2020 September/October Update
Good news! The number of new cases of Covid-19 continues to decrease daily here in South Africa. We currently have fewer new cases per day in our whole country than in the state of Ohio. Our lock-down restrictions have dropped to Level 1. Gratefully, all our families and our staff have remained well. As we move into a more normal way of life, we miss our teams at our projects very much! And although international travel is opening back up, U.S. citizens are unfortunately still unable to enter. We pray that conditions continue to improve worldwide so we can welcome you again soon.
We are so encouraged by your continued support. Thank you! Even when we can’t be together, we want to stay connected, answering your questions, and giving you updates. We hope you enjoy our latest Conversations with Phillip and Clive video. Please share it with friends!
New Library in Soweto
God has provided one gift after the next for the children we serve in at our feeding program in Soweto. A friend of Build The Future recently put in a water tap or spigot, which helps so much; not only the ladies who cook but also the community. We have also been given a large jungle gym for the site. Once the installation is complete, we look forward to showing you photos of the kids playing on it.
And the biggest news is about our new library. Through a generous donation of a shipping container from a donor here in South Africa, we now have a library/homework center at the Feeding Program in Soweto. We then received four big boxes of books donated by the Masixhasane Literacy Project. These are beautiful, brand new books, appropriate for the kids in our communities. After receiving the books, a local company donated shelving for the library. So many things have come together to make this library a reality. We are about to employ someone part-time from the community three days a week to oversee the library for four hours in the afternoon. Flora will read books to the kids and supervise those coming to read.
As you can tell, we are very excited about our new library, but we are especially looking forward to building a relationship with the Masixhasane Literacy Project. Our goal is to support them by purchasing more books from them in the future. We’re grateful teams will no longer need to collect, pack and lug books from the U.S. in big, heavy suitcases.
Kya Sand Update
Elizabeth and Rejoice from our Kya Sand preschool have completed their most recent courses from Johannesburg Childcare College. We are so happy for them and very proud that they both passed their classes. Elizabeth, with her extra dedication, commitment, and hard work, passed with distinction.
We also had a great workday at our school in Kya Sand, thanks to Fernando of Fermark Home Improvement. Fernando and his team are great to work with, and they always give 100%. They repaired windows, doors, locks, plumbing in bathrooms, and performed some other maintenance around the school. We love working with like-minded people like Fernando, who cares about his team and makes taking care of them a priority.
Ndwedwe Dam Project
There is so much happening in Ndwedwe. We have completed Tembe’s new home. We are just waiting for the arrival of the shipping container for our third preschool. The jungle gym, water tank, and toilets are all in place. Our biggest project is building a dam to dam up the underground spring in Tembe’s community. It will feed the farm project and help provide for the community members. We began by cutting a road down to the spring and now have nearly finished the dam wall. When completed, the dam will hold about 200,000 litres of water. It has already become a catalyst in the community. More people are starting to farm - the adult students that completed classes at the large garden at the Waterfall Preschool.
