SOS Africa Charity Education Programme Grows to Support 39 Children

After our most successful year of fundraising to date, thanks to the invaluable support of a growing number of sponsors from around the world, this January SOS Africa was able to introduce an additional 8 children to its education programme in the Western Cape taking the total number of children supported by the charity since 2003 to 39.

"It seems amazing that the project only started 18 months ago with Nasiphi and Michlene and now we have a full house. It was wonderful to greet the children again after the long holiday and receive such warm hugs and big smiles from them all." Anna Lusty, Western Cape Project Manager

We are delighted to welcome Benecia, Britney, Janco, Kayd, Nathan and Raynick into Grade 1 at Grabouw Primary School. Instantly accepted by the other SOS children at our Aftercare Club, they have all settled in well at school and we all are very excited to see how they will progress with all of the support now available to them.

Shortly before the start of term we were approached by staff from Grabouw Primary and asked if we would consider adding 2 additional children to our 2015 intake. Andrew and Kay-Leigh had recently lost their mother and were in desperate need of help both in terms of education and emotional support. They are two very special kids who have shown commitment to attending school and learning despite their difficult circumstances. We therefore launched an online appeal to find sponsors for these two deserving children. Within days, their prayers were answered and we were delighted to include them within our programme.

It is also our pleasure to welcome three new staff members to our Grabouw Aftercare Club. Our Club Manager Madeleine has been joined by her new assistant Erika. We have also recruited Tamelin and Julese as part of our new internship scheme. This scheme will recruit two graduates from Grabouw High School each year to support our staff whilst gaining invaluable work experience.

We are also pleased to report that all 11 of our existing children achieved excellent results last year and have been promoted to their next grades! We are so proud of all of these wonderful children; they are a constant source of inspiration for everyone involved in our programme: