By Harrison Dax Nash | Charity Director / Project Leader
I am writing this update as South Africa has just released the matric results – the exams taken by students in their final year of high school before they could be moving on to higher education. The 2015 national pass rate was 70.7% yet in the Eastern Cape, where we operate, the province achieved only a 56.8% which was down from 65.4% in 2014 and shows it to be the worst performing province for two years in a row. This is where we can see that there continues to be a substantial need for social change!
Yet the wonderful news that can be shared is that one young man from the child & youth care centre we support most certainly passed all his final exams and achieved well enough to keep his place studying Business Management at university level this year! And not only that but he was awarded a bursary from the educational establishment assisting to make this possible! He really has a lovely personality and deserves a bright future after making the most of opportunities afforded to him…opportunities that your funds help make possible!
However what we also believe is that specialised education must be afforded to those who need it and as such vocational options are also identified because it is clear that having a trade is a wonderful pathway for those with more practical abilities, particularly where we know that even having a degree does not guarantee you job security! As such a further success story from the centre is another young man who has completed his standard schooling and is now staying on having been enrolled in a woodwork & upholstery course. He has already been involved at the centre in such income-generating initiatives as tyre furniture making affording opportunities to develop more unique skills!
It is great to be able to report such stories as what we see is the end result of the investment in education and development where prospects for children coming into residential care appear brighter. This is aligned with our own vision as a charity and where we can thank all our supporters to this project! And as we start a new school year with children enrolled in Grade 1 onwards we can only again ask for any contribution towards making more success stories possible in this coming year! You will also see a photo here from a prize-giving event I PROUDLY attended at Sea Cadets which a number of children from the youth centre attend as we strive to help open as many doors as possible to realise potential!
What else can be reported at this time is that I myself have this month been awarded a British Citizen Award for the category of International Achievement. These awards were launched to honour those making a positive impact on society and for ‘everyday’ people whose achievements may otherwise be overlooked. I was amazed to be nominated in the first place so to have been awarded this incredible honour has been truly overwhelming and definitely unexpected! But I only hope it will also help others to share in the passion for what we are trying to achieve and help us to make more of a difference…one child at a time!
Thanks again for all of the support! PLEASE do share, tweet or forward this report and project page on because the more support we receive the greater the difference we will be able to make! We are still shooting for the moon…and creating stars in the process!
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