![Brighter futures - and smiles - made possible!]()
Brighter futures - and smiles - made possible!
Recently the great news that we had was, following various inspections of our youth centre, we have been approved to accommodate even more children at our home! It is wonderful to think that additional children can benefit from the services we offer them through Maranatha, which is where we certainly need the help of everyone reading this to continue in helping us to transform more lives!
I was recently given an award myself, being the Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award through the University of Plymouth, and am thrilled to share this with our team and children at our project - the true resilient heroes!
However, it becomes even clearer as we continue with our work, that when we look at poverty, inequality and unemployment then education is most definitely the answer to overcoming these challenges. Education is central to economic transformation in South Africa and helping to build a more equitable future.
One thing that we are also proud of at our youth centre is our focus on reading. We have a reading therapist who comes weekly to help with building the foundations of reading and addressing any backlogs for children who need this additional support in three languages - Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. We also run reading groups on weekend that also encourages a love of reading, as well as newspaper article reading and discussions for our older teenagers.
Unfortunately in South Africa the recent stats from the 'Progress in International Reading Literacy Study' showed that more than 80% of 10 years olds cannot read for meaning, with the country ranked as one of the lowest of those surveyed. We know from research literacy needs to be prioritised as soon as possible in a child's schooling career. Our collective efforts at our youth centre has certainly helped to see many successful outcomes for children from our home, and we know - that with your support - this will be able to continue!
Every little helps. Any donation makes the world of difference! Thanks for investing in these young lives!
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