Christel House SA Blog

as seen in the People’s Post

Christel House South Africa, a non-profit school for disadvantage learners in Ottery, recently welcomed a generous sponsorship of sewing machines from sewing company Emphisal.

Theo Theodorou, marketing director of the Johannesburg based company, handed over ten sewing machines and five overlockers on Wednesday 15 April, making it possible for the school to get one of its long awaited development projects off the ground.

According to Sharon Williams, director of development and marketing at the school, it has always been the vision of Christel House to launch a “Parents of Christel House Sewing Project”, but the school lacked the resources to do this. “The Christel House model is focused on empowering children, but to create a safe and sustainable environment of growth for these children, we felt it was important to turn some attention to the development of parents as well. “One of the ways to do this was to teach them a skill that would not only help them earn a living but also instill in them a sense of empowerment and responsibility so that they could be examples to their children.”

With the help of Rugaya Abrahams, a community worker and Christel House volunteer, the school is currently teaching ten mothers how to sew and produce the school’s uniforms, as well as its sports and cultural clothing. Says Abrahams “The mothers have been wonderful about learning and developing themselves. They make my job easy, and I have a lot of faith in them.”

Says Theodorou, “I was told about this fantastic parent development projects that they wanted to start but had not made much progress on because hey didn’t have the resources. “I am looking forward to seeing the fruits of our sponsorship, and can’t wait to see the children of CHSA looking smart in their brand new uniforms, and the parents being responsible for that is a wonderful thing.