our matrics were able to return full-time in June and all the other children have had some days on some off. This has now continued to date.
All our children at iKhethelo are spread across 9 different schools in our area, from Pre-School, local Schools , Model C and Special Needs schools. Thankfully most schools have been sending work home but Tami and our volunteers have managed to run with school in the village and have done an outstanding job.
A number of our children have learning difficulties and we are so grateful to have T’Shinga College and Edustars nearby where we send 9 of our children. These schools are fee paying schools but the children receive the specialised educational support that they need.
Here on the left, Londi will be finishing her final year at T’Shinga College & will be re-united with family at the end of this year.
If you would like to sponsor a child’s school fees, please contact graeme@ikhethelo.org
Above: Preperations for the 2021 school year is already underway. Tami has been working extremely hard covering books and getting stationery ready for next year. With so many kids to prepare for we have to start early.
If you would like to donate school stationery, please contact tami@ikhethelo.org
THANK YOU
1000
HILLS – GERMANY
EDUCATION is a big part of our vision at iKhethelo. It is a great vehicle to help break the orphan and poverty cycle. Our vision is to try and get as many of our children into Model C or special schools where they can receive a higher education and give them a platform to get a better job one-day when they leave the village.
We woud like to thank 1000-Hills in Germany who sponsor a large majority of our children’s school fees, giving them a much better education and a brighter future! Thank you 1000-Hills!!! & thank you to all our other sponsors.
Our High School kids have been doing a lot of online school from the village due to Covid-19 Lockdown school closures. Plus they have also been having Microsoft computer lessons from Dave. We are very grateful to Dave for his computer knowledge. Dave has been instrumental in setting up our amazing internet network. We are also grateful to Energy Drive for donating 5 brand new computers just before lockdown which was perfect timeing.
Thank you to Cadbury’s for donating lots of brand new books, word games and educational items to iKhethelo. This donation will help stock our library and provide fun educational games for all our children.
THANK YOU CADBURY’S!!!
UK CHRISTMAS GIFT APPEAL
Help up provide the Xmas Wish activities/events, as selected by the children, throughout the Xmas season and bring joy and happiness at the end of what has been a hugely challenging year.
Declutter your home and donate the proceeds to The South African Childrens Charitable Trust
OUR MATRICS
It has been a disrupted school year, especially for our Matrics who are in their final year at school. We have 5 Matrics this year who will be starting their final examinations officially this week.
Please can we ask you to pray for Charmaine, Philile, Ntokozo, Wonder and Puleng.
In 2021, they will be joining the iLaunch programme to further their education.
Matric Exam Snack Survival Kits all ready for our 5 Matrics!
OUR GRADUATES
Our iLaunch graduates have managed to continue with e-learning and it has been tough for them, but we are proud that they have all perservered and are continuing to do well even though the academic year for them will be extended into December and possibly January to complete some of their courses.
Siphiwe doing Graphich Design, Sne doing BA Degree, Lungi finishes her 3rd year doing BA Degree, Thando in her 2nd year of International Chef School and Noxie & Sma re-doing some matric subjects to better her marks. And Zack is doing well in his Engineering job.
Siphiwe: Studying Graphic Design at DUT,
also doing some modelling.
Left: Here we Have Thando who finished top of her class in 2019, and continues with a 2 year bursary to study Cheffing!
LOVING OUR
COMMUNITY
Part of our vision at iKhethelo is to look beyond ourselves & do our best to help those suffering in our community. During lockdown we have become aware of many people in our community who are suffering with no food to eat. Majority of them children and elderly.
So, for the last 7 months we have been helping provide food parcels for around 80 people.
Thank you to those who have helped donate towrds this. We would like to continue with this food support for as long as we can, so if you would like to help us, please contact us.
Thank you to Richard Stonier, and many others who have donated food towards our community food appeal.
LOVING
SUPPORT
INITIATIVE
We also have a LOVING SUPPORT INITIATIVE which we have launched this year. Some of our children who used to be at iKhethelo and are now adults after leaving the village many years back have fallen into hard times. We have started helping a few of those with a small 12 month financial support programe, plus monthly food support for 12 months, and 3 bags of donated clothes each month. These clothes are for them to sell and try bring in some income.
If you would like to support this initiative, please email Graeme at graeme@ikhethelo.org
LUNGELO, who left iKhethelo 4 years ago is also hoping to become a fireman. The cost to qualify as a fireman here in South Africa is very expensive but once you have the training a good job is pretty much gauranteed plus a great pension plan goes with the job. Once again, if you can help, please contact Graeme.
CHURCH
With churches closing due to COVID-19 we have been having our own church services every Sunday at the village. When the weather is nice, we meet in our new open area which has been so well used.
It has been a great experience getting the children involved in leading worship, sharing and most Sundays have been led by Graeme & Tami and then Joe and Nothile.
At the end of October we finally made it back to City Hill CHurch for our 1st Sunday Service there since March. The children were so excited to be back, and the kids church leaders so excited to see the children. We were going to trial the comeback and maybe go once a month but it all went so well we are going back every Sunday. Thank you to City Hill for making the booking process and COVID checks so smooth.
OTHER NEWS
NEWLY PAINTED COTTAGES
Recently we were able to re-paint the outside of Cottage 5 (Our Homework / Computer building). With Thanks to Smith & Wynfield in Durban who sponsored the paint, we have been able to paint Cottage 5, our old girls cottage 7, and younger girls cottage 9 and 10.
Energy Drive, another company in Durban will be sponsoring the painting on the boys side, Cottage 12 and Cottage 14 which will be starting soon.
2021 WINDOW DRIVE
The windows of our children’s cottages and staff houses are in terrible condition. MOst windows do not close probably, have rusted and we have tried to fix so many time that they just can’t be fixed anymore.
So, we have decided to launch a window drive for 2021. By the end of 2021, we are hoping to replace all the children’s cottages windows with brand new Aliminium windows that will close properly and keep children warmer especially in winter. In 2022 we would like to continue into the staff cottages.
JOIN THE 2021 WINDOW DRIVE
Over the course of 2021 we are hoping to replace all the windows of each children’s cottage building. That is a lot of windows, but together we can do it!
HERE’S HOW?
We have close to 120 windows that need to be replaced, for Phase 1 of this project. We have a local window maker who made the window on the left as a tester for us, and he makes them so well, plus we get to support a local business.
> A small custom designed aliminium window costs R2000.00 each
> Larger windows cost R3000.00 each
Above: An old window needing to be replaced
We are appealing to individuals, families, home groups , companies to consider sponsoring 1 Window. If you can sponsor more, even better but together we can transform the window situation in our children’s cottages.
To sponsor a window, please email Graeme at graeme@ikhethelo.org
IT’s CHRISTMAS TIME…
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! Christmas is just around the corner. Like last year we are running our
48 SMILES CAMPAIGN
This year it’s for 39 children. After re-uniting 10 children at the end of last year we have not been able to have new children in the village due to COVID-19.
So, how can I help??? >>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>> By Donating R250 per child you will help us to purchase a Christmas gift for every child plus helping us provide a delicious Christmas cooked meal on Christmas Day.
When donating, please use reference:
48 Smiles
Donation Details Below …
HELP US
BUILD
BRIGHTER
FUTURES
Donation Reference Guide:
> 48 Smiles / Use Reference: 48 SMILES
> Window Drive / Use reference : WINDOW
> Loving Support Initiative / Use reference: LSI
> Loving Our Community / Use reference: LOC
> Education / Use reference: EDUCATION
Our Bank Account Details:
Bank Name: iKhethelo Childrens Village
Acc No: 243012365
Branch: Hillcrest
Branch Code: 045726
Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ
Thank you so much for taking the time to catch up on our news. From all of us here at iKhethelo we would like to thank you for all your support over this last year.
We hope that you all have an amazing Christmas and New Year and we are looking forward to an amazing 2021!
Love from
Graeme, Tami &
all of us at iKhethelo
xxx
Above: Newly painted Cottage 7
A HUGE THANKS TO PREMIER
We would also like to thank Premier Bread in Pinetown who has sponsored loaves of bread for the village over the entire Lockdown period. This has been such a blessing for us. Each week we purchase 70 loaves of bread, so with this support, Premier have saved us over R2,800.00 per month over lockdown.
Thank you!
