Serving in South Africa from September to December 2011
The charity that I volunteered for, was Realstart: a small Christian organisation with the potential to transform lives. Jonathan Stanton-Humphreys, CEO and founder of RealStart, believes firmly that the answer to South Africa’s problems begins and ends with Jesus Christ. When we look at the root of all the major problems, it comes down to culture, morals and values. Unemployment is high because young people are not finishing school. They are not finishing school because of a) the need to work to support their family as their parents are deceased or unemployed, b) alcoholism or substance abuse, c) they are pregnant, or d) they are discouraged due to low quality teaching. These problems, with the exception of the last, are the result of the broken homes that these young people are coming from. When someone finds Christ they receive the strength to overcome their background and breakaway from this cycle.
The two greatest commandments: Love God. Love Others. At Realstart, that is the motivation for everything that we do. We love God and want to share his love with others. And we love others and want to improve their physical condition and allow them to fulfil their potential.
The project that I worked on in South Africa is a concept that has been born out of the severe education deficit in South Africa. Realstart aims to open a number of education centres in the local poverty stricken areas. The project aims to provide school age children with the facilities and resources to augment the education they receive in school through a self-sustainable, franchise-able model that creates an incentive-rich learning environment.
Through the utilisation of onsite staff and state-of-the-art, effective online education programmes, the ultimate goal of the scheme is to provide an education service that increases the overall education proficiency and ability of the children and young people of South Africa. This increase in the educational ability of students will lower school dropout levels leading to a better educated and more employable generation of school leavers.
The centre will be constructed from shipping containers converted into classrooms. These centres will be split in two: a games centre and an education centre. The games centre will essentially pay for the running of the education centre, through charging for use. Concept drawings can be seen below.
The hope is the government will give the land free of charge and that most of the technology will be given free through sponsorship of businesses and corporations. We want to equip them with about 30 iPads, or computers (ideally a tablet like an iPad…less space needed), which can be used to access online teaching resources. The centres will have Realstart staff and volunteers on hand to teach as well.
The project aims to educate but the centre will also provide an opportunity to spread the Gospel. Many of these children will have never heard the Gospel before and Realstart staff and volunteers will have prime opportunities to share their faith with those children and young people who come to the centre.
Prayer points:
- Wisdom as I finish writing the proposal back in Northern Ireland
- Wisdom as Jono ( a colleague) and I work on the finer details of the program…working out a budget, working on education programs (what we what to teach in the centres) etc.
- That God would open doors for funding opportunities
- That we would have the support of the local government and councils.
- That God would work in the lives of South African people and would change their lives through this project
