Christel House SA Blog

Christel House SA learners did us proud at the Mzanzi Magic Market day, which took place on Saturday, 03 September 2011. The concept for Mzansi Magic Market Day is simple: children aged from seven to 15 years set up a stall at venues in major shopping centres in the country and sell their products to the public, or share their talent as performers with the public.

Mzansi Magic Market Day continues to focus on children, but expands to include school and parent communities as part of the M-Net Cares Initiative to bring magic to the lives of our people.

The day was enjoyed by all who attended. The competition and the entrepreneurship of the stalls was a good experience. CHSA was awarded tops at the prize giving of the talent show. Fi The Marimba players won 2nd prize of R1500 as the group performance. Our Junior school African Beauty dance group won 3rd prize of R1500 in the dance group category. Siphisihle won special mention award from the judges where she received a headphone set. Zeetah and Nolitha also received a special mention award from the judges and both received diaries and a gift voucher. CHSA High School Educator and organiser, Mr. Clint Fredericks also received a gift voucher from Canal Walk.

To make things even more exciting, CHSA received a further R3000, for the most entered learners. Well done to all our learners who participated in this magical day.

A big thank you to all staff and learners who assisted in making this event a huge success.

Thirty learners at Christel House South Africa (CHSA), the independent school for disadvantaged children in Cape Town, will be able to go to school and get one of the best educations on offer for the next three years thanks to a generous R900 000 donation by G.U.D Filters, South Africa’s leading automotive filter brand manufacturer.

The donation, which forms part of a long-term partnership between G.U.D and Christel House, will see 30 learners who excel at maths and science receive R10 000 each towards their tuition and general requirements in their Grade 10, 11 and 12 year.
In addition to the R900 000 donation, the company is also making apprenticeships available to the students who do well and impress G.U.D over the next three years.

The donation was “extremely generous”, said Sharon Williams, the Director of Marketing and Development, speaking at the celebratory hand-over which took place recently at the school. “But what really makes it so valuable is the investment that the company is making in the learners of the school. We encourage corporates to come on board as partners, so we are more than grateful to G.U.D for recognising the value of our education model and trusting in it enough to invest in us,” he said.

Red Shuttleworth, Managing Director of G.U.D Holdings, said that as partnerships go, there will be benefits for both parties. “I would like to believe that this donation and Learnership opportunity will be of great worth to CHSA – and will really motivate these senior learners to do well and work towards joining our company as interns and hopefully making it a possible future career. In exchange we get to welcome some bright new minds into the organisation – and that is very exciting.” He added that G.U.D’s CSI mission has never been about just giving away money (the company has a number of partnerships with charities and schools in KwaZulu-Natal where it is based). “We are really more interested in seeing the development happen and I believe this is a great way to make a sustainable difference to the school, its learners, their families and hopefully even their communities.”
According to Shuttleworth, G.U.D. heard about the great work of Christel House and later several G.U.D execs visited the school and were extremely impressed by the quality of education and social development at Christel House.

Wayne Grews, Board Director of Christel House SA added, “I would like to thank Red Shuttleworth and his team from G.U.D for their generous donation; the proceeds of which will make a huge difference to the lives of the children they are sponsoring.
“This school continues to give its pupils from some of Cape Town’s poorest communities a pathway out of poverty through an educational experience based on key values such as merit, hope, discipline and hard work. The 100% matric pass rate over the past two years is also testament to the enormous successes being achieved at the school. It is therefore easy, in speaking about CHSA, to show companies like G.U.D that their donations go right to the heart of breaking the cycle of poverty and that there is a transparent, direct return on their donations,” said Grews.

“You have inspired me”, said Shuttleworth to the CHSA learners, “I believe by investing in you we are investing in the future of South Africa.”

For pictures on this blog, view the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.214312495283249.48508.100001135005970

CHSA surely got lucky, when we received R11 000 from Lucky Star, on Wednesday 13 June 2011, for being one of the Top 5 schools for submitting the most entries. The Lucky Star Handover took place on Wednesday, 22 June 2011 at CHSA.

Lucky Star School’s Program associated with Pick and Pay held this competition last year and approached schools in the Western Cape to participate in the competition. We glady partook and submitted the most entries, leading us to come first in the competition.

Apart from receiving R11 000, Toyyiebah Cupido, grade 6 learner received R4000 towards her tuition fees at CHSA. Since Toyyieba won the competition she received R500 for her own personal use, and because she is a learner from CHSA, we won an additional R1000. The teacher who submitted the entries also won R500.

We are so proud of CHSA on this wonderful achievement.

Saturday 21 May was a special day for Christel House South Africa (CHSA), when their choir performed at a unique concert, in Newlands, as part of the Peace Mass Choir, together with the Fezeka High School and Sans Souci Girl’s High School choirs.
The concert featured Kyle Shepherd, widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most influential and accomplished jazz pianists and composers. Shepherd, who has released two critically acclaimed albums - fineART and A Portrait of Home - performed a solo at the concert, as well as with the Peace Mass Choir.

According to Clarke Schilder, the music teacher at Christel House, the concert gave the Peace Mass Choir an opportunity to present a united voice, promoting a message of peace and harmony in South Africa and the world. The concert programme included John Rutter’s “For the beauty of the earth” and “All things bright and beautiful”, Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria”, as well as a special composition called “A piece of peace” by Misha Favis, a 14 year old South African musician who is studying at the Yehudi Menuhin Music School in London.

“The concert was a success in many respects. Firstly it helped us to raise funds for all three schools, secondly, I believe it was quite inspirational and did indeed bring forth the message of peace, and lastly, and not least due to the contribution of Kyle Shepherd, it was a very enjoyable and entertaining experience for everyone who attended.

Schilder added that Shepherd was also very impressed by the professionalism and talent displayed by the three choirs. “I have been featured as a guest at many choir events, but none quite like this – these choirs are truly good and it’s wonderful to be part of something that is this entertaining, but that is also helping to develop the youth and their talent,” said Shepherd.
Nosipho Sigila, a grade 11 member of the CHSA choir said that the concert was a wonderful experience. “It was nice getting to know the members of the other choirs and uniting with the other schools like this. And it was a great honour to meet Kyle Shepherd and be a part of something so special,” she said.

Schilder said that as part of CHSA’s 10th anniversary celebrations this year, the choir will embark on a recording project to capture their progress and all the performances of the past decade.

Peter and Pirjo Carr, who are both friends of CHSA have very generously contributed R250 000 to Christel House South Africa. This monetary gift will go towards a part scholarship for five Grade 10 learners who wish to study in the field of Business when they graduate from Christel House SA.. The scholarship covers R10 000 per learner per year for the next 3 years.
The learners are: Vanessa Nkala, Zinzi Gwadana, Latoya Mnani, Khanyo Bavuma and Sanelisiwe Leke.
The couple then donated a further once off gift of R100 000 to upgrade the Foundation Phase Quad in their honour. The parents of the children will be involved in the upgrading of this area and which will have the added opportunity of creating a few jobs.

What began as a typical Monday morning at school changed in an instant. We were busy with the children when suddenly we were startled by a very loud BOOM! As we looked at each other, it was obvious the question on each of our minds. What was this, and where had it come from? Certainly it had been close enough to shake the classrooms.

On beyond the school is a housing area called Freedom Park. It consists mostly of very small houses built nearly on top of each other. It was there that we could see the thick black smoke billowing up towards the sky. The sound of sirens was heard, and we could see people fleeing from where the blast had just occurred. We could also see Maria, a volunteer for CHSA, racing away from the fire and smoke with her little granddaughter in her arms. Just minutes ago, she stood in our classroom. We wondered if she and her grandchild had escaped without injury. It was while our eyes were on her that another loud explosion rocked the classroom and before long, yet another.

We practically mobbed Maria as she hurried back to the school, still cradling her grandchild. We were so happy to see they were both fine, but obviously shaken. Of course we wanted to learn from her what had happened, and how the others were. She explained to us that a fire had started in one of the homes and had spread to the gas tank outside. Since the houses are situated so closely together, the fire had moved swiftly from house to house, causing a chain reaction of exploding gas tanks. Sadly, 8 homes burned down today, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

In the midst of all the chaos, some of our CH staff went to see how they could assist. They saw people running and screaming, not knowing where to go or what to do next. Those of CH set aside their own fears and safety to help salvage the few possessions that were left behind from the charred homes. Others helped the women tend to their children.

Each and every day these same people work tirelessly to serve our children at CH. Often they are the ones standing in the shadows of the teachers, yet quietly carrying out such important responsibilities for the children. On this day, they also reached outside the borders of the school to help others in need. Certainly they represent the very heart of Christel House South Africa. If you asked them what they did today, most likely they would simply say, “Oh, not much. It’s all in a day’s work.”

From those living in Freedom Park to those of us working at CHSA, we look to them with pride. They inspire us to give our personal best. We thank them for all they do. Most certainly the residents of Freedom Park must feel such gratitude to them, and I have a very strong feeling that they also now call them their friends…and their heroes.

Jan keucher
CHSA Member and Volunteer