Education support for children in South Africa

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

During the past year our children attended 9 different educational establishments. This included one pre-school, one primary school, three special schools, three mainstream high schools and one higher education facility. Our oldest girl age 19 is currently doing her second year occupational training course in hairdressing at college. We had one young person previously diagnosed with dysgraphia and dyscalculia who also finished school and is now developing vocational skills to train in butchery work! 

At this stage a third of the children at the centre have some form of intellectual disability. This is of course also due to a lack of early childhood stimulation and neglect prior to admittance into residential care, with us also having children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome referred to us. Whilst we had accepted a number of toddlers during the pandemic with older siblings, they have also all commenced schooling thos year with the youngest two boys starting Grade 1. However of course all of this brings with it additional expenses.  

However, at our youth centre we also believe in working holistically and that children need to develop in many different extra-curricular aeas. The weekly activities for the children at the centre currently include Cricket Lessons at the local Youth Cricket Academy and weekly Swimming Lessons. The boys have their ‘Maranatha Young Aces’ soccer team which has become part of the local Inter-NPO Soccer League. Recently the older young people have also been taking part in the Park Run every Saturday morning. The senior boys also took part in a Street Dance workshop. All the children could attend movie screenings at the centre facilitated by Sunshine Cinema.

The children at the centre must according to the Children’s Act receive therapeutic, developmental and recreational services. Therapeutic services are rendered by the social worker. We also make use of the local university Psychology Clinic for counselling, and work with the hospital Psychiatric Clinics. We also have one teacher visiting us weekly that provides reading therapy and tuition to help with scholastic progress. All our children also receive a psychometric evaluation and aptitude/careers assessment for older youth.

It is important for our young people to also be involved in the community and develop a sense of giving back. We had young people attend the regional South African Police Imbizo to hear about crime issues in the city. They also attended a Beach Clean-Up as well as learning about environmental conservation at SANCCOB.  

Of course funding is a continual need at Maranatha-Siyakatala. The centre obtained its renewed approval from the Environmental Health Municipal Department during this year and went through the Developmental Quality Assurance process of the Department of Social Development to obtain a new registration certificate for 5 years. However funding is of crucial important to ensure we can continue to run our services at an optimum level. Unfortunately we are battling to secure donors on this platform desite the urgency of ensuring we have funds in place for continued educational development. 

It is positive as reported that we see young people leaving the centre and work towards becoming self-sufficient. One of our care-leavers from 2023, who had been at the centre for 12 years, progressed to her diploma level studies in hospitality & catering eventually leaving the centre having been offered employment at the 5 Star Number 5 Boutique Hotel as Commis Chef. She also moved into her own apartment and we could attend her graduation event.

Another care-leaver, who had been at the centre for 10 years, completed his higher education studies in film and television production with further courses completed in screenwriting and camera skills. Most recently he started full-time employment as a teaching assistant. We assisted three other care-leavers with learnership opportunities in this year. One of our first Maranatha boys also visited redently, now an adult male in his early 30s, that has been working with Volkswagen and is able to support his own baby boy. One care-leaver also started working with us as a child & youth care worker. We continue to have one care-leaver in his mid-20s reside with us as part of our Maranatha Adult program where he also gains vocational experiences on-site and completed a maintenance in sustainable building course. 

ALL of the above, and the positive outcomes for our young people, can only be achieved through the investment in childhod and beyond. 

If you are reading this, please take a moment to contribute, however much you can, as we can only continue with our work if we recieve your support!

Thank you!

Links:

• Charity Website