Friday November 8th is the date for our first major fundraiser. It's wine-tasting meets pub quiz in the form of the old TV programme, Call my Bluff. Three panellists, Emily Thomas of BBC World Service's The Food Chain, Rebecca Jackson of Legs Body Finish www.legsbodyfinish.co.uk and Richard Ehrlich, drinks and food writer for the Independent on Sunday and the Guardian will give competing descriptions of a wine, and you have to guess which is the right one. Or rather, using the discernment of a well-honed palate and your taste buds, judge who is telling porkies and who isn't. There are some awesome raffle prizes and a star auction – the evening kicks off with a reception and nibbles. So what about the canal?The evening takes place at the London Canal Museum in King's Cross, it's an atmospheric Victorian warehouse on the Canal – though you can get there with dry feet.
Tickets are available at www.tickettailor.com/events/khanya/269333#
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I have a dream In February 2017 a group of seven volunteers from All Saints Church Fulham [(went to Amasango Career School in Grahamstown to volunteer as classroom assistants for two weeks. Amasango Career School Amasango is a school for children with special needs, typically they will have dropped out of school for a period and have little or no parental or family involvement or guidance in their lives. With help from a charity in the UK the children receive three meals a day, a food parcel for weekends, uniform, clothing and the care of a dedicated student support assistant who ensures health and social needs are met. The school is always keen to welcome volunteers who are especially useful when it comes to learning and practising English. The school fills in the gaps in a learners’ education as quickly as it can so they can progress to high school. It’s quite good at this and very roughly half of the pupils achieve this. Those that don’t have learnt to read and write and to speak English. Noticing the obvious Our volunteer group comprised clergy, two youth workers, a school nurse, two teachers and a builder. For the most part the group members found a role, but Ade – the builder – struggled. While he was trying to make himself useful he noticed something rather obvious: that whereas half the school population (give or take) were going on to high school, half weren’t and this worried him. Of course, this isn’t a criticism, merely an observation. The school’s resources are spread very thin, and, miraculously, the principal has found room in the budget, as well as room in a crowded school site, to start a skills workshop. There’s a pottery at the school as well, but learners have an hour at best there in a week. In neither case is there enough time to develop a skill competently. Ade had a dream As Ade gazed through the wire fencing of the school he dreamed of building workshops on the empty land next to the school, bringing a team from the UK to work on the construction alongside the older pupils from the school so they could learn skills in a hands-on way. Then running workshops for the learners at Amasango and for others in the afternoons once school is finished for the day. It’s a great vision, and it is not going to turn out exactly as dreamed, but it’s a good starting point, and we shall see as time goes on how much of it we can realise together. So, we are planning a big fundraiser. A supporter who has worked in fundraising for major charities offered her help in organising a Call my Bluff wine-tasting event.
So who remembers the old TV programme with Patrick Campbell? Basically three contrasting descriptions of the same wine are given by a panel of experts and teams guess – work out on the basis of their wine-tasting skills – which is correct. It's great fun with a lot of laughs to be had. But it's more than this, we have a growing list of raffle prizes and auction lots, which is where the headline of this blog comes in. We've found that you have only to ask and people will donate generously, we have had cases of wine and weeks in various holiday rental homes donated as well as pair of hand-knitted socks. We've been promised enough bread from an artisan baker for the evening, and one of the trustees wives is cooking up a batch of chutneys to go with the cheese that another trustee hopes to have donated. We are very lucky to have such support and are grateful to those who have donated so far and those who have yet to donate. Come and join us on Friday 8 November at the London Canal Museum. You can buy tickets at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/khanya/269333# Polly Fryer, wife of a Khanya trustee and almost retired school nurse, returned to Amasango school in February 2019. This was my second visit to the school so I was looking forward to catching up with some of the children. I spent my time with year 4; all classes are dependent on level of attainment so there was an age range of 12–17. I found the classes challenging this time as the teachers come in and out, and there were times when I found myself in charge..even teaching a maths class (when I was very grateful for whatsapp and not much time difference so I could consult more qualified family members!). I also did vision testing which the children were very keen to participate in! There is a charity that provides glasses for township children. In two years have seen a difference, the sewing and pottery projects are amazing displaying skill and aptitude. Was it worth it? A good question to ask is does two weeks volunteering make a difference? Well, the answer is yes. Any time spent with a child is valuable, that bit of time sitting on a wall chatting, noticing a new hairstyle (maybe I will get the braids next time!) and encouraging the work to be finished to achieve those all important red ticks. The pupils are provided with breakfast when they arrive which is a key provision to help concentration and attention in the morning, this could be the first meal since lunch at school the previous day, there is a sandwich at break (Jam and peanut butter)and a hot lunch with fruit before going home. The pupils get a food parcel once a month, (maize, rice, sugar, two stock cubes, cooking oil and sunlight soap) which used to be weekly but has been reduced due to limited funding .
I hope more people will visit this remarkable school and, like me, be inspired and uplifted by the experience. Welcome to the first blog post from Khanya. Our strap line is 'building skills for life' and that is what we aim to do. Starting with small projects in Makhanda (Grahamstown), giving disadvantaged young people skills with which to get a job, earn some money, support a family and lead fulfilling lives.
The picture comes from the pottery at Amasango Career School. The pottery has been going there for perhaps ten years, in other words, long before we came on the scene. These figures won a prize at provincial level, thereby encouraging and rewarding both the learner who created them and the teacher who taught them. It's a step from here to pottery skills to earn a sustainable wage, and those skills are being taught at the pottery. We are keen to help the learners at Amasango excel in other practical fields, to begin with sewing and crafts, but we are hoping to enable other skills to be taught as well. |
AuthorChristina Thomas is a trustee of Khanya and serial volunteer at Amasango Career School. Archives
January 2024
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