It seems like only yesterday when the 2022 academic year kicked off, with more SOS Africa children attending school than ever before! With lockdown measures eased and the pandemic finally under control, this year felt like an opportunity to start afresh and refocus on our charity’s top priority: to provide holistic education and care to disadvantaged children needing it the most. And, as you are about to see, SOS Africa’s 20th year did not disappoint…
The start of the new school year is exciting for so many reasons, but last January had added excitement for our staff and sponsors as our children’s charity launched its new Gordon’s Bay Education Programme. Based at our recently purchased premises in Gordon’s Bay, the programme provides a new group of sponsored children with nutritious lunches, homework support and mentoring. The beneficiaries also participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities including art lessons, gardening, swimming lessons, creative play and much more.
Meanwhile, SOS Africa’s other education programmes continued to grow and develop: the charity’s 5 education centres now provide holistic education and care for 81 children, in partnership with 10 schools across 3 regions. The charity also sponsors building projects for partnering schools and provides essential learning support and counselling services when required; this is vital to safeguard the happiness and wellbeing of children attending our partnering schools.
In April SOS Africa announced the exciting news that the charity’s first Western Cape graduate Andrew had been accepted onto an internship programme at steel manufacturing company TFD. Over the past 8 months Andrew has really grown into the role and if he continues to progress will be employed full-time by the company in May 2023. We hope to provide similar opportunities in the near future to other graduates from our trade skills programmes.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, SOS Africa hosted a charity abseil from Wells Cathedral in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. During the 4-day event, 320 brave fundraisers abseiled from the 124ft North-West Tower to raise an incredible £53,750 for SOS Africa, Wells Cathedral and RUH Bath. Shortly after, SOS Africa received the exciting news that our organisation had been voted ‘Charity of the Year’ by teacher recruitment company Teacher Horizons.
Earlier in 2022 SOS Africa announced the launch of an exciting new care worker training programme in partnership with The Village Collaboration, aiming to change the devastating effects of the lack of youth and adult education in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village Community in the Western Cape. After the completion of two 3-month courses, we were delighted to announce the graduation of 17 fully qualified care workers ready to begin their new careers.
2022 was also a year in which SOS Africa expanded the holistic support we provide the SOS Africa children. It is the belief of our staff and Trustees that it is vital to help the children in our care find a passion outside of the classroom to inspire them and motivation them throughout their education. SOS Africa and our partnering schools now offer a range of extra-curricular activities including sports, music, martial arts, occupational therapy, yoga, gardening and cookery amongst many other stimulating activities.
The SOS Africa staff also recognise the fundamental importance of maintaining the involvement of families within their children’s education process. Throughout 2022 we hosted regular parent meetings and parental support workshops to provide the SOS Africa families with greater levels of support and guidance. The SOS Africa staff are also always on hand to give advice when needed.
The SOS Africa Trustees also prioritise the health and wellbeing of our staff. This year we have provided more team building, staff training and mentoring than ever before and have even set up a staff savings scheme to provide them with long-term financial security. SOS Africa also provides counselling for staff when required. We were delighted by the positive feedback we received from the team at our recent end of year staff party and will continue to increase support provided to them in the future.
2022 has also been a year in which we have invested in experienced tutors to provide additional academic support to our sponsored children. These academic interventions have already borne fruit as academic performances across all our Western Cape Centres have improved throughout the year. Not only have 100% of our Western Cape children passed the year, but many even finished in the Top 5 of their respective grades and received both sporting and academic awards at school prizegiving ceremonies.
And what better way to celebrate the formidable achievements of our staff and children this year than by treating them to actioned-packed end of year outings? To reward them for their endeavours, our younger children were taken on a trip to Familier Farm where the SOS Africa kids enjoyed a festive feast, met and fed some of the farm animals, played sports and games, made Christmas trees and listened to Christmas stories.
Meanwhile, for our High School Christmas Outings we partnered with local sailing therapy charity The Little Optimist. This inspirational organisation aims to use sailing as a means to facilitate mental and physical healing for disadvantaged children to enhance their wellbeing and quality of life. Little Optimistic Founder Greg and his team put together an action-packed itinerary which included sailing Little Optimist boats, learning about our oceans, award ceremonies, a festive feast and an exciting trip to the Two Oceans Aquarium for an interactive lesson and tour.
However, in our opinion the greatest 2022 highlight of all has to be receiving the wonderful news that SOS Africa Mafikeng’s Olebogeng has just become our first sponsored child to graduate from university. A role model to our younger children, Olebogeng now has a degree from The Northwest University in Organisational Psychology where he achieved distinctions in no less than 6 modules! Many congratulations Olebogeng and best of luck for the next chapter!
These successes would not have been possible without the invaluable support and generosity of our volunteers, sponsors and fundraisers across the globe. Thank you for everything you do for the SOS Africa children, and we would like to wish you a very…
