COMPLETED PROJECTS

The Munsieville URCSA was an old mission school that had been given to the church in 1944. Side by Side partnered has partnered with them on several projects by assisting with resources for refurbishing the building, both inside and out. The kitchen was redesigned to provide a large “family style” table where weekly after-school meals are served to over 300 kids in a safe, loving environment. Funding for this program has been shared by Side by Side and our partner, North Point Church.

The town of Aliwal North sits in a beautiful river valley of rural South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It is a community of two worlds; a small, white, mostly middle-class population, and a majority of desperately poor families, packed into a collection of corrugated shacks, each one housing eight to ten people. There is often just one water tap and one outdoor pit toilet for an entire community.

With a $20,000 grant from Side by Side, and an abundance of volunteers and neighborhood goodwill, the congregation of Hilton URCSA was able to construct a community center extension with a full kitchen for serving meals to their most vulnerable citizens.

 

        

Florah Melaong has dedicated her life to children, operating a care center for the past 34 years, often with little or no compensation for herself. She serves kids ages 0-5 and describes her program as follows: “Children are taught in English and Southern Sotho, learning literacy, numeracy, and life skills – all in a dedicated Christian environment. They are encouraged to develop positive self-esteem, respect and appreciate others, and have a lifelong love of learning.

In 2006, Side by Side funded a new facility – 4 classrooms and an office – serving 100+ kids. Florah survived by charging school fees to parents and received R5 per day (about 37 cents) per child from the Department of Health to be used for nutritional support.

 

        

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Side by Side Christian Academy

In early 2022, our work came full circle as the Side by Side Christian Academy opened its doors. After several months of searching, a home was purchased that was remodeled for an ECD. Adding an apartment upstairs provides housing for a family as well as security for the school. In honor of our 19-yr partnership, the Melaong family chose to call the school “Side by Side Christian Academy”.

          

Malnourishment is prevalent among the children throughout the settlements. Side by Side has supported many programs that help provide desperately needed nutrition to vulnerable children and families.

          

Clean water is a critical need in South Africa. When Side by Side visited the rural community of Kgautswane, a village of 7,000 people, in July of 2007, we were excited to learn about the existence of an old distribution system, that, while in disrepair, was well-designed, and if operable, would deliver clean water to hydrants within 200 meters of each home.

However, because the water system was broken, the women of the village had to carry water to their homes from a small spring of water collecting in an otherwise dry river bed.

After four years and countless hours of collaboration by Side by Side and local stakeholders, the local municipality agreed to fund the entire renovation project, replacing the diesel pumps with electric and keeping the system maintained.

Another water project in Kgautswane was providing Hippo Water Rollers, which are a great help to relieve the burden of carrying water. These rollers allow women and children to move up to 20 gallons per trip, with much less bodily wear and tear. Fifty rollers were provided in 2007 and 2008.

 

Many women in South Africa are unemployed but are skilled at pattern-making and sewing. Sewing programs are a way for them to make clothing and other household items for resale, thereby earning them a small income.

In 2006, 2011, and 2021, Side by Side provided funds for the purchase of commercial sewing machines for several partner churches.

 

 

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Game-Changer for Girls

In 2017, in collaboration with Days for Girls International, a sewing enterprise was started at the Klipkop center. Game-Changer for Girls is all about the empowerment of women through the development of a women’s manufacturing enterprise which produces the Days for Girls washable feminine hygiene kits for young girls.

The enterprise, which achieved the Gold Standard for product quality from Days for Girls, not only provided employment for 11 women from the low-income settlements, it provided mentoring and skill training in sewing, organizing, planning, management, and marketing.

Several women were trained and certified as Ambassadors of Women’s Health to provide critical feminine hygiene education.

Between late 2017 and early 2020, 15,874 girls received women’s health education and 12,973 kits were distributed.

Schools in South Africa, especially in rural areas, are grossly inadequate and seriously underfunded. Kids completing their schooling are therefore usually significantly unprepared to compete. Side by Side assisted the Ohrigstad Uniting Reformed Church with funds to help them with a renovation project on a nearby building where an after-school tutoring program could be established. We assisted with funds to fence the property, build the toilet, purchase some furnishings, and some playground equipment.

   In 2009, Side by Side partnered with the Maranatha Uniting Reformed Church (URCSA) to expand their facility by adding a large addition that serves as a community center.

Maranatha is a vibrant church serving in a difficult settlement area where jobless rates approach 90%. As with most other URCSA churches, Maranatha is significantly active in service to its community.

The Heilbron Uniting Reformed Church has a new home, replacing a 15′ x 25′ metal shack.  The campus, which was officially opened in April, 2013, includes the main multipurpose/church building (which has two classrooms for a daycare, a council room, a kitchen, and a large meeting room), toilet facilities, and pastor’s home.

In 2013 construction was completed on a new center for Maranatha’s daughter church, Klipkop. Gone is the 12′ x 15′ corrugated shack. In its place is a new building which includes a kitchen, a sewing room downstairs, two classrooms upstairs for church leadership meetings and other training, and a large auditorium where community meals can be served, and worship and other community gatherings held.

COVID-19 Food Parcels

      What a year 2020 was. So much heartbreak and suffering around the world from a pandemic that has yet to be controlled. In South Africa, which had so much poverty and hunger before the pandemic hit, we knew the situation would now truly be dire. With a total lock-down in place, we felt called to respond by providing much-needed food parcels to some of the most desperate families in the communities in which we have been involved. From April 2020-December, 2021, 137 separate food parcel distributions were done by nine partner organizations, providing life-sustaining food to over 17,000 households.

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Helping Family Who Lost Everything

The Radebe family had just lost everything they owned.

Fire is one of the biggest risks in an impoverished settlement because people cook and heat with paraffin and wood.  Water taps are few and far between, and the fire department often does not come.

Standing in the smoldering ruins, a plan began to take shape. Some men of the local township volunteered to build a new home with building materials that Side by Side supplied, and Maranatha Church, a local congregation, partnered with us to help replace what the family had lost. Two days later the Redebe’s moved into their new home – and this time they had a solid floor!