HAPPY NEW YEAR
TERM ONE – 2020
Dear Friends
On behalf of all of us here at iKhethelo, we would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. We can’t believe it is already 2020. The children have all gone back to school after a long but fun filled holiday.
We hope you enjoy catching up on some of the things we got up to over the Festive Season!
Here is a group of our children, plus children from the community taking part in our December Hillcrest Rotarty Kids Camp. Thank you to Hillcrest Rotary for making this possible.
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2019 …
… are always a busy time here at the village. The children are writing exams, getting reports, and gearing up for the summer break.
Preparations for holiday activities, Staff Christmas Dinner (& Gifts), Childrens Christmas Gifts, tasty Food, New Years celebration activities are just a few of the things we are plannig at this time. Not to mention getting ready to send children back to school after the summer break.
Here are a few little snippets Leading up to Christmas:
This year, one of our volunteers organised a real Christmas tree and lots of colourful lights in our, ‘Light Up The Village,’ project. We even had a reindeers which the children loved.
Here you can see the lights in action around the tree. We also had lights on all the poles going through the middle of the village which flashed bright colours all night. Hopefully they didnt keep the kids awake!?
In December we took all our staff out for a special Christmas Lunch at the Pot and Kettle. This was to celebrate the year and to thank our amazing staff for all the hard work they do.
AS WE LOOK BACK…
at 2019, we are so amazed to see how the children have grown and done so well in their schooling and tertiary Education. We are so grateful to the Lord for all He has done in their lives and for all the many sponsors who make this possible, God is doing great things here at iKhethelo!
Zack (First on right), launches out of University as an engineer and into a full-time job with the company that he did his final year practicals with. They said he was, ‘One of a kind…,” and snapped him up officially on the 1 Decemebr 2019. Well donr Zack! We are so proud of you!.
Thando (Far Right), finished top of her class at the International Cooking School, iKhusasa. She won a two year scholorship to study international Cheffing plus a apprentiship with the Elangini hotel in Durban. Well done Thando! Tami and I attended her graduation where she won all her awards! Another proud moment for us!
OUR MATRICS… ALL PASSED!!!
Noxi will be studying at Edgewood College to improve some of her matric results.
Sma has decided to study further to improve her matric results.
Sne heads of to UKZN soon to study a BA Degree.
We are also so proud of our 3 Matrics who wrote their final school exams in Novemebr / December and then had a long wait until January 8 to get results. We are glad to announce that all 3 young ladies, Sne, Noxie and Sma all passed and we are so proud of them on this great achievement.
We wish them all the best and know that God has great plans ahead for them.
OFF TO UNIVERSITY…
One of the most questions I get asked from people is this…’ What happens to the children when they get too old for the village?’
Our vision at iKhethelo is to launch as many kids as possible into the destiny that God has for them. Here on the left, Sne and Siphiwe are off to University to start a new chapter in their lives.
Sne will be studying a BA Degree at UKZN and Siphiwe will be studying Graphic Design at DUT.
BUILDING BRIGHTER FUTURES
CHRISTMAS TIME …
Thanks to many of you who helped make Christmas Day so special for all the children and staff. Because of your generosity we were able to get the children wonderful Christmas Presents, and celebrate with an amazing Christmas Lunch. Plus lots of Fun activities happened on and around Christmas.
One of the highlights was our Christmas Carols Service at City Hill Church, Hillcrest – where the children enjoyed a night of awesome carols led by famous singer Heinz Winkler.
Also, in one of our last Wednesday night Youth nights at iKhethelo, it was so great to see Siphiwe sharing a Word God had laid on his heart for the teenagers. Everybody was very moved by his message.
RENOVATIONS …
FROM THIS…
TO THIS…
After our girls Cottages – 9 and 10 received a Painting Make-Over! towards the middle of 2019 with thanks to Chris from Smith & Wynfield – we didnt stop there!
Stoney Creek in the UK helped us transform all the girls bathrooms which has made a huge difference to these two cottages. Also, thanks to CTM Pinetown for donating most of the materials.
SPEAKING OF RENOVATIONS…
? What’s happening here in the middle of the village?
Make sure you keep an eye out for our next Newsletter where we will be revealing all the excitement happening in the middle of the village.
HOLIDAY FUN …
During the school holidays, the children took part in so many wonderful activities with thanks to The South African Chariteable Trust for raising funds to make most of these activities possible.
Some of the activities included, fun crafts, nature walks, swimming, sports activities and our highlight trip was …
…our annual trip to the Water Park in Amamzintoti. The whole village ventured down to Toti where we had so much fun spending the day shooting down all the water slides. The highlight of the day was definately all the huge smiles on the children’s faces, coming down the slides. Even the little ones and house mothers got involved in all the action!
BACK 2 SCHOOL …
All our children are back at school, and we have had a good start to the new school year. Giving our children the best Education we can give them is a strong building block that we strive hard to achieve. Currently we have 25 children in fee paying schools giving them more opportunities for later in life. This is thanks to our many sponsors who make this possible.
If you would like to sponsor school fees for a child, please contact Graeme (graeme@ikhethelo.org)
2020 VISION…
A LOVING COMMUNITY RAISING VULNERABLE CHILDREN TO WHOLENESS… has always been our vision. WE are a loving community because we have staff, volunteers and amazing people all over the world who all play an important part in raising our children.
WE also have 4 Pillars that we are working hard on which help us to raise these children in our care to wholeness. Have a look at the image on the right to see our 4 pillars.
Every project, or activity is related to one of these 4 pillars. This week as a staff we are praying into this vision. As it says in Proverbs 16v3 ‘ Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.’
Please pray with us that God would open doors in these areas, that we would have increase in all these areas and that 2020 will be a breakthrough year in every area of our children’s lives.
Graeme & Tami Wright, CEO’s of iKhethelo with their children Jono & Gaby.
Thank – You!
Not only has it been a busy start to the year in the village but also in our own family as Jono headed off to the University of Pretoria last week to study there and Gaby goes into Grade 10.
Tami and I are so grateful to all of you who play a part in raising all our children at iKhethelo. We are also so grateful for all the volunteers and staff that he has placed here, and we look forward to an incredible 2020. We wish all of you reading this letter the best for the New Year too!
For making a difference!
This year, one of our volunteers organised a real Christmas tree and lots of colourful lights in our, ‘Light Up The Village,’ project. We even had a reindeers which the children loved.
A Loving Community Raising Vulnerable Children To Wholeness.
Proudly Level 1 BEE
A Section 18A Charity / Reg No. 2001/004117/08
PBO No. 18/11/13/358
NPO No. 006-855
Our Physical Address
D826 Manqoba Drive
Bothas Hill, 3660
Kwazulu-Natal
South Africa
Our Postal Address
PO Box 689
Bothas Hill, 3660
Kwazulu-Natal
South Africa
Contact Us
Office Hrs: Mon-Thu 8am-4pm
Fri 8am-2pm
Tel: +27 (0) 31 020-0221
Email: info@ikhethelo.org