10 Years of Equipping Changemakers in Stellenbosch

“My son Khanyile, attends Idas Valley Primary School, and this is his second year at training4changeS,” says Kayamandi resident Sonya Frans.

“He is a child that stutters, so growing up his confidence was too low. At some point he wouldn’t even want to go to class when there were oral presentations. When he got the opportunity to join training4changeS I just thought it would be great because he could play soccer, and it would keep him busy while I was still at work in the afternoons, but things started to change with Khanyile. Every time he came back from training4changeS there was new development. He told me that besides going to soccer practice he also had to attend classes to help with English and Math. In his first term there was a bit of improvement, but by the second term there was huge improvement – he was getting 6s and 7s (top marks) at school.

Khanyile has started to love reading; he brings home his papers from the classes at training4changeS, and he reads them with me. The multiplication times tables test they do every week at training4changeS encourage him to practice Math all of the time so he can keep improving.

Khanyile also started telling me about the 3 D’s at training4changeS – discipline, dedication, and determination. Because he dedicated himself to growing he has been able to overcome his stutter. I never told Khanyile’s coaches about his stutter, but he started to improve and his confidence at school grew so much. His teacher at school actually thought that he was attending speech therapy because Khanyile’s confidence in public speaking improved such a lot. People are shocked now when they hear him talk because he is so confident. His communication, the way he speaks, the confidence he gained in himself has been amazing. He speaks his mind.”

“Khanyile’s story is so inspiring, and it affirms the work our team is doing with education inside and outside the classroom,” remarks training4changeS co-founder Daniel Thomae. “The spaces we create each week are safe spaces where kids can try new things to help them gain confidence for school and life.”

Thomae adds, “Khanyile is one of the few boys at training4changeS who is tri-lingual. Even though his home language is isiXhosa, he has grown in confidence to speak Afrikaans with the kids whose home language is Afrikaans. That is such a powerful action that helps build bridges across cultural and social divides.”

“I’m so grateful for the effort that training4changeS has put into my child,” Frans says in closing. “There has been such a lot of change in Khanyile through his time at training4changeS. He has become a loving and respectful leader in our household. Even though he is just 11 years old he has already encouraged us to start helping others around us who are less fortunate.”

Frans goes on to say, “Khanyile used to not like taking Afrikaans as a second language at all, but with the confidence he gained interacting with different people through training4changeS he became excited. Now when we are at the shops or out in public he is confident to speak Afrikaans to people.”