News from STM – June 12, 2015

by | Jun 12, 2015 | Day Care Facilities, Klipkop church, Life in the Settlements, Linking With Churches | 0 comments

Dear Friend of STM,

You may remember the multipurpose community center that Second Table Ministries, with your gracious help, recently completed for the Maranatha church at Klipkop.

We call it a Center for Community Transformation. Because that’s the positive impact this facility has had on this hard-scrabble settlement.

To get an idea of how important the center is to this village, our partners there have now held five community-wide celebrations for this facility during the past two years:

  1. Pre-purchase site ceremony, including the planting of trees

  2. Post-purchase dedication of the site

  3. Post-construction raising of the cross dedicating the church

  4. Post-construction opening of the center and unveiling of the cornerstone

  5. Community celebration of the launch of an array of services

A highlight of our latest trip to South Africa was celebration #5, the official launch of community services. It was very rewarding to see how the people have now adopted this building as their own. They almost can’t believe that they have this resource right in their own neighborhood.
The facility now serves as an active meeting center for people in this poverty-stricken settlement. Other uses include:

 

1. After-school drop-in center for more than 200 kids which

includes a meal, playtime, and tutoring.

 

2. A daycare for 75-80 orphans and vulnerable children.

3. Twelve volunteers who provide community outreach

assistance and scheduled HIV/AIDS screening services.

4. A Sewing training program.

5. Twice monthly delivery of mealie meal for 120 of the

poorest families in the settlements, providing the basic food

supply for about 600 people.

6. Sunday services for a growing church of about 80 people.

More activities are being added every month.
Urgent need for a creche

What has grown way beyond our expectations is the need for day care ministry. The building was designed to include a day care facility that serves only about 25 kids. The number of kids coming for care has tripled that number and is growing. Complicating matters, Government officials have told us that they are now moving to enforce the requirements of the Child Welfare Act of 2005, something they have never done before. The act prescribes minimal per child classroom space, separate kitchen and bathroom areas, fenced playground, and special food storage areas.

After taking a close look, we’ve determined that the existing building cannot accommodate these requirements.

The building site is large enough to accommodate a separate crèche. We are working with our partners there to determine how this might be done.

Please stay tuned. If we do this, your help will be urgently needed.

Wendell Verduin

President