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.

by Irma Titus

Sixteen year old Shane Barnes returned from a three-month voyage through the waters of experience to hit the ground running – straight into the exam room..

Barnes and nine other youths made the Western Cape proud when they hit the high seas in April to spend ten weeks of their school year learning aboard the floating classroom that is Canada’s SV Concordia.

The students had found themselves a part of Class Afloat, a Canadian learning project that takes students from all walks of life on a voyage of cultural explorations.

This time around, the students, all between the ages of 15 and 18, watched over by their team leaders, traveled from Cape Town to Bermuda via Namibia, St Helena, Brazil and Trinidad. The South African contingent was brought together by the Cape Windjammers Education Trust (CWET), a youth development organization that offers sail-training voyages for the purpose of youth development.

The group returned Wednesday 17 June, when they were welcomed by friends and families at Cape Town International Airport. “It was a life-changing experience; I feel inexplicably different,” says Barnes. Between catching up with family and friends, this Grade 11 learner of Christel House South Africa (CHSA) is also diligently writing his exams. The exams started just a week after the aspiring doctor returned.

“I’m happy to be back home,” Barnes says. “The long time away from home made me feel how much I really love my parents and sisters. I know now I will do anything for them.”Although Barnes dreams of becoming a surgeon, his experience on the Class Afloat programme has given him a definite interest in sailing.

Recalling Bafana-Bafana’s 1-0 loss to Brazil on Thursday, he says that among the highlights of the programme for him was the visit to Brazil.

“There is a lot I want to do, and I still need to think hard about it. I also want to play professional soccer – play for the national team and take Bafana to new horizons. “I love Brazil and I love soccer.” On Sunday 28 June, the youths met up at the CWET offices in Woodstock. Here they delivered feedback to Cape Windjammers about their experiences. Barnes now gears up to do the same on Thursday – in front of the whole school.

Christel De Haan with Cape Town Mayor, Helen Zille cutting the ribbon at the Christel House SA Inauguration.

Christel House South Africa (CHSA), a not-for-profit school for disadvantaged children in Cape Town, opened its brand new state-of-art school in Ottery Cape Town on the 17 March. The new premises was officially opened by the school’s founder Christel deHaan and the Honourable Mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille.

Since its foundation in 2002, CHSA has been doing extraordinary work in helping to break the cycle of poverty by transforming children and their communities through education.

The new school premises have been a dream of Christel deHaan and the board of CHSA for many years as they were previously operating from premises in Athlone that were too small for the burgeoning school. The project was finally made possible last year when CHSA was able to negotiate a partnership between themselves, the Ottery Civic Association, Building Engineers Jakoet & Associates and the City of Cape Town who provided the eight hectares of land at a reduced rate needed to errect the school.

Ronald Fortune – Principle of the school said that since the first foundations were laid back in July of 2008, all the organisations involved have invested vast amounts of time, effort, money and love into the project.

“We could not have done it without the help of those partnerships and in such a short time, it is a truly amazing accomplishment.

“All of us at Christel House are extremely excited about this new beginning and we are raring to get the actual teaching and learning started. If all goes well all 690 students will be settled and ready to go by the 18 March,” said Fortune.

The brand new school encompasses both primary and secondary learning and has special facilities that include an impressive multipurpose hall, multimedia centre, biology, science, mathematics and technology laboratories, music, arts and dance studio as well as a huge sports field and a fynbos nature area for the children.

Mansoor Mohamed, the City`s Executive Director of Economic, Social Development and Tourism, said, “The City of Cape Town is pleased to be associated with Christel House School, an institution that helps many children and families to break the cycle of poverty. It has leased land in Ottery to Christel House for a few hundred rand per annum over an effective 50-year lease period and will continue to use its land to increase economic and social development opportunities for the residents of Cape Town.”

Sharon Williams – Director of Development and Marketing at the School explains that the Christel House philosophy is about empowering children through longitudinal work that prepares them in every way to be functioning members of society. “The school is going to help us to better achieve these goals.”

“It has been built with classrooms that are bigger than the standard size in South Africa. Seventy square meters compared to the average size classroom which is only about 55 square meters. At Christel House we believe that our children literally need the room to grow and the space to express themselves, especially given the lack of space in the communities where they come from,” explained Williams.

The building also has high ceilings and ventilated classrooms that will also provide for a more comfortable environment to teach and learn in.

Williams said that all in all the school has been built to optimise efficient and effective learning.

Christel deHaan proudly thanked each and every donor and investor who contributed to the building and infrastructure of the new school. “This school is a result of the hard work of so many people,” said DeHaan, the building is now complete but an enormous task still lies before us – the task of making this building a school that is a functioning and sufficient place of learning that will achieve the intended result of providing a ‘pipeline’ of learners ready to pave their own way into South Africa’s workforce,” she said.

She added that the School still needs to raise more than R5 million to meet the costs of building the new facility. Anyone who is interested in supporting the initiative can contact Sharon Williams on 021 696 9005

This article was written by Elspeth Donovan - Learning Design Consultant & Chairwoman of Christel House SA- we would love as much feedback as possible, so please leave a comment, link us, email this article to your friends or just @ us on Twitter !

The results from matric 2008 have prompted the usual flurry of debate around educational standards in South Africa with the DA leading the pack in calling for an independent enquiry into the exams.

Falling pass rates and departmental blunders along with concern that the new OBE model is in fact taking us backwards, top the agenda. Political point scoring aside, there are some facts that are inescapable. First, pass rates continue on a downward trend - 62, 5% this year (although this with 50 000 results outstanding) down from 65% last year. And second, the poorer you are the less likely you are to pass go. Pass rates were worst in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga – two of South Africa’s poorest provinces with just 50.6% of learners in the Eastern Cape getting through – of which just 8662 (14.3%) have met the requirements for admission to tertiary education. Even less of these have the coveted maths and science marks needed to boost the numbers of engineers, scientists and doctors in our country.

This is what people mean when they talk about the cycle of poverty and the difficulty of escaping from poverty and it is at the root of why transformation is chugging along at a less than satisfactory rate in the country. As Mamphele Ramphele, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town has remarked: the current system is “failing 80 percent of its poor, young people”. And in doing so, the idea of black inferiority is being reinforced, because the majority of those being failed by the system are black.

Quite simply, if we continue down this path we can look forward to a future where major divisions between rich and poor and black and white, continue to dominate our social agenda. Understanding and acting on what is contributing to this impasse is going to be one of the major policy challenges of the next few years.

Fortunately there are some pointers. Pockets where people are getting it right. One such is Christel House South Africa – an independent school in Cape Town that caters for disadvantaged children. One hundred percent of the School’s 700 odd learners come from families that fall below the poverty line and yet they have a 99% retention rate year-on-year. The school enjoys a 96.8% attendance record from learners and 98% from teachers. Statistics that are above average even in the best resourced schools.

Started just seven years ago, Christel House South Africa is part of the global Christel House network – a non-profit organisation set up by travel entrepreneur Christel deHaan in 1998 to help children break free from the clutches of poverty.

What the organisation does differently is that it takes a holistic approach to problem of poverty. Recognising that poor children come to the classroom not just without the ability to read and write, but with social problems, often hungry, living in dysfunctional families and so on.  Lack of education is just one of the causes of poverty. Lack of opportunity, lack of dignity, lack of good health and a lack of positive role models all play their role in keeping young people from achieving. Thus, in South Africa, Christel House ensures that children are collected from their homes and dropped off again every evening. While at school they get plenty of food and plenty of opportunities to get a feel for a world that is different from the one they are growing up in. Social workers are on hand to identify at risk learners before it is too late, class size is kept below 27, and for the first two years Xhosa and Afrikaans teaching assistants work alongside English teachers to ensure that by the time they reach year three they are fully bilingual. Children come to the school because it is a safe and nurturing environment. From art therapy to nature walks, HIV awareness, life skills and community service initiatives (in addition to the usual curriculum of course), the learners at this school are being groomed to be tomorrow’s star students and employees and ultimately – leaders.

Teachers (whose salaries are benchmarked with WCED salaries) are kept engaged through staff development initiatives, peer review systems, and exposure to innovative teaching methods.  The School also works with parents to equip them with better parenting skills and to help them identify their own opportunities for finding work and supporting their children as they progress through the school.

Of course it is all quite a lot for a small outfit to manage. Hardly surprising then that Christel House takes a collaborate approach to solving these complex social problems. More of a cross sector social enterprise than a school, it works with government, civil society and the private sector to find the funds and the energy needed. It is an expensive model, costing roughly five times what government currently spends on each child. Although this is still considerably cheaper than what is spent on a child in private education, the kind of education the children get is comparable to that of a private institution.

Policy makers might balk at the cost, but with some reorganisation of budgets it is not such an impossible target. All that is needed is a shift in thinking so that education and poverty are not addressed in silos but as part of one, co-ordinated effort.

Financial support from corporates – and individual donors – is also an essential part of the model and Christel House is on a mission to increase its sponsorship from local sources so that it can continue to refine and improve its model. In addition to its mandate to educate, the School sees itself as an experimental think tank in deriving new and exciting models for what works in education in a South African context.

This year, Christel House will move into new, purpose built premises in Athlone and will graduate its first matric class. The 27 learners in that class joined the School as youngsters in Grade 5 when it opened its doors in 2001. Based on past performance, a 100% pass rate is expected which will put Christel House in the league of some of the Provinces best resourced private schools.

The ultimate business and economic benefit of the Christel House model is that these learners are going to emerge from the School ready for further education and as highly employable individuals. In a country crying out for skills, this has to be an attractive prospect.

I can only say that I am very grateful for the support and attention that Cape Town is receiving from international humanitarians. The work that is being done benefits our disadvantaged communities, and it is an inspiration to us all.

As mayor of this City, I am acutely aware of the developmental challenges we face. We have a serious wealth gap in Cape Town, and we are experiencing social decay in parts of our city. A combination of poverty, broken homes, and rampant substance abuse have made living conditions intolerable in many communities.

In the City of Cape Town our key strategy to tackle these challenges is to encourage economic growth so that more job opportunities will be created for our people. We want to make Cape Town a more attractive city for investors by providing better infrastructure, better services, and creating a cleaner, safer public environment. These are the main services that our municipality offers in terms of the Constitution, which sets out the different roles that different spheres of government perform.

However, as former MEC for Education in the Western Cape Provincial Government, I often wish the City could play a direct role in education too. Because education is a key element that is necessary for the realisation of our vision as a government. Kodak founder George Eastman once said that “the progress of the world depends almost entirely on education”. Nowhere is this more so than in South Africa.

Our people need jobs, yet critical sectors in our economy are desperately in need of suitably qualified employees. Too few in our country have had the opportunity to gain the skills that would make our region more competitive in the global knowledge economy. Too many have been left unable to support themselves, and are forced to rely on the state to feed and house them. Yet, even the state is unable to provide adequate social support services, because it too suffers from the general skills shortage, with a lack of capacity in key public service areas. This is the single biggest challenge we face as a nation.

Christel De Haan and her organisation have given us the rare opportunity as a municipality to contribute toward the education of our people. Today we sign a lease that will make schooling available to hundreds of disadvantaged children in this community. Christel House has pledged to spend around R30 million on the construction of school buildings, sports facilities and recreational areas.

This project will also provide a stable environment with adult supervision and recreational opportunities to children who may otherwise have been exposed to a harsh life on the streets. We will be seeing the establishment of a community development centre, a business development centre, a skills development centre, an aids orphanage and a substance abuse centre. Children will be able to learn about discipline and values, about deferring gratification and about taking responsibility.

This complex will also offer healthcare and other services that are often out of reach to disadvantaged communities. Given the massive value that this project will add, we have agreed to lease this 8 hectare piece of land to Christel De Haan for up to 50 years. The property we are standing on today was set aside as a school site when the community of Ottery was first established, so we are putting it to its intended use.

To my relief, this has also meant we have not had undue red tape in releasing it. I would like to thank Councillor Grindrod, his Executive Director, Mansoor Mohamed, and the officials in his department for the role that they have played in helping to make this possible. And I would like to thank Christel De Haan for her dedication to this and other projects of this kind. Like Oprah Winfrey, she has realised that this is the best form of international aid that can be offered to a developing economy like ours. Giving people the tools to empower themselves and become agents of their own destiny is the only way that we can really address the developmental challenges of this country. A society of skilled, independent and responsible people is the kind of society that we want South Africa to become.

Christel De Haan, founder and President of Christel House, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development, Simon Grindrod, councillors and officials of the City of Cape Town, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honour to be a part of this groundbreaking ceremony for Christel House.”

We would like to thank the amazing “South Africa -The Good News”  for featuring us right on the top of their February newsletter!

The article is called “Christel House: a gem in SA education” click here to read the article!

“Creating a sanctuary at Christel House” 

- was written by Raphael Wolf & appeared in the Southern Mail on the 11th of February 2009

The Ottery-based Christel House Academy’s staff and learners took a giant step towards making their newly-built but incomplete primary school; the first ever urban school fynbos reserve in the Western Cape when they and supporters planted 98 indigenous trees on the school’s premises.

“Yesterday (Friday January 30) we planted 44 trees and today we planted 54 trees,” said Principal Ronald Fortune. “This was a formal tree planting ceremony, starting in the school’s garden. Christel House is about using the environment optimally and that’s what we want to teach the children – to optimally use the space without destroying the environment. We are planning to have the whole school grounds declared fynbos sanctuary.

“We will also have an approximately eight metre long walkway and running track installed around the inside of the school’s premises as well as wooden benches for resting and enjoying the scenery. We will teach our children that they can live off the soil – we’ll teach them to plant vegetables because some of them live in flats and area where they don’t have the opportunity to plant vegetables.”

Excited at the idea of the school becoming an indigenous fynbos sanctuary, Mr Fortune said: “We feel the idea is unique and the project worth crowing about to the world. And we feel it’s something that people will be interested in to partner with us.”

Kevin Cochrane, who is passionate about creating indigenous plant sanctuaries and manager of similar projects on behalf of the City of Cape Town in recent years, is leading the fynbos and indigenous tree planting at the school. He said this was the first time a school has commissioned his help on a project of this scale. “Plans have been set to make this fynbos reserve a truly magnificent resource of plant, insect and bird life which the children, teachers and the surrounding communities will greatly benefit from,” he added.

The children have been involved from day one in the tree planting project and Mr Cochrane predicted that the school’s sanctuary would become a big part of the education curriculum. Mr Fotrune encouraged potential partners to join in bringing the school’s sanctuary to fruition.

It is a dream come true for the disadvantaged pupils of Christel House school – they are moving from their cramped premises into a hi-tech school at a cost of millions. Christel House, a school for disadvantage children with premises in Athlone and Lansdowne, is relocationing to a brand new school next month.

The independent school was established in 2002 and along, with a huge, shiny new building, next year will also see the very first matric class at the school. So far the school’s founder Christel de Haan has invested R30 million in the new building/ De Haan sold her time-share and holiday resort business a few years ago and decided to venture into creating better education for poor children. She has opened five schools across the world, including Cape Town, as the Christel House network.

For Ashwin Schaffold, 16, from Manenberg and Nontando Bongi, 17 from Langa, two pupils from the matric class for next year, the new school is “unbelievable.” “I see this as a new beginning for me. I know this new school will bring  new oppurtunities that will enrich my life. Looking at the building now, so close to being done, makes me extremely excited. I cannot wait to get started,” said Nontando.

Phouzaan Siebertz, project manager from the construction company Grand Build, said the school was a “magical school”, unlike anything the kids were used tom coming from their poverty-stricken backgrounds.

With the majority of the funds coming from De Haan, the school now needs to raise another R7 m for some finishing features. “Our goal now is to form strategic partnerships with companies in Cape Town and South Africa to complete the building of the school on time,” said Sharon Williams, director of development and marketing at the school.

An eight hectare site was given to the school on a 50-year, minimal lease agreement as its educational and social vision for the poor children inspired the City of Cape Town to help with the school’s efforts. The school building only occupies three-and-a-half hectares of the site while the rest is for a sports field, a fynbos are and a fish pond.

Christel House, which has 700 pupils, has operated from cramped premises in Athlone and Lansdowne but now there will be ample space with bigger-than-average classes. Each class will look after its own vegetable garden. Growing their own food will come in handy during meal times as a regular service at the school is providing two meals a day for each child. The school also provides the pupils’ uniforms and transport to and from the school.

The new premises boast a massive hall, a multi-media centre with computers, a library, mathematics, science and biology laboratories and dance and art studios. The multi-media hall will also operate after hours as a learning centre for the community.

The entire schooling experience will take place on the premises from Grade R to high school. The buildings for these three schooling levels runs next to each other. Each child will have a view of Table Mountain from any class in the school.

 “Sword as mighty as pen at Cape school” -

Karen van Rooyen

Fencing usually considered an elitist sport, is gaining poulatirity in a part of Cape Town where most families battle to make ends meet. That is thanks to an international charity run private school, which caters only for children whose families live below the poverty line.

Christel House in Athlone on the Cape Flats has grown by two grades every year since it opened in 2002, and now pupils and their teachers are getting ready to move to new premises.

When Langa teenager Sandisiwe Dingane joined the school four years ago, she did not know a foil from a saber.

Now the 16-year-old can proudly say she has represented the country in the junior world fencing championships thanks to the opportunities she gets at the school.

She is one of 652 pupils from areas such as Manenberg, Hanover Park and Langa attending Christel House- for free. Other pupils are involved in sailing, ballet, karate and golf.

Christel House is one of five such schools around the world founded-and primarily funded- by international businesswoman and philanthropist Christel De Haan.

After starting out with 351 pupils at a church building in 2002, Christel House is reaching two important milestones this year- it has a matric class for the first time, and will move to its new R32 million premises in a few months.

School spokesman Sharon Williams said the new premises had been funded mainly by DeHaan, but that the school had still needed to raise R7 million. And even though parents were not obliged to contribute a cent towards their children’s education, Williams said there were those who donated when they could. “One mother started as a domestic helper, and when she got paid she came to give me R50.”

Williams said not just bright sparks were admitted to the school, which welcomed pupils whose parents could not afford to pay.

“Tweet-Up-For-A-Cause”

The event is happening on Saturday,

the 31st of Jan

Time: 10am—12

Directions: From Lansdowne Wetton circle, right into old Stranfontein road & right again into Swallocliffe drive Ottery.

The plan of action: is to plant trees in an island in the driveway of the school as well as along the fence. Everyone who participates will get their name on the tree that they help plant!

Its an amazing initiative as the school does so much for the children. We would absolutely love it if you would join us for this truly special event! Look forward to seeing you there!

Follow us:

Offical site: www.christelhouse.org

Twitter: www.twitter.com/christelhousesa

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christelhousesa

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/christelhouse

Saturday 31 January will be a special day for Christel House Academy – a not-for-profit school for disadvantaged children in Cape Town - as local media and bloggers, as well as staff members and learners from the school, will get their hands dirty to planted 100 indigenous trees in what is to become the first ever urban school fynbos reserve in the Western Cape.

The fynbos initiative that the school is undertaking at their new premises in Ottery is being led by Kelvin Cochrane who has managed many similar projects on behalf of the City of Cape Town in recent years – including the restoration at one of the major vleis on the Cape Flats known as Princess Vlei near Grassy Park.

Cochrane says that he has been involved in many big fynbos projects to date, but that this is the first time that a school has commissioned his help on a project of this scale.

“Christel House will be the first school to undertake a fynbos initiative of this size – with more than 20 000 plants to be planted over time.”

The entire project will take approximately two to three years to complete and when finished will boast a sanctuary of indigenous trees, like the Cape ash and other endangered fynbos species like the Erica Verticcillata.

“The plans have been set to make this fynbos reserve a truly magnificent resource of plant life, insect and bird life that the children, teachers, and surrounding community will greatly benefit from,” says Cochrane.

Sharon Williams, Director of Development and Marketing at the School says that the initiative is going to be especially good for the learners as they will now get the opportunity to learn, not only from a text book, but from practical experience, about the biology and history of indigenous flora as well as the different insects, birds and animals that are expected to take up residence in the reserve once it is established.

“This wonderful new sanctuary will become a big part of the curriculum for the students and furthermore will form a tangible part of our mission to create lasting change in our students, who all come from impoverished homes where such things as trees and rare animals do not feature.

“We are all so excited about the process. The learners have been involved since day one with the first tree planting and we are looking forward to more such occasions where they can get first-hand experience of the process of planting trees,” says Williams.

What makes the fynbos project at Christel House so unique is not only the fact that it is the first time it is being done on such a scale, but also how many people are going to benefiting as a result of the reserve.

Cochrane explains that they have also recruited and trained many workers from the informal settlement adjacent to the school - Freedom Park - to help manage the daily operations of the reserve and to assist with the maintenance as well as the security of the reserve when the school grounds are empty.

“I find it inspirational to be a part of a project that reaches and has the potential to change so many people’s lives,” says Cochrane.

When the project is completed, there will be fynbos on every available piece of land within the school grounds and the immediate surrounds.