Photo: Some of the Christian Outreach volunteers in St Francis Bay , Warren Yutzy, Jennifer Hayes, Pamela Andrews, Daniel, and Rachael Mccall, with some Sea Vista surfers at Main Beach, St Francis Bay. (Photo taken in January 2013)
By Bev Mortimer:
St Francis Bay is currently host to eight volunteers from different parts of the world who will be here for up to six months helping to uplift the lives of township people and children.
The volunteers are from Holland, America, the Bahamas and the UK and are participating in the Volunteer in South Africa’s programmes. This is a non- profit Christian Outreach organisation run in St Francis Bay and Cape Town and founded by Mandy Weschta.
“Our aim is to get the children off the streets and to stop them begging,” Mandy, says: “I started the project to give something back to South Africa. I was saddened to see these children suffering and resorting to substance abuse because of the neglect they experience at home. I wanted them to experience some joy and love, so I decided to do something about it!”
The Volunteer Project gives volunteers the opportunity to build rewarding relationships with the children and to teach them valuable life skills and team work. The children can speak English although their home language is Afrikaans or Xhosa.
Volunteers’ mornings are spent at the Surf School. They are given several surf lessons by a surfing instructor and then practice their surfing. They are involved in the fixing of boards and planning afternoon activities for the children.
The afternoons are spent teaching and assisting the Township children to surf. This project is loads of fun and their efforts are greatly appreciated by the children.
“I saw how the people in the townships struggled. They were barely surviving, and the children had little knowledge of sport or team,” Mandy adds.
See last year’s article:
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How about starting a Boy Scout, Girl Guide group, which would of extreme value to the community, The ”International German High School” in Johannesburg has set an example to other schools what can be done in this regard, and is taking in non-German speakers, and applying English as the language amongst all members. Here they will learn many different skills as well as cooking, and survival courses, as well as camping out in the bush,compass reading, knotmaking, First Aid,tracking,swimming, canoeing, various sports.They will also be introduced to the German Traditions, and language and encouraged to participate.A real starter for all schools to think about!
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