REACH! Update March 2024 Schools are back in session, and children and teachers are thrilled with their new classroom and classroom materials. February saw the delivery and installation of new toilets and ‘Jungle-Jims’ at Vulindlela and Vulandi schools (Schools 5 and 6) We are currently developing a functional and ongoing maintenance plan for all of our six schools as well as two schools supplied by Standard Bank years ago whose teachers we also support. Several windows require rust remediation, involving grinding, sanding, re-painting. Also some leaking roofs and broken windows will be repaired. Repainting the murals will be done on a school by school basis using volunteers each year. This month also sees the beginning of vegetable gardens at each of the schools. Seeds and tools are being purchased, patches of the fertile ground are being cultivated and fenced off, and the sowing of autumn crops like beans, carrots, beetroot, radishes and turnips begins soon. Our volunteer page and application on the website is being updated. The January 2025 trip is already full. The web site is also under an upgrade, and still functioning while we add new photographs and information. Fundraising for the 7th school, the maintenance plan, and ongoing support of ITEC in their assessment and training programs is under way for 2024. We’ve received a generous commitment from Generations for Global Giving run by Eileen and Howard Putter, loyal supporters and strong advocates of REACH! since the beginning, but we still have a way to go to reach our goal for this year. Please direct anyone you know who might be interested in supporting us to visit www.reachforsa.org The first wire for teacher stipends went out in February thanks to those of you who have volunteered your support. The teachers are extremely grateful, and wish you to know that your generosity is helping feed them and their families, and keeping them in the classroom. We are still looking for two more volunteers to commit $100/month from March to December so we can cover all eight schools. Please visit the donation page and click on the monthly subscription. All donations are tax deductible of course.  On behalf of the Chief, teachers, students and the Amajingqi community, we thank you for your support, none of this would be possible without your generosity. It takes a village! Regards, Ralph and Shelley

REACH! for SA January 2024 update  We are proud to announce that our sixth container was successfully delivered to the Vulandi school in Amajingqi on January 9th, 2024. With plenty of help from the wonderful volunteers from the Zoe Jelinek Foundation, we were able to take advantage of a short window of good weather to get the beautiful container murals painted (designed by Finn Jelinek, see pictures), and all the interior carpentry and painting done. After the truck got stuck delivering the container to our work site the night before we were due to begin painting, there was a lot of concern that we wouldn’t have enough time and even if we did, the roads to Amajingqi would be impassable. Fortunately, four good days of sunshine followed, allowing us to finish the murals, and to dry the roads enough so that we had little problem getting in. We were greeted by the community with much ululating, singing, and beating of drums. The Chief was there to welcome us and to voice his gratitude for our continued support and development of his community. When the container was set and levelled, the doors were opened and Shelley and her team began filling it with supplies and instructing the teachers and children of all ages curious to play with all the dress-ups and manipulatives, most of which they’d never seen before. ‘Beautiful chaos’ is how it’s best described. Children everywhere trying on Spiderman costumes, little girls playing with dolls, building blocks, doing puzzles, kicking soccer and rugby balls, riding tricycles amidst the goats and dogs, playing doctor… each and every one of them filled with a new curiosity and excitement, and the teacher who said she couldn’t sleep she was so thrilled about her new school! The following day we all drove out to the first school, delivered in 2018, and spent the morning re-painting the mural and repairing some leaks and broken windows until an afternoon thunderstorm brought our work to a premature close. Leaving the paint and some supplies for the community to finish up, we spent the rest of the day driving to the other schools, delivering supplies, inspecting their condition, and giving some money to the teachers who we learned are not being paid by the department of education. (See notes at the end) Significant maintenance work is needed on several of the other containers, and we are in negotiations with Billy (our go-to-guy who sources, converts and delivers the schools) for his crew to go out this year and grind away the rust, and to prime, paint, and caulk all the windows. We plan to spend some extra time each year re-painting the murals one school at a time. We spent a second night at Kob Inn where we were joined by the Chief for dinner, as determined as ever to help uplift his people and secure funding for his ambitious Rural Development Plan. Our group drove back to Gonubie for one last night before going our respective ways. Shelley and I would like to thank Ingrid, Monnix, and Finn Jelinek from the Zoe Jelinek Foundation for making this years’ project possible, and to all their friends and family, so generous in spirit, humor and good will. Fundraising is also well underway for the seventh school scheduled for delivery Jan ’25. If you know of anyone interested in getting involved, please direct them to our website: www.reachforsa.org Regarding the teachers: Unfortunately, we learned that the teachers are not being paid by the government, and remain at their jobs out of commitment to the children and because the job gives them some modicum of purpose and dignity (and the promise of some money from time to time) We find it unacceptable that this is happening, and are determined to help. $100/month will put food on the table for a teacher and her assistant, and their families. There are nine schools we are supporting (though we have only delivered six containers) Shelley and I will commit to one school, and are asking for eight more volunteers to commit $100/month from Feb-Dec 2024. It is tax deductible of course. If you are already donating on a monthly basis, please indicate if you wish your donation to be diverted to the teachers. Please respond to me at this email if you are willing to help, and we will set up an automatic withdrawal into REACH! account to be wired monthly. Thank you, on behalf of the teachers and their families, in advance. From the Chief, the teachers, students and community of Amajingqi, and from Shelley and I, we thank you all for your support, we couldn’t do any of this without you. It takes a village. Sincerely, Ralph and Shelley

Reach! Update November 2023 Dear donors and friends, Last month I spoke about the Rugby World Cup, and how it brings hope and inspires dreams in so many young fans and aspiring players. I know many of you, or most of you reading this are not big rugby followers. That the South African “Springboks” just won the RWC and now stand alone as the only country to have won the coveted cup for a 4th time, is really about so much more than rugby. For a country where not much is going right, politics is rife with corruption and nepotism, the infrastructure is failing, the ANC is failing to lead and uplift as promised so, so many times, we have no regular electricity supply… this victory brought hope and unity and pride like nothing else could. The scenes all around the country last Saturday brought tears to even the most cynical, the most pessimistic. It was something to behold! We at REACH! believe that it is also so much more than providing a dry, safe place to learn, so much more than providing learning materials and a play structure and supplementing the teachers’ meager salary. It is about providing fertile ground for dreaming, for feeling for the first time that there could be more to life than their parents and grandparents had; that others see that they have worth and talent and potential just like everybody else; that they are not forgotten, or destined to be hewers of wood and carriers of water for the rest of their lives. In the same way that Siya Kolisi, the Springbok captain, rose from the squalor and hardship of a township in the Eastern Cape to stand on the pinnacle of sporting achievement because someone once saw his potential and gave him hope and gave him a chance, somewhere in a container school in Amajingqi small hearts and minds are daring to see beyond life as they know it. Our plans are almost finalized for January and the Zoe Jelenik Foundation funded sixth school. The container is converted and ready for us to beautify with murals and supplies! Included are some pictures of the children during the last assessment and teacher training clinic for this year that REACH! and ACB jointly finance. Thank you for your part in this.  We are starting fundraising for our seventh school scheduled for delivery in January 2025. If you know of anyone interested in adding their support and joining our 'village', please direct them to our website: www.reachforsa.org We will keep you updated on our January trip. Thank you one and all for your ongoing support, we could not do any of this without you. Regards Ralph and Shelley

Update

Ndlelibanzi, January 2023

June 2022

January 2022 update

December 2021