1 Feel it, it is here to stay! Newsletter AUGUST 2010 VOLUME 19 A dream came true for three of our BIA youngsters who were treated to a soccer match at the Nelson Mandela soccer sta- dium in Port Elizabeth during FIFA 2010. Tatum-Leigh Le Fleur, Brandon Le Fleur and Ruduwaan Myburgh, all from Kranshoek, were sponsored by their god- parents to attend this special event. When they were told by BIA that they would be going to a world cup match they jumped for joy with a tear or two of happiness being shed. Adje Bos, of Siya Phambili, also sur- prised her group of co-partners with a trip to the world cup soccer match between Chile & Switzerland. As you all know by now, Siya Phambili is a bead working business run by a group of BIA mothers in the Crags. Wonderful news! BIA is tax deduc- table in terms of Section 18 of the Income Tax Act in South Africa since March 2009. Also in Belgium we are able to hand out tax re- turn certificates for the year 2009- 2010 and 2010- 2011. By sheer hard work and refusal to give up this has become a thriving business and therefore they earned and deserved their special outing. See page 2 for more soccer news. The Siya Phambili beadclub ladies in full blast!
Transcript
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Feel it, it is here to stay!
Newsletter A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 1 9
A dream came true for three of our BIA youngsters who were treated to a soccer match at the Nelson Mandela soccer sta-dium in Port Elizabeth during FIFA 2010. Tatum-Leigh Le Fleur, Brandon Le Fleur and Ruduwaan Myburgh, all from Kranshoek, were sponsored by their god-parents to attend this special event. When they were told by BIA that they would be going to a world cup match they jumped for joy with a tear or two of happiness being shed. Adje Bos, of Siya Phambili, also sur-prised her group of co-partners with a trip to the world cup soccer match between Chile & Switzerland. As you all know by now, Siya Phambili is a bead working business run by a group of BIA mothers in the Crags.
Wonderful news!
BIA is tax deduc-table in terms of Section 18 of the Income Tax Act in South Africa since March
2009.
Also in Belgium we are able to hand out tax re-turn certificates
for the year 2009-2010 and 2010-
2011.
By sheer hard work and refusal to give up this has become a thriving business and therefore they earned and deserved their special outing.
See page 2 for more soccer news.
The Siya Phambili beadclub ladies in full blast!
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Soccer Fever continued…
Interesting Soccer facts you didn’t know!
• The country bringing home the World Cup for the most number of times is none other than Brazil.
• Did you know by what name the South African National Team is known? It is 'Bafana Bafana'. In isiZulu, it means 'the boys, the boys'
• One of the most interesting FIFA World Cup 2010 fun facts is about the cut throat competi-tion to make it to one of the 31 places – 200 participated!
• Well over a billion people world wide followed the month-long tournament played. Zakumi was the Mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (Lion on the right!)
This year the June/July school holidays were excep-tionally long, due to the FIFA World Cup which took place in our colourful country. Born in Africa had ma-jor concerns with what the children would get up to during this time period of 5 weeks. Our dynamic team put together a most exiting holiday program. We started each day with a group compris-ing of 30 students from Wittedrift Primary gathering for Art & Craft classes under the guidance of “Juf” Aletta who also teaches the Art & Craft classes for Born in Africa during school term and assistance of BIA volunteers The children got to face paint, make colorful masks, paint world cup country flags and much more.
Whilst all this was going on inside the Green Val-ley Community hall two teams of young soccer players gathered outside. With soccer fever rife at the moment, they were not deterred by the nippy early morning chill. Karl and Hayley, two BIA vol-unteers kept the spirit going on and off the pitch with many spectators gathering. Once 12H00 struck we moved on to Kurland Village where the program was mirrored, only with much larger num-bers, 50 learners attended at the Crags Primary school and we had at least 4 soccer teams.
Our motivated team continued their program and discovered loads of hidden talent, both on the sports field and in the Art & Craft classroom. Fun was had by all!
Deborah van Siya Phambili with her
vuvuzela!
Watch out World Cup 2014, here we come!
BIA Holiday Program
...The atmosphere at the stadium was overwhelming for the whole group, who had never attended an international sports event. Sur-rounded by almost 35 000 screaming fans, the group en-joyed themselves immensely. Blowing their vuvuzelas, they too, let visitors to our country know that soccer fever is here, to stay!
• Traditionally made and in-spired from a kudu horn, the vuvuzela was used to sum-mon distant villagers to attend community gatherings.
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What have our volunteers been up to ?
Winter time means Naartjie (mandarin) time in SA and once again Nicky “Naartjie” invited our team to pick fruit for our children from her beautiful orchid situated in Wittedrift. Our volunteers gathered loads of naartjies which we handed out to youngsters in the Bitou area to boost their Vitamin C levels!
Karl Leenknegt and Katleen Buffels who joined BIA for three months during their tour of Africa assisted in giving our website a total revamp. Co-incidentally, they also got engaged whilst working for BIA. Feel free to visit our new website at www.borninafrica.org for a glimpse of our activities.
Christina Jaschinski, from Germany who is assist-ing BIA till the end of August poses with a group of Crags Primary children during the Kurland Greening Program. Born in Africa along with other NGO’s and Plett Municipality aim to establish a park for the com-munity over time.
Place of Hope, situated in Kwanokuthula, is a shelter for abandoned and vulnerable babies. Here BIA vol-unteer, Hayley Bicknell offers one of the many ba-bies some much needed attention during the school holidays where our volunteers also offered their time assisting with the many tasks at the busy shelter.
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Our current Educational challenge…
Born in Africa survey: Born in Africa recently held a survey in two of the schools we work in, Crags Primary and Plett Secondary school. The survey was held to establish the reality of what exactly our youngsters are getting up to regarding their use of alcohol, drugs, cigarette smoking, “cutting” school and promiscuity amongst teenagers. A total of 221 children from Gr 7-12 (13-18 year, 88% was younger than 16 year old) took part in the question-naires which revealed rather shocking answers. We published the statistics in a local newspaper during the FIFA World cup soccer tournament. This was to en-courage our parents/guardians to at all times be aware of their children’s whereabouts.
6 July 2010 SOURCE: Ministry of Education (Provincial Government of the Western Cape) The Western Cape Ministry for Education largely welcomes today's announcement on changes to the education curricu-lum by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga. The proposed changes will contribute to the streamlining of the national curriculum and if properly implemented, will hopefully lead to an improvement in education outcomes throughout South Africa. Teachers have for years, complained about being overbur-dened by additional administrative duties, therefore we wel-come the proposal to reduce the administrative load on teachers, giving them more time to plan their classroom schedules and to support individual learner needs. We are also especially pleased that the changes will bring back a far greater focus on the use of textbooks and on content knowl-edge - two aspects we are already focusing on strongly in the Western Cape. It is widely believed that Outcomes Based Education under-mined the quality of education in South Africa by ignoring the centrality of textbooks and the importance of content knowl-edge. The changes announced by Minister Motshekga will go a long way to restoring a reasonable balance in the delivery of the curriculum.
20% of the youth are smoking at least 5 cigarettes a week.
18% had protected sex 6% had unprotected sex
7% is using dagga at least once a week.
36% drinks alcohol during the weekend
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Born in Africa Homework Centre
Our Assistant teachers program is growing from strength to strength with our four dynamic ladies lending much needed hands at the Crags Primary school with the two Gr 1 classes, Wittedrift Primary school with the Gr 1 class and at Kranshoek Primary school with the Gr 3-6 classes. Some of these classes have 43 pupils to contend with on a daily basis. Not a task for sissies! BIA has spotted another gap in the system and we are excited to present it to our devoted supporters. We are currently investigating the possibility of setting up a “Homework centre”. This will be a first for BIA and we have chosen the Gr 6 BIA pupils from Crags Primary school to start with. There are approx 25 learners who will be attending the Homework centre and what we are basically hoping to do and achieve is to provide a safe, structured environ-ment for the pupils in which to complete their daily homework (as per their class teachers-via homework books). We would also like to offer them ex-tra vocational English classes, basic computer skills and so forth. With the accelerated learning component, we aim at offering the children correct study methods, how to do appropriate research for projects and much more. We aim to work very closely with the Gr 6 teachers from the school to ob-tain their insight as to what is required and what the children need to learn. We have put 12 weeks aside for the program and with appropriate assess-ments we will be able to measure the merits and then hopefully roll the pro-
Tertiary Education Update
B e r n a - L e e E v e r t s e : “Since I came to Eden Cam-pus my life has changed
for the better, I have met wonderful people including close friends and very sup-portive lecturers. With lots of opportunities and positive development on a personal level, you surely will be-come successful at Eden campus.”
Ashby Prins: “As for me I have been a real busy bee, being in-volved in a lot of projects on and around the Eden campus. I am project manager for a volunteer group that works with disadvan-
tage children, giving them all the extra help that they need with school work, and other projects... It is called Seven Passes Initiative Program. I am also one of the top students in my phase and always strive to do my best and try my hardest at all times. I am currently plan-ning on opening my own business on campus, but I am still working on my business plan.”
What’s install for 2011?
By now you have heard all about our tertiary students, study fund, and from the current students themselves. Having said this, we have many plans for next year. Our current Gr 12 stu-dents have seen that it is possible to rise above one's circum-stances and make your dreams come true. We have had many applicants wishing to study Business, IT, Nursing, Physiother-apy, Social working and much more next year. This is their time and we will assist them where we can to enable to fulfill these dreams. Anything is possible with dedication and hard work. Should you wish to assist kindly contact BIA for further details.
Tatum-Leigh Le Fleur: “So far my univer-sity experi-ence has been over-
whelming. I am studying towards a BA degree and have just completed my mid year exams which was rather tough, but I did well in English, Psychol-ogy and Child Develop-ment. I want to work with children one day.
Students researching career advise
BIA students preparing their project on the computer.
A Group of Plett Sec learners during a group session…
Mentors Drama Workshop We decided to shift our approach to the children’s group sessions which they have with their mentors. This year is about fresh ideas, fun and scoring that goal in your life. Theatre is a remarkable tool for group facilitation and it was decided that our mentors would implement theatre techniques to make their group sessions fun for the children. Themes they are cur-rently working with are:
Improvisation: which helps the children to develop quick thinking skills, spontaneity and trust in their own choices. Also very important for developing respect for their team mates through listening skills and accep-tance of others choices.
Forum theatre: Exploration of issues relevant to the working group and finding ways to understand and agree on the issues while seeking solutions or alterna-tives.
Playback: Offers storyteller a platform to tell their sto-ries and have them honored by the players who play it back. Offers players the opportunity to listen, under-stand and interpret other children’s stories. For both parties it offers an insight into other peoples lives and allows different perspectives of the same story to be shared. And meet our mentors on page 8…
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Raising funds for Born in Africa
TAPAS SALE & FLEA MARKET: 30 May 2010: Thank you to HILDE De Baets and friends from Velzeke-Zottegem and to Remi & Lieve De Backer for the proseeds of 350 euro. LIONS CLUB LOKEREN: We really appreciate your yearly donation of a 1000 euro 40th WEDDING ANIVERSARY: Albert and Diane Moons celebrated their 40th wedding aniversary on................... They donated 395 euro to BIA. 40th WEDDING ANIVERSARY: Johan Lambrechts & Cecile Wolfs held a gar-den party on the 1st of August and the proceeds went to BIA. 40 WEDDING ANIVERSARY: 12 Sep-tember 2010.BIA Adoption parents Rita and Georges De Maegdt celebrated their 40th wedding aniversary and re-quested that no gifts were bought, but that donations towards BIA be made. CHARITY WALK AT BUGGENHOUT: This event generated a total of 500 Euros for BIA. Many thanks!
DOLF WIEERS WORKED VOLUNTRY AT DE RUSTHUIZEN OF HASSELT, TON-GEREN AND RIEMST: This brought him a total of 2500 Euros and is going to come in very handy for the ‘Siya Phambili beadladies’ and the BIA projects. GOLF IN OUDENAARDE: 29 JUNI 2010: Thank you gentleman of the Oudenaarde Golf Club- Norbert Gevaert, Anne and Jaap Nobel, Lieve and Remi De Backer, Marc van Renne and his band Amazing Bear for your amazing organisation for the golf day. Roger De Smet and Georges De Smul thank you for conducting the winesales . A total of 1850 Euros was raised. GOLF TOURNAMENT: Hasselt Captainsday Flanders Nippon: Thanks to godparents Lucien Scheepers-Manshoven and daughter for organising this event which raised 660
Speciale donaties: Dirk Lindeman, VZW Comite voor onderwijs, Oudercomite Sint –Lutgardis, fam. De Schouwer Henri, Heilig Hart school, Basisonderwijs Oud-Heverlee, Idee Consulting, Antonise-Dekoning, Fifty-one club Waregem, Waregemse huisartsen, Vanryckegem Dirk, Pierre Billet, Droessaert-De Hauwere, Lionsclub Bergen op Zoom, Marnixring Vlaemsch Hooft
Other donations:donaties:. fam. Delva-Cailliau, Fam. Joosen, Henriette en Denise Bulcke, familie Doornaert, familie Gilleman, Albert Marrant, Heilig Hartschool, familie Van Uffelen, familie De Smul Noel, fam. Dekker- Teirlinck, Peter en Lieve Peusens, Lauwers-Van Hoorebeeck, Mevr.Van Brussel, Dries Lesperoy, De Mets-Ren, De Block Gabrielle, Bortier Johan, Deblieck Omer, Delameilleure Yvette, De Vleesschouwer Patrick, Charles Stommels, Van Berlo, Verbelen-Vandebrande, Familie Brandeleer, Simon Halfflants, Stad en gemeenten, Familie Lecluyse-Poulin, De Baedts Edgard, fam. De Vocht, De Geyter Remi, Charles Brichot, Hinoul-Biesemans, Van Rompuy Eric, Johan Ameel BVBA Joachim, De Hertogh Roger, De Vleesschouwer-Willems, De Liedekerke Solange, Gaspard Jacques , Leclercq Juliette, Verhaegen Jan, Poelmans Maria, De Wilde – Van Outryve, De Baedts Edgard, Gilbert Van Den Eynde, Clarys-De Ketelaere, Nelen Sara, De Smul Anna en Andre, Anckaert Roland, Van Heule Jan en Karen, Swinnen Willy en Monique, Morel Helene, Piet Van Speybroeck, Van Huffel Dora, Jeroom De Smul, Jozef Reynaert, De Thier Tanguy, Vakopleiding Brussel, Angele Van Rossem, Georges De Smul, Roger Cassenaer, Rita De Smul, Antoon Van Asse, Francois Van Der Zeypen, Maria Rombouts, Vrebos Agnez, De Smul Kamiel en Annie, Brumimmo ( Nickmans-Liefsoens), Boers BVBA, Borgmans Louis, Van Biervliet Leona, Mevrouw De Bouw-Cautereels, Cools Fons, Vansteenkiste Luc, Miek Van Hoeck-Jacobs, Schepens-Van Damme, Mevrouw Putseys, Marc Hollanders, Karel Van Eetveldt, Swinnen Anna, Joseph Colla -Monique Hertvelt, M .Snels, Jan Wets, Wecks Hugo, Familie Michielsen-Verkerckmoes, Vercouteren Jos, Pardo Jean Marie, Priem Jacques, Bresor Van Himst Paul, De Witte Hubert, Jean –Luk Vanraes, F. Bidonnet, F Boodts, Ruts Maria, F. Vandevelde, Mels Omer, De Pauw Brigitte, De Baets Bianca, Albert Moons, F.Stevens, De Mets, De Hertogh Dirk, Van Roeyen Hilde, Magda Melkebeke, Familie Vrackx, Familie Lague, Louis Beirincks, Stefaan De Corte, Familie Abeloos, Vanden Wyngaarde Bruno, Van Nieuwenhove Gerda, Fam. Vervloesem, Mevrouw Leirens Rosetta, Trevi–Plus, Van De Woestijne, Hufkes Louis, Sluys Henriette, F. Breyne, Fam. Huyck, De Rudder Luc, Ruelens Christine, Clement Ameele, Jean –Jacques Gilleman, Herbert Pieter en Nicole, Seiloglou Photios en Kate Sustronck , Dirk Lindemans, Michiels Gerard en Alma , Beddeleem – Roelens , Christine De Temmerman,Victor Poelmans, Fam. Vandemarliere ,Bogaert-Verlinden,
Visit to Belgium
The General Coordinator of BIA SA, Isabelle De Smul-Brink recently visited Belgium, her home country, and was over-whelmed by the warm-hearted folk who received her on that side, especially the volunteers and the people who are the backbone of BIA. She visited the Rotary club in Antwerpen. Thanks to the assistance of this Rotary club as well as the Knysna Rotary club, Rotary Dusseldorf Shlossturm en Rotary Amerloo Maaskant realizing our BIA bus project is becoming a reality! She also attended a special gala concert event hosted for George De Smul commemorating 25 year’s service as a volunteer and his active involvement with 4 NPO’s in Bel-gium.
A Word from the Kurland team from Holland
“As you know, we organised a “Africa” festival in Hol-land at our school for the benefit of “our” school in Kurland. The festival was mentioned to the organisa-tion Edukans who are offering them the chance to take part in the Global School Award. The award will be awarded for the 1st time in the Netherlands. The past month we heard that our school won this prize and that our school will be known as the Global School of the Year ! Since yesterday our school has been known as a UNESCO school. The proceeds of there good deed day will be donated to BIA .
The amount of 9735 euros (Maaswaal College Wijchen) will be used for the establishment of our Homework centre in the Crags. Thank you Bram and Chantal for this incredible ini-tiative.
ART ELEPHANT AUCTION: 27 May 2010: Along with other Flemmish celebrities,Tia Hellebaut painted a series of clay elephants. 15% of the procees would normally go to Tia, but this she donated to BIA. Thank you Tia for the 330 Euros
WINE and SECOND HAND COMPUTERS FOR SALE: The De Smedt family have been BIA godparents for many years now and were also very much involved in establishing BIA. The Wine Shop De Smedt have been selling wine on behalf on BIA which has been imported from Plettenberg Bay. Also, 2nd hand computers which were donated by Mimi and Peter Otten are sold by Roger, Rita, Luk and Vanessa for the benefit of BIA (190 euro). What a remarkable family.
COMPUTERS: Thank you to Leoni Baynes for her donation of a computer and screens. CLOTHES: Thank you to Anne Smart and the Rotary Annes for once again assisting BIA in the winter with their donations. EDU-CATIONAL TOYS: Thank you to Mexican Imports Plettenberg Bay for their amazing donation of Educational toys, clothes, bed-ding and much more.
Well done Holland
Isabelle, Will Tura and her family. Well done Georges!
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Would you like to get involved?
Team members
Contact person in South Africa:
Isabelle De Smul-Brink P.O.Box 1674 Plettenberg Bay 6600 South Africa
This newsletter was compiled by Elke Ijzerman, Diet Oppalfens, Inge Mommaerts, Fiona Wilson, Belinda Coram and Isabelle De Smul-Brink. BAIE DANKIE!
Donations are always welcome: In Belgium: 884-5035001-82, Iban nr. BE 25 8845 03500182,
in South-Africa: First National Bank, Plettenberg Bay, 62044941533
With tax exemption
Meet our lively team of mentors!
Lien Roman our mentor from Crags is also a BIA teachers’ assistant at Crags Primary school. Lien is passionate about education and especially literacy. She has a young son and a daughter at university and is mentor to 50 BIA children.
Marita Harker is mother of 2 children. She lives in Kranshoek in a government subsidized house and besides being a BIA mentor and teachers’ assistant at Kranshoek Primary; she is also a true “Florence Nightingale of her community assisting wher-ever she is needed.
Our newest addition to the team is Ferdi Bewee. Being the only male on the team does not in-timidate him in the least. He has slotted in with ease and keeps everyone on their toes at our Educational Camps which he loves to be a part of.
Joyce Raye has been mentoring the Wittedrift High and Crags children since 2004 when she moved to SA from America. Joyce is also a councilor at the Rehab centre which gives her true insight into what our teenag-ers are facing.
Rose Martin also mentors in the Crags. She is dedicated to her group of children and meets them regularly at the Crags Primary where she spends most of her time. Our Rose is a creative mentor al-ways encouraging the youngsters to do everything to the best of their ability.
Jeandré September joined the BIA team in 2009 after completing a degree in psychology. She mentors for BIA in Kranshoek and is a proud member of her community. The children she men-tors truly see her as a role model and realise that they too can achieve their dreams with hard work and diligence.
Sarija Bewee is a busy body of note. Sarija’s whole life is dedicated to helping children in need. She mentors more than 100 BIA children from Kranshoek, Crags, Wittedrift & Harkerville and still finds the time to attend our camps when required and running her own feeding scheme where she resides!
Miss Magdalena Jacobs or Juf Born as she is fondly known by her Kranshoek pupils needs no introduction. She is the backbone of Kranshoek Program where she assists with reading and mentoring. She has been teaching for more than 40 years!
