It is a sheer privilege for me to highlight the projects that are still running.
Seboni Creative Centre (SCC)
SCC experienced great times teaching the women various crafts and more specifically, how to handle sewing machines. They also used the opportunity to share Scripture and to have heart to heart talks with the women involved. Many of the women who have crossed paths with SCC have found good job opportunities.
Elfrieda Klopper and Maggie Bezuidenhout are very grateful for the support from Touching Africa and the use of the room in the Real Life Centre in Ikageng. They feel that their involvement to empower the women is in line with their calling and they are convinced that they forged lifelong friendships. Through their friendships and relationships formed, they were in a position to have a positive influence on the women’s lives.
The more recent projects were mostly manual and included the following:
• Small matrasses made from old
pillows and pillowcases. They
gave these to two day care
centres.
• Knitted dolls were handed to day
care centres too.
• Handbags, crocheted baby
dresses and protea flowers were made from waste materials and
sold to cover costs.
SCC is currently in the process of moving out of the Life Centre Room to a house in Smit Street, but they are looking for a more permanent space. Their current projects include:
• Handmade material nappies
• Handmade sanitary pads
• Handbags made from waste
materials;
We are proud of what they have achieved and what they are still doing.
REAL LIFE CENTRE (RLC)
RLC recently had to overcome a lot of high hurdles. Pastor Peter Africa, who manages the center, experienced serious health problems. Fortunately, he is recovering well, and TA is praying that he will soon be able to resume his important work.
Meanwhile, the Naledi school is going from strength to strength. New offices are built on the existing structure and this phase will be concluded with the building of the school hall. It will also be used as a training center for the Touching Africa Training and Education Services. The final phase will be completed by building additional classrooms.
TA is proud to be part of a project that delivers tangible evidence of our heart for our Seboni projects.
BROAD ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM (BEEP)
As part of the launch of the The Touching Africa Training and Education Services Co-operative, BEEP presented a course in basic Financial Management. It was done in cooperation with the School of Economic Sciences of the North West University’s Potchefstroom Campus.
The course consisted of demonstrating ways of budgeting and understanding the value of savings. The methodology was to learn more about games, video games and interactive learning. This was outstandingly presented by Prof Ermie Steenkamp in the beautiful special venue designed for this purpose (see photos bellow).
Nine People attended and enjoyed the course immensely. They learned a lot about how to work with their money.
Our plans for the future include repeating the financial course and also starting with a new group of potential entrepreneurs. We will include new ideas and a fresh approach in training them.
If you want to get involved in any of our projects, you are welcome to contact us by sending a WhatsApp to 084 200 4450 and we will get back to you.
Deon de Klerk, July 2019