Christel House SA Blog

A generous $40 000, almost R300 000, was recently donated to the library of Christel House South Africa (CHSA) by the non-profit organisation, Off the Mat (OMT). Based in the US, the organisations mission is to use the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change.

On the 16th February, CHSA hosted the official inauguration of the school’s newly resourced senior library. The group of 23 OTM members who were responsible for the donation were invited to the school to join CHSA in celebrating the joyous occasion.

Our high school Principal, Ronald Fortune thanked the group of ‘social champions’ from OMT who worked on the fundraising project they termed the ‘Save a Challenge’ project. We gave OMT the opportunity to cut the ribbon that would officially open the schools proud new library and also presented them with a donor’s plaque to show their gratitude.

Seane Corn, an internationally celebrated yoga teacher and one of the founding members of OTM, who are dedicated to bridging yoga and activism by facilitating personal empowerment through leadership trainings, fostering community collaboration, and initiating local and global service projects, said that they heard about CHSA through another American organisation.

“We were sure that CHSA was indeed a worthy cause to support because not only is the school providing excellent education to hundreds of children who come from some of the most poverty stricken areas in Cape Town, but they are creating sustainable change in many communities through their unique model of education,” she said.

According to Fortune, the model is concerned with empowering learners and breaking the cycle of poverty.

“Through this model we are cultivating a group of learners that will not grow up conforming to society’s standards of what they should be. In addition to our mandate to educate, we are grooming learners that will stand out and make a difference. They will be change agents for society and have a real opportunity to live their dreams. They will be leaders for a brilliant new generation,” he said.

According to Corn, each of the members who were involved in the project spent a full year raising awareness and funds for CHSA through their own networks back home. Inspired by what Christel House was achieving, they each raised a significant sum of money by selling different types of products, like woven armbands and hosting wine tastings. On the day of the inauguration they helped learners and teachers cover and catalogue books in the library.

“I believe that CHSA is making an enormous and lasting difference in solving one of the most critical problems in South Africa and I can’t describe how proud we are, even more so now that we have seen the school, met the inspiring teachers and staff and interacted with the wonderfully natured learners, that we have established this partnership,” she said.

Director of OTM, Suzanne Sterling, commented that this was indeed a partnership and that their involvement would not end with this project. “We are friends and fans of this school for life and will be looking for new creative ways to assist the school in their good work for many years to come,” she said.

A big thank you to Off The Matt Team!

The days had been quite hot here in Cape Town this past week, as we are experiencing a heat wave. We were all feeling the effects of the extreme heat by late morning at the school. There are no fans in the classrooms, so often they have been feeling more like ovens than a place to learn.

After lunch and recess, our little Grade R children all lie down on a very thin and worn mat. It is the same mat that they walk on every day with shoes that have just come in from the dirt of the playground and the sand in the sandpit. The mat itself is pretty large, but still, even given its size, the 29 children lie there, packed in like sardines. The overflow of children goes to a smaller mat right next to the large one. The school days must feel long for most of our little ones, since many have never experienced the structure of school before. Once nap time rolls around, we have no trouble getting them to lie down in a pattern, with the head of one lying next to the feet of the other. Usually within only a minute or two, nearly each one has gone to sleep. From time to time, we hear the snoring of this one and that one.

Many of our children come from loud, often volatile, crowded homes, where each must struggle to find that precious quiet space we all require. We know that many of our children get practically no sleep at home. Consequently, several often fight to stay awake in class, even at the start of the day.

I think of our children back home (U.S.), and I can only imagine the complaints we would hear with such a sleeping arrangement as this. There would be constant groaning about the dirt, the thin mat, the heat, and most certainly the proximity of each child to the next. In contrast, here I see children asking so little from life, not even for the most basic of items, such as a place to rest. What truly inspires me is their attitude of acceptance and gratitude. They seem so happy to be in this safe haven called school, having a teacher who loves them, and having this small space on the mat–a place to call their own.

Jan Keucher
CHSA Member and Volunteer

I am from South Bend, Indiana, USA. My volunteering ‘career’ with CHSA began in 2004, and I have been coming here at least once a year for a couple months at a time ever since. I feel so proud to now call South Africa my ’second home’.

I must admit, the first month I was here was incredibly difficult for me. I knew nothing about the school, the city, or the country. I knew no one. Oh, the things I had to learn, and these were basic things. “What did he/she just say?”, I asked myself. I struggled so much to understand the different accents. “How do I pronounce this very long name?”, I thought. Not only could I not pronounce the names, but I also couldn’t remember the names. Perhaps the most embarrassing part though was that I wasn’t even sure if some of the kids were girls or boys! Do I dare admit that at times I still can’t? Each day I was stumbling my way through, and probably most teachers would say I was more of a burden than a help.

The second month began, and to my surprise, everything began to fall into place. Those things which had been so hard for me were now feeling a great deal easier. I loved knowing I would be at the school each day. By the time my second month came to an end, I absolutely knew I must come back. The children had become like my own. How could I just forget all about them when I had grown so very fond of them? That was about 6 1/2 years ago, and I must say, they are such a part of my life.
There is nothing quite as sweet as being greeted each morning by their warm, smiling faces and hearing them nearly shout in unison, “Good morning ________, and a super day to you!” It gets us every time.

Are there challenges? For sure there are, but we accept those challenges, and work hard each day to improve each child’s life, giving the best of ourselves to them.

Jan Keucher
CHSA Member and Volunteer

Christmas came early this year for the learners of an independent school for disadvantaged kids called Christel House South Africa (CHSA), and playing Santa was Puma’s Managing Director, Ronald Rink. The well-known sporting goods company sponsored the school with over R400 000 worth of clothing and sports merchandise.

Midge-Hilton Green, the school’s junior principal said that the donation is promoting sport and other physical activity in the school and everyone was thoroughly impressed by what was received.

“We received t-shirts, shorts and footwear, which all the sports teams can utilise during their afternoon practices. Also included was sporting gear and equipment like cricket, rugby and soccer boots, cricket bats, gloves and shin guards,” he said.

Rink, being very impressed by the Christel House’s commitment to advancing children in poor communities said that they were extremely happy to help facilitate easier involvement in sport by youngsters. “If we can help, especially economically disadvantaged youngsters in any way become more physically active, then we believe that the long-term benefits to all parties will be substantial,” he said.

Hilton-Green explained that the donation is also doing well to aid physical activity in the School’s youngest learners, which are those learners aged five and six currently in Grade R. Angela Williams, a Grade R teacher at the school agreed saying that it is nice that they can now get the learners to change into more comfortable gear when they commence with their physical programmes.

“We have quite an extensive physical programme for the little ones and it’s all geared towards physical and mental development. We believe that young children need to be stimulated by movement to help them learn and also develop their gross-motor skills.

“The programme includes fun activities like hoola hooping, frog and horse jumping, wheel barrow races, climbing and swinging on the jungle gym and many others. The idea is to keep them moving and each and every activity is focused on exercising a different part of the body, stimulating the mind and promoting a more active child who is excited about learning,” she said.

Williams also explained that during their normal academic lessons they always use movement to assist learning. “When we do literacy or mathematics we like to include a form of action with it, example we clap when we count and even jump out syllables when we spell. It helps kids retain a lot more information and just makes learning more fun,” she explained.

Hilton-Green commented that because of the size of the donation all Christel House learners would have the opportunity to enjoy it. “All our learners in the junior and senior schools are involved in some form of sport or physical activity so we’ll be seeing many Puma kids running around on these school grounds and we thank Puma for being so generous,” he said.

Christel House SA Valedictorians 2010

It was with great honour that we bid farewell to our second class of matric valedictorians. This sad yet joyous occasion took place on the 22 October 2010 at Christel House SA school hall. This memorable occasion was attended by CHSA staff, donors and parents of the valedictorians.

The guest speaker was Leigh Meinert, Managing Director of TSHIBA Education (Tertiary School in Business Administration). She included three beautiful poems, which emphasized on dancing through life and smiling through life’s trials and tribulations and simply loving and enjoying one’s life, because you only live once. “When you achieve something you become a role model to others”, says Leigh.

CHSA high school principal, Ronald Fortune took us down memory lane as he individually took us through the journey of each learner, this brought about Smiles and laughter especially from the matriculants.

We wish all our matriculants well throughout the exams and we hope they focus and continue to dance through these last moments together as CHSA matric class of 2010!

The 16th Cape Town International Festival, which was proudly hosted by the Cape Mental Health, took place on 23 and 24 October 2010, in Zandvlei, Muizenberg, Cape Town. This event is Africa’s biggest Kite Festival as it attracts over 20 000 visitors.

The theme for this year’s festival was “Uplifting Mind and Body”.

A group of Christel House SA learners that were chosen this year have been through some form of trauma during the year and we used this opportunity to uplift them by bringing their creative side to the surface in a positive way.We are so proud of our team for taking 2nd place out of 42 schools, and we walked away with a monetary prize of R2000.00

The Sky is surely the limit …when you are reaching for the stars!