Life-changing Education for South African Children

Dear Friend of YOUPSA,

We wish you could see how our children have grown and developed their character. The creative educational and personal development opportunities they enjoy in the YOUPSA Afterschool Enrichment Programme do not exist anywhere else in the rural communities.

A huge Thank You to our donors and supporters for your care and for making this possible. Please enjoy this brief news update highlighting some of the many activities in our weekly programmes.

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Healthy nutrition

Learning about healthy eating and drinking is an important part of YOUPSA's programmes. The children love trying new foods! They get a nutritious snack during each session.

We also learn to read the ingredients on packages and distinguish between what is healthy and what is not. These children are very precious and we want them to enjoy continued good health and vitality. Our favourite juice is 'Rugani Juice' because it is 100% pure fruit and vegetable ingredients, with no preservatives or additives.

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Neurographic art

YOUPSA children engaged in the mindful and expressive art form called Neurographic Art. This therapeutic form of drawing and colouring is excellent for recreating neuropathic pathways in the brain. Originally developed by Pavel Piskarev, Neurographic Art is a way to capture how the inner being reacts to the outer world.

Here are the steps you can try out for yourself: begin by thinking of something that is on your mind — an emotion or a challenge you are dealing with. Acknowledge it quietly and draw a curving, wandering line to express this, beginning anywhere along the edge of the page. The line may cross over itself or loop around, but must finish at another edge of the page. Then draw 2-4 or more of these lines. Let them intersect freely and organically. 

Finally, colour in the spaces between your lines, choosing colours based on your mood or intuition. As you colour, imagine smoothing out the tension in your thoughts and enjoy the calm that comes.

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My very own first book!

YOUPSA has been distributing hundreds of books to children in the farming areas and reading together with them. The children could not believe that they were receiving their very own book!

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Alphabet art

Learning how to draw bubble letters is a creative and fulfilling literacy activity for the children. It opens discussions about letter form, sounds and vocabulary, and strengthens knowledge of the alphabet. The children just loved this new way of adding personality to their signature!

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Perspective drawing

New arts, maths and life skills are always part of the YOUPSA afterschool programme. Our children were introduced to one-point perspective drawing. This helped them to see the world differently, adding new possibilities and layers into their art work. Rural primary and high school children never learn about perspective in their schools. The word perspective and its meaning was a completely new concept for everyone.

We first went outside to observe how things seem to be large when near and how they seem to be smaller in the distance. Putting this conscious observation on paper was so exhilarating for each child! One-point perspective drawing uses a single vanishing point on the horizon line, where lines converge to a single point.

We hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse into the work we do with the children. Please stay connected, let us know if you have any questions or ideas to share.

With love and best wishes,

The YOUPSA Team

Dear Friend of YOUPSA,

At YOUPSA we bring our energy, expertise and joy to every space where we meet children. Creative spark and sense of possibility are a constant thread in our every interaction.

During these past months we have seen the Afterschool Enrichment Programme help newcomer children feel a sense of belonging; support young people through life changes; and spark creativity and confidence. Our educational programmes foster curiosity, emotional growth, self-expression, and connection.

Your partnership with YOUPSA is what makes this vital work possible. View this newsletter as a window into the powerful experiences that your generosity towards YOUPSA brings to life. A huge Thank You to our partners, sponsors and friends! 

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We love having visitors!
'A Chance for Children Foundation', a very kind sponsor of YOUPSA, came to visit South Africa and finally met the children in our programmes. They invited one group of our children to spend the day at Buffelsdrift Game Lodge. It was a dream come true for these children to see so many animals out in the wild.

While driving up and down bumpy tracks through the bush in a game drive vehicle, we spotted giraffes, rhinos, springbok, wildebeest, buffalos and more. So much important learning takes place on an excursion like this, lasting a lifetime.

We also had an 'elephant experience' where we interacted with 3 tame elephants, feed them and get an elephant hug each!

Thank you to Tai and her kind friends from ACFC!

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Superheroes of the Savannah
The YOUPSA children brought the book "Superheroes of the Savannah" to life!

First we watched educational nature videos about two very special African animals, the bat-eared fox and the honey badger. What happens when a bat-eared fox teams up with a honey badger? Pure magic! 
In the book, a bat-eared fox comes across a fearless and tough honey badger, and decides to stick with him for protection. The honey badger isn’t keen about this, until he realizes that the little bat-eared fox has some useful skills too. 

The children drew their own savannah superheroes and discovered that even the smallest friend can possess the mightiest skills. Friendship and creativity are the true superpowers! Isn't their artwork just amazing?!

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Swartberg Pass and Prince Albert Tour
Educational outings are an integral part of YOUPSA's weekly programmes. This was the first time ever for these children to visit the Swartberg Pass, Prince Albert and Meiringspoort Waterfall! Initially it was a very cold and windy day.
 
Winding roads, steep cliffs, high mountain tops, breathtaking vistas and pristine nature – it was a day of true adventure! The children could hardly believe they were there. The Swartberg Mountain Range is the longest mountain range in South Africa, and the tallest in the Western Cape Province.

Coming down the other side of the mountain, we explored the town of Prince Albert. We visited the Prince Albert Open Studios. The children in this group are very keen artists, and they enjoyed all of the beautiful paintings, photographs and sculptures. It was their first time to see artwork in person!

Karoo Looms was the next stop on our tour. Here the children learned about how Mohair from Angora goats and sheep's wool is prepared and spun into yarn, then put onto a loom and woven into various attractive products, like colourful rugs.

For lunch it was wood-fired pizza for all at 'O for Olive', what a treat! Most children never ate pizza before. To top it all off, on the way back, we visited Meiringspoort Waterfall. Wow, what a magical spot!

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Maths in natural and fun for every child
Learning maths can come in various forms. In every one of YOUPSA's programme sessions we provide hands-on, collaborative opportunities to interact with numbers and mathematical concepts. Here we learned practical new skills by using dominos to practice number recognition, addition and subtraction.

Many children in South Africa feel that they cannot do maths only because the quality of instruction in schools is very low. With our approach, every child loves to engage in maths!

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Visit to a world wonder
YOUPSA gave a group of children the opportunity to visit the internationally renowned Cango Caves. Being in these huge chambers underneith the Swartberg Mountain Range, seeing the various formations and learning the history, was an awe-inspiring experience.

There was huge excitement to finally be able to see these special natural wonders, not far away from their homes and yet unreachable for children in the rural areas. Concluding with a delicious lunch for everyone topped it all off.

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Literacy in action at YOUPSA
Children in our programmes love reading the different 'Elmer the Elephant' books by David McKee. We read 'Elmer on Stilts'. In this book Elmer and his friends devise an ingenious plan to evade a group of hunters in the forest. They fashion their own stilts so that poachers cannot track them down.
Our children loved reading and discussing this humorous and educational story. They made their own gorgeous Elmer drawings. And there was a big surprise for the group – Ray built special stilts for the children to practice walking on - just like Elmer and his friends did!