Helping to Build Literacy in South Africa

We are currently working on a project that I know will excite you as much as it does me. It is one of those projects that flows naturally out of the work done by Helping Hands In Africa. It is such an excellent example of how offering a helping hand to a community ignites in the people a desire to want to help themselves.

Some time ago, in partnership with La Casa de Cristo Church in Scottsdale Arizona, we started a pre-school and after school learning center in Molelwane village. The children's learning inspired a desire by some of the adults in the community to also want to learn. (Many of the adults are illiterate). Two women from our village church approached the Department of Education to sponsor them to become Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) facilitators in Molelwane. Gladys and Lydia attended training workshops and have received level 1 certification. They have also received a very run down and broken "portable trailer" from the Department of Education from which to run their adult classes. Helping Hands is partnering with these two women to get their little business up and running. We have undertaken to repair the building for them as well as to provide them with tables and chairs. This project has multiple benefits:

• The school that Lydia and Gladys will run is a form of job creation and is their own business. As trained and registered facilitators, the education department pays them a monthly stipend. This stipend will increase as they receive further training and increase their certification level.


• The village of Molelwane now has access to adult education. In a letter I received from Gladys and Lydia, they said, "Our aim is to help the community of this rural area. If they are given basic education and skills, this will help them to alleviate poverty and to uplift their standard of living."


• Adults who can read and write are able to assist their children with homework. They will help their children break the cycle of apathy that leads to poverty. With the example set by Gladys and Lydia, who knows what other innovative projects the people from the village will come up with to help their own community

I am so excited about this project, not only because of the obvious advantages to the village, but because of the ripple effect our work is having in this community. Our vision is to help communities help themselves. We initially planted a seed of hope with a feeding project. This seed has grown into a thriving church, a pre-school, learning center, home based care for the sick, care of orphans and vulnerable children, and a vegetable garden small business - all run by members of the community. Today the adult literacy classes, tomorrow... who knows? It is an exciting adventure in community development.

It does however take partnership from those of us who have something to give. In these tough economic times, it is the poor who suffer the most. I would like to ask each person reading this post to very seriously and prayerfully consider two things.

If you are not a monthly partner, would you please consider becoming one? No amount is ever too small (or too large). Click here to begin helping the children of South Africa.

If you are already a partner, we would like to ask you to consider an automated deduction from your account to ours. This is a new feature we are offering. The more people who sign up to donate this way, the more cost effective it becomes for us. It also saves you the cost of a stamp! Please click here to download the autopay signup form, or you can phone our Phoenix office (480-966-9037) for more details.

With kind regards,
Michelle Tessendorf
http://www.helpinghandsinafrica.org/