the community speaks - part two

-painting Masekane school

-Zandspruit 23 July 2011

celebrating Kingsway

Last night we gathered in a beautiful hall to celebrate Kingsway School - and raise money to add to the new school's building fund.



my favorite little painting I showed you last week got auctioned off for R11500 (US$1700) !!


Well, I think they were actually bidding on the box of 16 bottles of fancy wine that came with the painting, but I'm going to stick to my story that it was the monkey painting they wanted and the wine got thrown in as a bonus.



Bongani, one of the Kingsway graduates, told his amazing story and we celebrated together how Kingsway has given him a foundation that has literally given him wings.


And the African Children's Choir performed - what a stunning honor to have them with us!


And Elvis Blue - SA Idols winner - an amazing performer and very deep and lovely guy.





it's always amazing to see my photography printed on canvas and larger than life. I think the images we chose really shared the story of Kingsway - the joy and learning and "ah-ha" moments and special tender times.

ke a laobga means "thank you" in tswana -

the rest of the pictures are on flickr - head on over and take a peek

(the link is offically fixed - sorry about that - now, click away!)

Michelle Obama, GoLang Education and the Kingsway School connection

VISIT OF USA FIRST LADY TO GOLANG PRE-SCHOOL

(taken from http://www.2022.co.za/)

On the 21st of June Michelle Obama, her 2 daughters and mother visited our Golang pre school. After 3 weeks of planning and security checks, the big day finally arrived. 10 black Hummers a helicopter and sharp shooters on the roof of the building was the announcement that someone very important is coming. 20 press people ran from the cars and then Mrs Obama and her family entered- with big smiles and warm hearts. They took our breath away. They hugged every single child and all the teachers. They participated in all the songs and games- even grandmother was swinging her hips. Mrs Obama then read a story-the cat in the hat- to all the children. The US team also donated books for our library. We felt so very blessed by our special visitor and see it as God's amazing gift just a week before our 10th birthday.

Yes Golang Outreach is 10 years old this year and we are having a celebration on the 1st of July. Visit our website for more info: http://www.golangoutreach.co.za/.

Many people ask us what happens with the beautiful kids in our preschool where do they go when the leave the safe, nurturing environment of Golang. We are sad to say that without our direct intervention most of them go to the local overcrowded public school, where they will be one of 70 in a Gr 1 classroom container with no lights. The good news is that there is hope and that is in the form of a private school called Kingsway. This school has a heart for the community of Zandspruit and has been serving their children for the last 20 years, but they are far and children need to be bussed at expensive cost to the property in Randpark Ridge. They are also small because of limited space.

A few years ago though, Kingsway was donated a property in Zandspruit and plans have been drawn up to build a top quality school for our little kids- for 1500 of them. But we cannot do it without your help. We need your financial support to build this dream school and to change the future of the Zandspruit kids and to help change the face of poverty in this community, Good quality education is the only answer to turn poverty into potential.

Please support our fundraising initiatives and help where you can.

WE NEED YOU! THE CHILDREN NEED YOU!
Marietjie Steyn (Golang Founder)


*photography of Michelle Obama at GoLang preschool

courtesy of the Randburg Sun and GoLang Education

I am Samkelo and I can read!

Yes - it's time to celebrate!!!
What a great day!!

We talked a few weeks ago about my friend, Samkelo.
He's just about the bestest kid ever - 12 years old and new to Kingsway school, Samkelo and I get to hang out two times every week to play around with letters and words and sounds. He's a lot like me and always wants to pick a spot in the sunshine - even though it's winter here and around 40 degrees in the mornings. I usually bring hot tea for us to share - but Samkelo only likes it when I make tea sweet with sugar.

While Billy is in the states, he is collecting early reading books from a few of our dear friends, and another has provided us with some JumpStart computer games to work from, and another gave us a huge Amazon gift card that I bought a lot of teacher resources with - and a few reading books as well. It's just amazing when you think about it, that Samkelo's journey into being a reader - a journey that will absolutely shape his life - is being joined by us all. It's just like the best things in life - different ones of us sharing what we have to make the world a better place. All the little bits add up to a GREAT BIG WONDERFUL world.

It's true. And thank you.

One more thing I'd LOVE to have for Samkelo is the PBS series, Between the Lions.
If you have some old copies you can share - or even wanted to set your DVR to record and then send us burned DVDs every few weeks, it would be a treat! I've been scouring the internet and a full season is hard to come by.

Our last story letter was about the value of reading-

*(if you don't get our monthy-ish story letters in your email box, we'd love to include you, just let us know!)

one of the things I that struck me in the book "Shaped by the Story" was a unique validation of raising a generation of readers - especially readers that come out of violent, impoverished backgrounds -

"the process of developing internal images and meaning in response to words in the basis of imagination... The capacity for imagination ha profound implications, not just for academic learning, but for behavior as well. Several recent studies have shown that children who lack imagination are far more prone to violence. Such children can not imagine alternatives to their immediate perceptions of anger or hostility; they're able to react only to what they believe is the situation in front of them. On the other hand, children who posses imagination have a very different experience. they can be exposed to the same hostile situation as an aggressive child, but with their ability to imagine, different solutions can be reached."

I think of the recent strikes (rioting and violence) that have plagued our community. I think of the abuse and neglect. I think of the lack of forward vision or cause-and-effect understanding. I think of the lack of trust toward outsiders and insiders alike. I think of the vast number of uninformed people, both inside and outside of our community, and all around the world. Not uninformed because of a lack of media information, but uninformed because a bigger world view hasn't had the opportunity to influence their experiences and offer alternatives. We live this life all the time when we believe in stereotypes, when we fail to see the individual humanity that weaves through other cultures, when we simply fail to look outside our own worlds into the big one God created.

Eugene Peterson in "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places" says

"Story is the most natural way of enlarging and deepening our sense of reality, and then enlisting us as participant in it. Stories open doors to areas or aspects of life that we didn't know were there, or had quit noticing out of over-familiarity, or supposed were out of bounds to us. They then welcome us in. Stories are verbal acts of hospitality."

Our ministry here is relational. It's journey-ing life together. It's storytelling and story-living and pouring ourselves out over and over again in an invitation for the people around us to participate in a deepening sense of reality. We pray to live our lives as God's acts of hospitality.

Matthew 5

"You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. ........

—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. "

today at kingsway

painting butterflies

This is where you'll find me on any given Monday.

Bet you kinda' wish you were here now too...

Buyela and Matla

Matla is the rural school in our wider community I was at a few weeks ago with the Vulendlela team for a career day. We do a lot with Matla, it's where a lot of our kids from community ministries go to school.

Buyela spent the day visiting classrooms it was quick, 40 minutes to introduce yourself, establish who you are - why you are there - that you are relevant enough to listen to and genuine enough to trust - conversations, questions, the bell rings again and it's time to do it all over again with a new group.

The leaders at the school specifically asked Buyela to talk about sexuality or drugs - the two main issues they deal with at this school - and honestly - with most of the schools in this area. Our kids have too much growing up to do too quickly - especially in areas marked by poverty. Tough decisions to make. Tough examples to follow. But they are good kids. They are real good kids.

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the Buyela team

So, last week was super busy over here in dicoccoville - but I'm gonna make it up to ya'll by posting every day this week. really, it's gonna be fun for me because I've got a lot of fun stuff to share.

Last week our church hosted the fabulously talented Buyela team from YFC-SA. A group of 12 college aged students who have chosen to give a year of their lives to traveling the country using dance and drama to earn a way into people's lives and talk about some pretty important stuff. Bullying, drugs, sexuality, hiv/aids, family relationships, fatherlessness - all of these are huge issues in our youth's realities - and all were spoken about with candid-ness, awareness and hope.

I was spoiled to spend a couple of days with them as they presented their programs. The first day in our friend's street shelter. Remember a few weeks ago when the 20 boys were dropped off by police? Same shelter. Ikusasa in Krugersdorp.

The team had a great morning hosting a class with a dozen of the teenage-ish boys who have to come off the streets to live at the Ikusasa. I've been to the shelter a couple times to drop things off or say hello - but spending the entire day there with Anthony and the boys has given me a whole new value to speaking my prayers for that space.

Here's a couple images from those moments... enjoy - and I'll see you tomorrow with the story of my new homeless friend.

matla career day

Our guys at Vulendlela's biggest concern- or at least one of them- are the kids in our local high school. Matla is a severely under resourced school with a big heart. Placed in one of the most beautiful campuses I've walked through (think: a rich old farm with small brick buildings scattered throughout being used as classrooms) hundreds of kids attend this combined primary/high school - many from our own church neighborhood. In fact, many of last years' Vulendlela guys graduated from Matla. These are also the same kids that came to the matric classes last year during the teachers strike. We heard from the principal that the school was awarded as having the highest improvement rate on the matric exams in the entire district last year - and, in part, he credits Vulendlela's involvment at their school, including those three weeks when we carried on with holding an impromtu school and prepping the 12th graders for the upcoming exams. That's pretty big stuff. Especially, when you remember that Vulendlela is made up of guys having just graduated from that, and similar, high schools in our area.

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Our church has dreamy dreams of opening a grade 12 school - specifically for these kids - after seeing the success of alternative teaching that we had last year with only three short weeks. Another thing we pray for a windfall of resources for.

Anyway, Vulendlela coordinated a "career day" for the kids at Matla. Student representatives from local universities & colleges came and talked to the grade 12s about their choices for next year - and to the grade 9s about their how their class path choices for grades 10-11-12 will effect their options for further study - and what they should be focusing on for different career paths. Great idea. It was so good to see representatives from our top universities and organizations out at Matla, encouraging these kids that they are smart enough and have access to resources to get them wherever they want to go. It's a message we all need from time to time.

stories

(photo by Avery - celebrating my super fun braids)

In the worship class I am teaching at church - we have been recognizing the importance of learning to develop character and integrity within our artistic temperaments. We've been especially focusing on not only the internal character issues, but how we can take all our individual strengths and preferences, and work well within a team. Great discussions. Yesterday, I divided everyone up into small groups and gave each group an identical list of completely random words. Working off the lists, each team had 10 minutes to write a story using as many of the words as possible.

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10 minutes - Go.

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It was faaaaaabulous to hear what came out of it. In addition to all the laughter as the stories were being written, the stories themselves were... riveting (to use a word that came up a lot yesterday). We had everything from the rock star Caterpillar Monkey Musical Worship band's catapult into success - to a beautiful devotional about cooperation with a moral at the end that would have made any sundayschool teacher proud.

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Working in a team to write the stories brought ideas and a shape that wouldn't have come if I would have given the same list of words to each individual. We inspire each other. What was also interesting to me, is that each team had the exact same resources - yet, came up with a completely different story. I know there is a really great teaching on working well within a team and teamship identity somewhere... maybe someone wants to write it for me and I'll bring it to my group in our next time together.

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Or maybe you want to write your own story...

The words we used are...

Beginning * Language * Proud * Monkey * Children * Guitar * Cold * Worship * Rain * Paint * Picnic * Heart * Clean * Teacher * Cooperate * Water * Music * Read * Thirsty * Caterpillar * Grow * Mountain * Neighbor * Share * Work together * Balloon * Song * brother * Shoes * play * sunrise

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10 minutes.... go!

gumboot-ing boys

These boys... I've been with most of them since they were in the 4th grade - tutoring in math and reading - playing on the fields - talking about school and life - teaching swim lessons to a few. Now they are grade 7 - top of the heap in our South African school system. Too cool for their own boots. Yet, they are not. They are friends. They come to me with their bravado, acting like they don't want to talk... but hanging around waiting for the moment to be right to start the conversation. It's cool. I'll wait around with them. I respect their 7th grade-isms. I get them.

I understand, having my own 8th grade boy who said to me this morning "mom, you'd better kiss me goodbye now" (they are all going to school camp for the next three days) "because you're not going to be able to kiss me in front of my friends once we get to school"

Our dear friend, Everest, has been working with these boys for the past year on a cultural art form called "gumboot dancing". The history of this dance style is interesting.


"Gumboot dancing was born in the gold mines of South Africa at the height of the migrant labour system.
The mine workers were not free to move around at will and were separated from their families for long periods of time. At best, working in the mines was a long, hard, repetitive toil. At worst, the men would be taken chained into the mines and shackled at their work stations in almost total darkness.

"The floors of the mines were often flooded, with poor or non-existent drainage. For the miners, hours of standing up to their knees in infected waters brought on skin ulcers, foot problems and consequent lost work time. The bosses discovered that providing gumboots (Wellington boots) to the workers was cheaper than attempting to drain the mines. This created the miners uniform, consisting of heavy black Wellington boots, jeans, bare chest and bandannas to absorb eye-stinging sweat.

"The workers were forbidden to speak, and as a result created a means of communication, essentially their own unique form of Morse Code. By slapping their gumboots and rattling their ankle chains, the enslaved workers sent messages to each other in the darkness. From this came an entertainment, as the miners evolved their percussive sounds and movements into a unique dance form and used it to entertain each other during their free time.

"Gumboot dancing has developed into a working class, South African art form with a universal appeal. The dancers expand upon traditional steps, with the addition of contemporary movement, music and song. Extremely physical, the dancing serves as a cathartic release, celebrating the body as an instrument, and the richness and complexities of South African culture."

*description found on the big www

Kingsway School

" Imagine... a South Africa where our vast potential of human capital is optimally developed- where every one of our children will enjoy the benifit of the best education and opportunities we can provide.

... but too many of our children are crammed into poorly lit containers with 60 peers, no desks to sit at and no proper reading or math skills taught to them.

I also have dreams of becoming a pilot, a doctor, and engineer, a teacher one day. But I don't see how this is going to happen where I live.

Now Imagine - a top school like Kingsway Christian School in Randpark that has provided top education opportunities for the past 20 years, willing to relcoate into my community.

Imagine a school like this within walking distance from my shack.

Imagine a safe, caring environment where role models will journey with me from grade R to grade 12.

Imagine a sports field where I can play and learn about being part of a team and develop my skills.

Imagine a community taking hands and building a school where I can fufill my dreams. "

"Kingsway has taught me that it does not matter what kind of background you come from, you have a right to learn." -Gundo

"Kingsway School means everything to me because our teachers teach us how to learn,to respect other people and how to study" -Luthando

"This school makes me be a person" -Veronica

"The school teaches us to praise God and follow the right choices in life." -Anna

We can build a school for the Class of 2022

IF you can READ this you are

luckier than 70 % of the children in the informal settlement.

Show you are thankful by donating just R5

SMS "school" to (+27) 36012

or following this link to http://www.2022.co.za/

to see opportunities for you to get involved

all text taken from http://www.2022.co.za - photos by trace for Kingsway School

I can share what I have

Sick again. Raise your hand if you think I get sick entirely too much in Africa. Ridiculous.
Last week I got to spend a morning at Kingsway school. You remember Kingsway, we've talked about it a few times and I pointed you to the fundraising video a couple weeks ago - to build the new school inside Zandspruit. The kids here are so precious. Teacher was telling them a bible story this particular morning. A story about Jesus healing a blind man.
"Have you ever seen someone who is blind? Where would you see them?"
-(little voices) " sometimes on the street corners "
"Uh-huh." teacher says "How come they stand there?"
- (little voices) " because they need some money but they can't work"
"the exact same thing was happening in the bible. Just the same. And then Jesus walked by...."

She wove the story into a space where not only the children were captivated by the miracle of the bible... but delighted with recognition that they are living in a story similar.

"Now, maybe we can't heal the person like Jesus did - but what can we do to help someone who can't do something for themselves?"
(little voices) "We can take them shopping for clothes" "We can give them some food" "We can buy them some shoes"
"Absolutely! But what if you don't have extra money to buy them something they need? What else could you do for them? "

and the ideas poured out - washing clothes - reading a story - cleaning dishes - holding their hand so they could walk to a friends' house -

real life things that real life people can do every single day

I don't know if the teacher realizes the amazing gift she is giving these children. Being able to recognize that you have something valuable to give is an important key to not sinking into a poverty mentality. You are rich when you realize your ability to give. It's what the deepest spaces in our hearts were wired for - to take care of each other. To serve. To love God with all our hearts, our souls, our minds - and in that, because of that, through that, to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. It's what draws us together into the core of humanity and gives us the wealth of being able to actively participate in something bigger than ourselves and the here and now we find ourselves in. And these children, knowing and believing that is true, will carry their generation on the shoulders of something better than what has been.

still thinking about school

for more Aurora images... flip to my flickr page...

Thought I'd share a few of my favorite images from last week's shoot at Aurora school... kids doing what they do best when they are in a safe, nurturing place. They play, they explore, they have the confidence to be brave and to be proud of themselves. They connect the dots in their brains and learn to read & appreciate numbers and understand how things work together. I love it when that all comes out in an explosion as their hand shoots up in class with this uncontainable, butt wiggling- energy & excitement

***** i. know. the. answer! *****

We are just finishing our third full week of the new school year here in South Africa. My kids continue to struggle a little bit. Avery is learning about friendships and how to write research papers and wondering what "her thing" is. Madi has been invited into AP Maths after school. Between those after school classes, plus the ones with her new tutor... she has hours and hours and hours of maths and physical science (chemistry,physics) every week. Her brain is full, but we are excited for her opportunity to excel in what she has set before her. Harrison is just moments away from everything "clicking" and being totally fabulous... but until that happens, there are frustrations. Organizational skills to be learned, processes to be figured out, confidences to rebuild. He works his stress out on the piano at home - or inviting me on a run... which is lovely. I'm constantly proud of him. I'm constantly proud of all three of them. This is big stuff.

In just an hour, it will be the weekend in our house. Beautiful words. They mean rest and games. Sunshine and sleeping in. Togetherness, time to chat, time to just snuggle on the couch and read calvin and hobbes cartoons. We have been intentional about making time for a Sabbath for a few years now, but I don't' think I have ever appreciated our Sabbath like I do these days. We are thankful for school. We are thankful for good schools. But we are also thankful for family and home.

Our car is broken (again) this time it looks bad enough that we needed to get it towed and it seems it will be awhile before we'll see it again. Ever notice how these things happen when you are completely short on money in the first place? We've been offered a loaner by some sweet friends who are sacrificing their car for us... a beautiful gift indeed... and for Wed, yesterday and today, before we get it, we've had such dear friends step in and offer us rides and quick uses of their cars and even had some willing to pick the kids up from school themselves on our behalf. Just saying out loud how thankful we are for the community we are blessed with here.