Olievenhoutbosch South Africa

Join a community in motion! A Holistic Approach to Community Development

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1. Background 2. Projects in Olievenhoutbosch a. Olievenhoutbosch Christian School b. Trust Hope Faith After School c. Trust Hope Faith feeding scheme d. Trust Hope Faith Education Activites e. Trust Hope Faith Youth development 3. Other projects 4. Additional Information 5. What they need to bring 6. Hosts

2 | Page www.experiencemission.org 1. Background

Olievenhoutbosch is a township, strategically placed in the south of Tshwane (Pretoria) as one of its development areas. The township was established in 1998. What began as a squatter’s camp with shacks is now slowly replaced by an urban area with RDP houses built by government.

Olievenhoutbosch is a poverty-stricken community faced with crime, unemployment, lack of education, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and other social ills.

According to Statistics S.A., South Africa has 5.3 million people already infected with HIV, making it the country with the most HIV-positive individuals in the world.

2. Projects in Olievenhoutbosch

a. Olievenhoutbosch Christian School

OCS is situated in the Olievenhoutbosch community; a community greatly challenged with poverty, over-population, unemployment and abuse.

Several children travel for more than an hour every day to attend a local school. Local schools have an average of 60 learners per class. Consequently, the need for quality education in the local community is very high. Inspired by the situation, Church Without Walls (KSM) in Centurion wanted to help the children in the community through providing quality education within the community. As a result OCS was started in 2004. During that time there were no classrooms available and learners were taught in a tent. Since that then 8 Wendy houses (which are used for classrooms, a library and a kitchen) were put up as well as 4 proper classrooms. Currently OCS is the only English medium school in the area – addressing the vast numbers of learners who wants to be taught in English.

OCS also offers remedial teaching for learners with special educational needs.

OCS’ mission is to provide quality foundation phase Christian education. In addition they are also trying to meet the needs of the very poor families in the school through providing food and clothing.

3 | Page www.experiencemission.org b. Trust Hope Faith After School

THF After School provides underprivileged learners a chance to develop their talents and leadership potential by introducing them to a relationship with Jesus Christ and by helping them with their schoolwork in an atmosphere filled with hope and encouragement. This took place in an afterschool centre where they will receive lunch, academic support and sport coaching.

Many children attending the OCS do not have a wholesome home environment to return to after school. This could be as a result of parents working, parents trying to find work, a single parent who is too busy to look after a primary school child, or a home environment that is not conducive for a child to be unnecessarily exposed to. The result is that these children are left to their own resources and often spend the time roaming the streets.

THF has created an infrastructure to assist in alleviating the trauma that these children may be exposed to. In so doing, the following aspects of caring for these children are addressed.

• THF provides a balanced nutritional meal for each child after completing his/her classes for the day. • THF provides assistance and supervision with the homework given to the children. • THF provides training in cultural activities, such as art classes, music and singing. • THF provides wholesome religious education. Structure, internationally recognized programs such as KidzGames and Kids@Heart are used to accomplish this activity. • THF provides training in basic computer literacy. • THF provides birthday parties for the children attending aftercare. • THF distributes a variety of items to children and families in need. This includes food, clothing, furniture, sport goods, educational material and blankets.

c. Trust Hope Faith Feeding Scheme

THF Feeding Scheme provides food to a multitude of people in need of nutrition. These include:

• The children at the Olievenhoutbosch Christian School attending the Aftercare Centre • The elderly at the Olievenhoutbosch Old Age Home • Members of the Olievenhoutbosch Disabled Organisation • Children at the Princess Nursery School • Children at the KeArabetswe Nursery School

d. Trust Hope Faith Education Activities

THF provides training in organized sport to the Aftercare Centre children as well as to community children. In doing so, older teenagers, or suitable persons are trained in the coaching of the smaller children. The children are taught to participate in team sports. Matches are then arranged against similar teams in the district.

4 | Page www.experiencemission.org e. Trust Hope Faith Youth development

In association with the Steve Tshwete Secondary School and its staff, THF assists struggling and traumatized high school learners to cope with life in general. Learners are often the victims of unstable, motherless, fatherless, parentless, abusive home situations. Because of this, they had failed their grades numerous times and are now faced with expulsion from school as a result of not performing up to standard which causes a lack of confidence in the future. This is often not caused by the lack of intelligence or understanding, but by virtue of their circumstances. In these situations they require counseling, mentorship, and in some cases, just a means of getting away from it all. They need support, love, guidance and motivation.

3. Other projects

Other projects include:-

• Olievenhoutbosch Centre for the Disabled. • Olievenhoutbosch Support for the Elderly: Home based Care & Treatment of the chronically ill. • Skills development for the elderly. • Home for abused children and orphans due to HIV/AIDS. • HIV/AIDS support group and home base care • Bokamosa Bakery • Dimponyana Nursery • Kids Paradise Nursery and Pre-school • Job creation initiatives: Perfume and candle manufacturing, vegetable gardens, etc.

4. Additional information

• Visiting teams will do outreaches in Olievenhoutbosch area. • Olievenhoutbosch is situated within an one hour drive from OR Tambo Airport. • Visiting teams will stay at the beautiful Emseni Conference Centre. Sleep 2 per room. Fully stocked tuck shop available • Visits to Olievenhoutbosch will cost approximately $100-140 per day per person. (The cost will depend on size of the group and the Rand/dollar currency). The amount includes: o Accommodation : 2 people per room. En suite bathroom with toilet, shower and wash basin o 3 x meals per day o Bottled water o Cutlery o Transport o Bedding o Outreaches to communities o Attending Sunday services in local congregations o Sightseeing such as the Pretoria Zoological Gardens, Hartbeespoortdam and Gold Reef City.

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i. The Pretoria Zoological gardens i. The Pretoria Zoo has been rated as one of the best zoos in the world and enjoys National status as the National Zoological Gardens. The zoo features many exotic and African animal exhibitions in diverse environments that include a lake with hippos, a reptile house and an aquarium, as well as integrated function facilities and lapas. The 85-hectare zoo features 3120 mammals from 209 species, 1360 birds from 202 species, 3870 fish specimens from 190 fish species, as well as many invertebrates, reptile and amphibian species.

ii. Hartbeespoortdam i. Roughly 45 minutes' drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, surrounded by the beautiful Magaliesberg mountain range, Hartbeespoort Dam, or Harties to locals, has become a hive of activity and is a very popular weekend getaway for the two cities. The beauty of Hartbeespoort Dam is what draws people here - the dam literally cradled in the lap of the mountains - and many regard this as a retreat from the concrete jungle of city living. The 1620 hectare Hartbeespoort Dam functions both as a source of irrigation for farms in the area and as a resort, and the peace of the hills and valleys, the warmth even on winter days and the charm of the surrounding countryside, make this a place to restore the soul. The Hartbeespoort Dam offers an array of water sports, a local bird sanctuary, challenging hikes and gentle rambles. There is a collection of restaurants in Hartbeespoort that range from Tan' Malie se Winkle, a local institution where you can eat to your heart's content on traditional Afrikaans home-cooked meals, to the local Pick-a-Pancake, which takes pancakes into a new league. This restaurant lies literally in the heart of the Welwitschia Market - a range of African arts, crafts, novelties, curios and other at the fourway crossing at Hartbeespoort that makes a visit here imperative.

iii. Gold Reef City i. Gold Reef City is a large in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wears period costumes of the 1880s, and the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period. There is a museum dedicated to gold mining on the grounds where it is possible to see a gold-containing ore vein and see how real gold is poured into barrels. There are many attractions at Gold Reef City, not the least of which are water rides and roller coasters. - Anaconda. This is the only inverted in the world built by the coaster design company , and is currently the record holder for the fastest and tallest in Africa. - River Rapids - Jozi Express, which is a high- roller coaster built and manufactured by the German amusement park ride manufacturer .

6 | Page www.experiencemission.org - Tower of Terror (also known as the Shaft of Terror). This roller coaster was originally designed by Swiss designer Ronald Bussink, manufactured by local companies, and built by the park themselves. It is a vertical-drop roller coaster which features a drop of 47 meters, and a pull-out which features a positive G-force of 6.3 Gs. This coaster is also the record holder for the current tallest and fastest roller coaster in Africa. - Golden Loop, originally White Lightnin' at , known for its acceleration and the loss of gravity at points. It is Schwarzkopf . - Giant wheel with 55 meters diametre, may be the largest in Africa - Miner's Revenge - UFO, Goes at speeds of 50 km/h. - Runaway - - Dream Boat

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5. What they need to bring: • Clothing • Swim clothes / sport gear (Summer season) • Toiletries • Towels - both bathing and swimming towels • Umbrella / Raincoat (Summer season) • Spending money: Church offering, Tuck-shop, Internet etc. (Note: No internet facilities available at the venue) • Cameras , cell phones, etc. • Medicine (Including something for diarrhea, nausea, headaches, cold and flu medicines, elastoplasts, plastic gloves and antiseptic cream) • Mosquito repellent • all other extras

6. Local Hosts Hein & Helene van Wyk will be the local hosts and will accompany the team the whole time.

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