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2017-08-21

Annual Report
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Table of Contents
Report of the chairman .............................................................................................................. 3
The Brand ................................................................................................................................... 3
Value Proposition ....................................................................................................................... 3
Shared Values ............................................................................................................................ 4
Stellumthombo MOI (Memorandum of Incorporation) ............................................................... 4
Projects ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Summary .................................................................................................................................... 7
Our current projects ................................................................................................................... 7
Homework club .......................................................................................................................... 7
Trauma counselling .................................................................................................................... 7
The Welgevallen community garden .......................................................................................... 7
Better nutrition .......................................................................................................................... 7
Parent support program ............................................................................................................. 8
Mentorship program .................................................................................................................. 8
Holiday Club ............................................................................................................................... 8
Camps and outings ..................................................................................................................... 8
New projects .............................................................................................................................. 9
Reading project .......................................................................................................................... 9
Teacher support program ........................................................................................................... 9
Individual therapy ...................................................................................................................... 9
Girls morning ............................................................................................................................ 9
Creating fun, functional spaces ................................................................................................... 9
Report from our After School Enrichment Facilitator Arina Scheepers ..................................... 9
2017 and Beyond ..................................................................................................................... 10
Coordinators Message- Ruben Scheepers ................................................................................ 12
About Straatlig ......................................................................................................................... 12
Programmes ............................................................................................................................. 12
Care and support we give to the adult homeless living in Stellenbosch ..................................... 12
Bible Study ............................................................................................................................... 13
Counselling .............................................................................................................................. 13
Providing assistance ................................................................................................................. 13
Educating the greater Stellenbosch .......................................................................................... 14
Coupon Project ........................................................................................................................ 14
Life Skills .................................................................................................................................. 15
Masandise (formerly known as STELLENBOSCH MOEDERGEMEENTE BURSARY FUND) ............. 17
MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF MASANDISE STUDY AID ................................................... 17
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF MASANDISE STUDY AID ............................................................ 18
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTORS AND THEIR STUDENTS ............................................... 18
ACHIEVEMENTS OF SOME OF OUR STUDENTS .......................................................................... 19

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Report of the chairman


Stellumthombo NPC was created by Stellenbosch Moederkerk with the specific purpose of housing the churchs community outreach
programmes. These programmes are:
Straatlig,
Becoming Kids; and
Masandise Study Aid formerly known as Moederkerk Beursfonds.
This was primarily done in order to access non-faith based funding as well as offering our donors tax relieve in respect of their
donations to these worthy causes. 28 February 2017 marks the end of our very first financial year. This is the birth year of our
company which was successfully registered as a Non-Profit Company (NPC) with the CIPC on 12 February 2016. Thereafter followed
the normal and frustrating bureaucratic processes of opening a bank account, registering the company with SARS and successfully
applying for section 18A status, which allows our donors a tax deduction in respect of their donations to Stellumthombo NPC. We
held our very first directors meeting on 24 August 2016. The employment contracts of all our permanent staff were taken over from
Moederkerk on 1 September 2016. During September 2016 we were informed by SARS that Stellumthombo NPC met the
requirements of a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) and we were approved for purposes of section 18A(1)(a) of the Income Tax
Act. This means that any donation to Stellumthombo NPC is tax deductible in the hands of the donors in terms of section 18A of the
Income Tax Act.
The board of directors met at least once a quarter. Currently the board consists of six directors, five are non-executives and three of
those are also independent. The company has only one executive director, Ruben Scheepers who was appointed as our Managing
Director in February 2017.
I would like to thank all our staff members and volunteers for their dedication and hard work. It is never easy, but your reward is
knowing that you are busy cultivating hope and make a difference in someones life.

The Brand
The word Stellumthombo is a combination of the word Stellenbosch and the Xhosa word umthombo which means fountain or
source. All the projects incorporated under the Stellumthombo umbrella focus on giving hope to those who have little.
Stellumthombo therefore refers to be the fountain of hope in Stellenbosch, flowing into the different areas in the community to
become a river of living water, providing sustenance to all who seek it.

Value Proposition
Stellumthombo cultivates hope in all those excluded from opportunities and those who have a yearning for access to personal and
community development. This is achieved by diminishing feelings of alienation in our community and their dependence of short term
aid or handouts. We strive to implement sustainable, accountable relationships and development opportunities.

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Shared Values
Stellumthombo is a value-based organization. These values are the foundation from which all the different programmes under the
Stellumthombo umbrella function. These values are all present in the value proposition and comprise the following:

Cultivate hope for everybody


We believe that hope is very elusive in our town, country and world, and throughout our projects we strive to cultivate hope in the
lives of everybody involved (both beneficiaries and volunteers).

Inclusive.
Poverty is understood as a condition where people suffer from some or other type of social exclusion. We believe that we need to
eliminate feelings of alienation in our society and by that means, to create equal opportunities for all.

Mutual relationships promote sustainable change


We understand that change does not happen overnight. All our programmes place emphasis on building individual relationships and
mentoring, which is the only way through which we believe sustainable change can happen.

Stellumthombo MOI (Memorandum of Incorporation)


Stellumthombo is a nonprofit company with a focus on the following objectives:
1. Taking care of children who are abandoned, abused, neglected and traumatised by offering them shelter, protection and hope;
2. Offering help to persons who are addicted to dependence-forming substances by equipping them with the necessary tools to break
the cycle of addiction;
3. Facilitating community development in disadvantaged communities through theimplementation of projects aimed at uplifting,
empowering and equipping communities to become self-sustainable;
4. Providing training to unemployed people to enable them to obtain gainful employment;
5. Presenting educational outreach programmes at disadvantaged schools and providing scholarships to deserving learners at such
schools; and
6. Providing aptitude testing, scholarships and mentorship to previously disadvantaged individuals for tertiary education

Projects
The above goals are reached by means of several different projects. These projects include:

BecomingKids is an early intervention programme focusing on high risk children living in the Cloetesville area. This programme
addresses the needs of the children through a holistic approach focusing on the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of each
individual child. The programme is based on the philosophy that children needs to be children. It strives to create a safe space where
they can flourish as individuals.

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Straatlig is a project aiming to create a haven for those living on the fringes of society, especially those living in extreme poverty. This
haven is created by focusing on caring for and the personal development of homeless, destitute and needy people in the Greater
Stellenbosch area. Our vision is to facilitate a process of healing, to restore hope to those that have lost a positive outlook on life and
to empower people to live meaningful lives.

Straatlig makes a very important contribution to the Stellenbosch community through its various programmes, while our commitment
to partnerships and cooperation means that we never duplicate work that is already being done
Straatlig strives towards excellence and has very few bureaucratic restictions, making our work very effective and directly relevant.

Masandise aids those young people who would otherwise not have been able to study, to achieve their dreams. The bursary fund
gives support to first generation students coming from neglected or broken backgrounds. We attempt not only to give financial
support, but also the necessary emotional and social support they need to succeed in their studies. This project is based on a
mentorship model where each mentor maintains continuous individual contact with one or a number of students

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Summary
BecomingKids have grown since our previous report. We are very excited about our new bus, our new staff member and the new kids
who joined our programmes at the beginning of this year.
2017 is a great year for BecomingKids as it is the year with the most volunteers we have ever had. Volunteers enable us to help and
support our children better than before.
We are growing with our kids and are learning how to deal with pre-teens. We offer sex education for all our kids from Grade 5 and
up; we have talks about drugs, gangsters and human trafficking. It has been amazing to see how our kids have grown in the last six
years. With the younger children, we are focusing on reading and Mathematics. With the older children, we are placing great
emphasis on emotional intelligence, study skills, Mathematics, reading and science.

Arina Scheepers
BecomingKids coordinator

Our current projects


Homework club
The Homework club is doing well and has been extended. We now run a homework club on Tuesdays as well as on Thursdays. The
Tuesday homework club is still run by grade 10-12 Paul Roos learners, who offer their time to come and help the children with
homework and to help them develop skills like planning their work, organization of time and critical thinking. Stellenbosch High
School learners also wanted to become part of the homework club and so they are responsible for Thursdays.
Both the children and the high school learners enjoy this time together. The day always ends with a game outside to help everybody
get rid of the days worries. We are excited to have two days of homework club that enable our kids get individual help.

Trauma counselling
We are still using our trauma training skills every week. Trauma is a part of the life of empoverished people and this is especially the
case with the children on our enrichment program. They are repeatedly exposed to different kinds of trauma. We are trying to create
a safe space where our kids can just be kids, and, hopefully, feel safe enough to share with the BecomingKids staff.

The Welgevallen community garden


Unfortunately, we are not able to go to the garden as often as we used to. BecomingKids hope to partner with them again during our
next holiday club.

Better nutrition
Our children still receive two cooked meals a week and these are still provided by our partners within the community. This has
improved the general health of the children and enabled them to concentrate for longer periods at a time. We recently received an
egg boiler and this helps us give a more balanced meal to the kids on the days that they do not get cooked meals. The children love
boiled eggs and it is so easy to make with the egg boiler, that they can join in to help make their lunch.

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Parent support program


At the end of 2015 we invited all the mothers, fathers, aunts, foster parents or grandmothers involved in the childrens lives to join us
for a session once week where we talk about the challenges of raising children in the Cloetesville context and how to support them
the best way possible. The parents came willingly and the first group has been in existence for almost two years. Josephine Scholtz,
my colleague at Straatlig, hosts these sessions in Cloetesville on Thursday evenings.
We have also started a second parent support group on Friday mornings at the ABBA Care crche to include more parents. These
groups fluctuate in numbers, but the average attendance is ten people per group.

Mentorship program
Because of the increase in volunteers, we have more almost 50 mentors this year. They mentor the children in our BecomingKids
programmes. Mentors meet with their mentees every week for one hour. The mentoring sessions consist of 20 minutes of working on
an academic problem area of the particular mentee, 20 minutes of training in emotional intelligence and life skills, and the last 20
minutes are spent playing games or practicing a hobby together. These relationships are important for all our children, as they learn
about different lifestyles and study areas and are given hope for their future. The feedback from volunteers has been amazing and
they keep on coming to mentor, year after year.

Holiday Club
In the 2016 June/July holidays we had our first holiday club at the Khaya. The first day was for all our younger kids. We did face
painting, puff paint, had muffins and played games. On the Tuesday we had a drumming circle and had lots of fun. Wednesday was a
girly day where we painted nails, made cookies and spend some quality girl time together. On the Thursday, we learned how to
make pizza and momos.

Camps and outings


The first semester of 2016 we spent some time at the Eco centre at Jan Marais Park and learned about responsible water use. We
were also visited by one of the Stellenbosch traffic officers. She taught us all about road safety, how to use a seatbelt properly and
how to keep ourselves safe when crossing roads. During child protection month the group called STOP came to visit us and told us
about the dangers of child trafficking and how to keep ourselves safe.
In the second semester of 2016 all our kids went to the Giraffe House to celebrate a great year. The children could feed the farm
animals, watch a reptile show and walked around to meet all the animals. This opportunity was also used to spend quality time with
mentors, to thank our mentors and to say goodbye to those leaving at the end of the year.
The beginning of 2017 was full of fun activities. With the new bus, we have more confidence to explore with the kids. In February six
of our children participated in the Echo 5km fun run in Blouberg. One of our boys came first overall in the 5km race. We celebrated
our first fun run with breakfast at Spur afterwards. We are planning to participate in more events later this year.
In March, all our grade 1-3 learners were invited to a working fruit farm. The kids were taken on a tractor ride to show them the
different areas of the farm and Uncle Jan answered all our questions with enthusiasm. All our kids were invited to Bloemhof High
School for two days of Boere sport fun.
With our new bus we were able to have our first camp in a very long time during the second term of 2017. All our grade 1 - 4 learners
and a number of wonderful volunteers camped at Kijk in de Pot outside Kylemore. The camp was filled with craft activities, soccer, a
hike, delicious food and memory- making .

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New projects
Reading project
At the beginning of 2017 we had 5 young kids from Grades 2 and 3 who joined our program. We soon realized that they could not
read or were well below their reading age. We connected with Andries Truter who gave us the use of his reading programme. We
now use the reading programme as basis and develop interactive activities to use as enrichment with it. Our goal is that all 5 children
in the reading programme will be able to read at their age level by the end of the year.

Teacher support program


One of our parent support groups is run in ABBA sorg crche. The teachers working at the crche asked for a similar programme for
them. The Teacher support programme was started and they meet every Wednesday afternoon, with additional training during the
holidays.

Individual therapy
One of our staff members completed a colour therapy course in 2016. At the start of 2017 she started therapy for our children twice
a week in the afternoons. So far six children have each had six weeks of individual therapy this year. Our goal is that 14 children
would each have completed six weeks of individual therapy by the end of 2017.

Girls morning
In August, we plan to have our first ever girls morning. During this time, we want to celebrate women of all ages, while empowering
our girls to be successful despite the challenges they face in their community. We are very excited to partner with other NGOs and
women from the community to make this day special for our girls.

Creating fun, functional spaces


We have been in the consistory of the Church of the Cross for almost two years. We have grown and do not fit into the consistory any
more. We now use the Khaya in the afternoons, as additional space. The consistory will always remain the base from which we work.
We are currently creating more space by utilizing areas outside to create spaces where kids can work and play safely. We have
installed a netball ring and an outdoor table.

Report from our After School Enrichment Facilitator Arina Scheepers

26 May 2017
The last year has been an amazing time for BecomingKids. We appointed another staff member, we expanded our parent support
programs, we bought a new bus and we have more children in our programme than ever before.
This year we have put even more emphasis and resources on emotional intelligence as well as efforts to stop bullying behaviour.
There is a noticeable increase in violence in Cloetesville and this has a negative effect on our children and their emotional wellbeing.
With more gang violence and shootings, our kids are constantly in fight or flight mode and have difficulty in making good choices
when they feel overwhelmed by their emotions. We are actively working with the concept of emotional intelligence and training them
in calming down strategies to enable our kids to cope in these stressful times.

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We are very excited to share that all the children in the BecomingKids projects passed their school end of the year exams in 2016. We
are working very hard to help all our kids achieve the same success this year. With our younger learners, we are working on reading
skills that include auditory memory and visual analysis and synthesis. We started with concrete mathematics and are slowly moving to
more abstract mathematics.

All our Grade 4 to 7 kids are starting to write exams. We are helping them memorize content by teaching it in different ways, to take
all the different learning styles into account. We are focusing on study skills and comprehension strategies. A very important part of
learning is movement. We are incorporating more brain breaks and moving activities in our afternoon sessions, to help the kids
learn better and to retain what they have learned.

Our biggest challenges now are the pre-teens and bullying behavior. We have partnered with Community Keepers to tackle these
issues. Now, more than ever before, we see the need for BecomingKids in the Cloetesville community.

2017 and Beyond


Because children grow so rapidly and new children continue to enter the system, educational programmes tend to grow very easily.
The challenge, however, is to manage the growth effectively and to continue to provide a high-quality service. The same applies to all
the BecomingKids programmes in 2017.
The year 2016 saw more children entering the system who are in desperate need of remedial care and after-school programmes,
while the children who are currently on the programme need further nurturing.
Our goals for 2017:
To help all our Intermediate phase children develop good study skills.
To focus more on emotional intelligence and life skills within our programmes.
To empower parents and teachers in the Cloetesville community to support their children and be the best parents and
teachers they can be through the Parent Support and Teacher support program.
To expand the programme to include more children.
To expand our current networks and foster good relationships with everyone in our networks.

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Coordinators Message- Ruben Scheepers


While we are still keeping the focus on our core work with the adult homeless and destitute living in and around Stellenbosch, this year
marks a turning point, where most our resources and time moved from addressing the symptoms of a broken system to addressing the
problem at the grassroots. The focus has moved from relief to prevention, where we want to prevent the next at-risk generation from
ever landing on the street in the first place. Our activities are described below.
This drastic change was achieved by placing a stronger focus on the early intervention programmes where, as described above, at risk
children are mentored and holistically nurtured to succeed at both school and at home.
We also focused on the development of the staff working at Straatlig so that we can better support and help our clients. Education and
training of our staff is a crucial element when working with social issues. In February 2016 we hosted a trauma counselling training
event where five of our staff completed and became registered trauma counsellors. There were also other staff development courses
throughout the year.
All this has been possible because of the partners and donors. I take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting us. In the coming
years, we will work to further increase our reach and impact, and deepen our efforts in becoming an organisation that builds on its
knowledge, and share these skills widely to promote action for the empowerment of children and the homeless in the Stellenbosch
area.
With stronger partnerships and your support, I am sure we shall continue to move towards achieving our mission of alleviating poverty
and bringing hope to the lives of those who have very little.

Ruben Scheepers 2017


Straatllig coordinator

About Straatlig
Straatlig is an entity that functions on two different levels through which we try to make a sustainable contribution in addressing the
social issues that result from homelessness in the greater Stellenbosch area.
These levels are:
Care and support we give to the adult homeless living in Stellenbosch
Educating the community of Stellenbosch in giving responsibly

Programmes
Care and support we give to the adult homeless living in Stellenbosch
The care and support of homeless people in Stellenbosch is where Straatlig was started, and remains the backbone of our
organisation. This part of our services has an impact on all our other services, because working with these people shows us how the
system has failed them and what needs to be addressed in the next generation. It also helps us to understand how we, as citizens of
Stellenbosch, are both enabling and dehumanising them through our quick fixes and unsustainable methods of addressing their
needs.
Every year we continue to learn about the unique challenges in caring and supporting the homeless and people in need in the
Stellenbosch context. During the past few years we learned a lot about how to work responsibly with people struggling with addiction,

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which seems to be the case for most people living on the street. Straatlig strives to give the most holistic and sustainable support to
our clients, which we try to achieve with the following programs:

Bible Study
This year, we have continued to present Bible study sessions to the homeless people three times per week. During these sessions, we
create a space of acceptance where we meet to cherish one another. These sessions also serve as the first encounter or first meeting
we have with homeless people. It is a non-threatening and inviting space where anybody can feel welcome and cherished.
The main goal of these sessions is to give hope to those who have very little hope and, especially, to work on their self-image, which is
continuously being shattered in their daily lives.
Together with the Bible study at our offices, we also have street outreaches where we create opportunities for people from around
Stellenbosch, be it students, cell groups or school groups, to go out and visit the homeless people where they sleep. This initiative
creates a space where people can cross cultural and economic demographic lines to listen to one anothers stories. We have found
that these outreaches have a great effect on all involved, both the homeless, who feel validated by being listened to, and the groups
who get confronted with issues and people they have formerly been ignorant of.

Counselling
Counselling is another service we offer the homeless. To do this more effectively as well as more responsibly, our staff attended a
trauma counselling course and they are now registered at the South African Institute of Traumatic Counselling. Our offices are open
for counselling every day of the week, from 9:00 - 13:00.
During 2016, we had 654 clients that came in for counselling and so far 354 in 2017. Our counselling sessions are not limited to only
the homeless, but to anybody who needs a listening ear. Throughout the year, we have had clients from abused families and from
night shelters, as well as addicts needing advice on how to apply for rehabilitation, and so on.

Providing assistance
In everything that we do, we try to be sustainable in the way we tackle social issues. This also applies to the assistance we provide to
our clients. On the 11th of May 2017 Straatlig hosted our third successful Street Store. This is an event where we invite people from
the street to come and have a first-hand shopping experience. On this day people do not only receive clothes just because they fit,
but they can actually choose something they like.

The idea of this event is first to make sure that every person living on the streets in the greater Stellenbosch area has at least one set
of warm clothes for the winter. It is also a place where the self-worth of someone on the street can be affirmed through a shopping
experience with a personal shopping assistant who guides them through the process.

This event has taken place for the past three years and once again it was a great success. At the event, we could provide complete sets
of clothes for 103 individuals, and for the first time these were primarily people living on the street who were really in need of
clothes.

These clothes, like any other help people receive from Straatlig, are given with the assumption that people will show responsibility in
looking after their garments. We believe in the capacity of the people on the street to be able to take good care of what has been
given to them, and because of this, a person that has been helped at the Street Store will not receive another set if they sell or lose it.

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Other than the Street Store, we continually assist people with toiletries, clothes, blankets, night shelter tickets and in some cases
financial aid, if it can help them in a sustainable way. Below is a chart showing the aid people have received in 2017.

Assistance provided in 2017


140 133

116
120

100

80 71 68

60 53
49
44
40 29
24 21
20 9 12
7 8 7 7

0
Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May-Jun Jul-Aug

Blankets Meals Night shelter tickets Clothes

The above support is accompanied by a personal conversation to determine if someone qualifies for aid or if this aid will an
individual in his or her holistic development. Every item and contact session is recorded on a secure database, which helps us to keep
track of each individual case and the support each has received, as well as to guide us in the future support each may need.

Educating the greater Stellenbosch


For us to have a lasting impact on the social issues of the town, we need to have the town on board. We believe that, to do this, we
must educate the town in how to give responsibly and how to address our common social problems.
We educate the town by using posters, flyers and social networks as well as making use of our website. We also have presentations in
the different churches, university events and residences. By doing this, we try to encourage people to not give money to anybody on
the street, but rather to help them by referring them to the people in town who can help them more sustainably. For this, we partner
with the other institutions working with such issues in Stellenbosch. These partners include: ACVV, Child Welfare, Stellenbosch Night
Shelter and Feeding in Action, beside the DSD (Department of Social Development).

Coupon Project
2017 is the third year of our coupon project. This project is a means to empower the rest of the town to give responsibly. With the
coupon project we encourage the people of Stellenbosch to start giving responsibly, by taking money out of the equation. Through our
relationships with those people living on the street and struggling with addiction we have once again been reminded that when a
person gives a hand-out to somebody living on the street, one is enabling him or her to go out to purchase (and use) their drug of
choice.

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The coupon project helps the people in Stellenbosch still to provide in the basic needs of the needy, but such people must come to our
office to redeem a coupon. We can then help identify the main cause that keeps someone in the situation he or she is in, and we can
hopefully provide assistance or information on how to break the cycle in the specific situation of each.
In 2017, this project has achieved its greatest success. The coupons can be redeemed for either a meal over weekends, blankets or
night shelter tickets. We have recently partnered with Hungry Lion, who sponsor our meals for the coupon program. The meal prepared
is a combination of different items on their menu, giving people a balanced and nutritious meal.
For the past three years Straatlig have also been a beneficiary of the Eikestad News Winter Warmth initiative. This initiative provides
us with blankets and, from 2017 onwards, warm clothes during the winter months. These donations are used in our Coupon project
as well as for the other physical assistance we provide.

Life Skills

The Life Skills program takes place on a Wednesday morning at the Khaya Kruiskerk. The program is widely attended by a variety of
people, that include the following; homeless living on the street, individuals that stay temporarily in the Night Shelter, as well as people
living in the community in and around Stellenbosch that is going through a difficult period in their lives.
In South Africa, we face a huge unemployment problem. In the Western Cape alone, there are numerous skills development programs,
that try to address this problem. Currently a lot of these programs start to include Life Skills as part of their curriculum because the lack
of basic Life skills was identified as a problem area. Due to the fact that these programs focus mainly on the transmission of specific
skills that will enable the person to find a job, the life skills provided by these courses, are often limited.
Part of the services that Straatlig provide is to help people with their CVs. Over the years, we have noticed that a lot of people do have
qualifications or specific skills, but that they struggle to keep their jobs. The reasons for this include; drug and alcohol abuse, teenage
pregnancies, chaotic circumstances at home, lack of social and emotional intelligence all of which can be drawn back to a lack of basic
life skills.
The life skills program focus on a variety of activities e.g. group discussions, motivational videos, role play activities, etc. The aim is to
equip people to gain insight into their lives and to take responsibility, to find their own solutions to a better life.

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A Passion for the Possible

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Masandise (formerly known as STELLENBOSCH MOEDERGEMEENTE BURSARY FUND)


The executive members of the former Moederkerk Bursary Fund recently decided to change its name to Masandise Study Aid. The
Xhosa word means Let us help to grow, to reflect the fact that mentoring, as well as financial aid to indigent students, is very much
part of its brief. It now falls under Stellumthombo, the Non-Profit Company that in its turn operates under the auspices of the
Stellenbosch Dutch Reformed Moedergemeente.

The aim of the Masandise Study Aid is to assist poor and disadvantaged youngsters to acquire skills and tertiary qualifications that will
stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives. To this end, both mentoring and financial aid are offered.

Masandise is managed and operated by volunteers who devote their time and efforts without any remuneration. This means that
every cent collected by Masandise is utilised for the benefit of the students who are supported by the Fund. We are really excited by
the achievements and prospects of Masandise, especially in its new context within Stellumthombo. We know that it is a worthwhile
corporate social investment. The old saying of giving a man a fishing line, instead of a fish, still holds true today.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF MASANDISE STUDY AID


Masandise is managed by a committee under the leadership of a chair (at present Jo-Marie Claassen, a retired member of
Stellenbosch University). There are currently an additional nine active mentors, as well as various other volunteers who help in
various ways. Each mentor is responsible for a number of students, ranging from one to ten. Altogether 48 students are being
supported at this time (2017).

Masandise is much more than just a fund providing money to students. In fact, it tries to some extent to fulfil the role that parents in a
well-to-do household will play, namely to provide all funds needed to sustain an academic career, whilst at the same time also
providing advice, academic and emotional support and helping the students to find jobs.

The responsibility of each mentor includes supporting a student on personal, emotional and academic levels and overseeing the
disbursement of a students financial aid. For instance, most students are assisted with registration fees, laptops, books and
sometimes class fees. Masandise does not have money to assist all students with tuition fees, but if they are unable to find external
funding, an exception can be made. Students mostly rely on the NSFAS, but this source of Government funding is erratic, to say the
least. The amount of a Masandise "bursary" is not fixed, but depends on the needs of each student.

On a personal level, funds for traveling, food, accommodation, even clothing, are provided. Furthermore, students are assisted with
academic coaching by one or more of the mentors (who are all highly qualified people) or arrangements are made with the staff of
Stellenbosch University to provide such assistance.

Experience has shown that this mentorship model is much more successful than merely providing the students with money.

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Younger students are, where deemed necessary, subjected to aptitude testing and career guidance by an educational psychologist, a
former member of the Committee, who does the work at cost price. In the 2016-17 book year nine of our younger candidates were
tested and provided with written feedback. This advice was not taken in all cases, leading to some doubt about its efficacy.

Masandise also cooperates with the Legacy Foundation in Kayamandi, another youth outreach NGO, and one of their students is
currently being supported with a food allowance from us. Masandise also collaborates with Jamestown Sounds, a musical outreach
programme for younger children in Jamestown, near Stellenbosch. Our financial support this year (R17 000) enabled the extension of
their stock of brass wind-instruments and the establishment of a little brass band.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF MASANDISE STUDY AID


Masandise operates separately from the church and its funds are recorded separately from those of the church. None of Masandises
funds are used by the church. To the contrary, the church is one of the main donors to Masandise. Funding and payments are
recorded by the Church treasurer.

Internal control is also applied. Two members of the Executive Committee (Charity and Johan van Buren Schele) carefully control and
record expenditure for each student, comparing the budgeted amount with real expenditure. To compile a budget for 2017, mentors
were sent a statement of their expenditure in the previous book year and then asked to submit an estimated budget for the next
period. From this, with the addition of an amount for unexpected expenses, a complete budget for the whole of Masandise was
drawn up. It is, however, virtually impossible to do a reliable income budget, because the Masandises income is entirely derived
from donations, which cannot be predicted. In 2016 an amount of R380 000 in total was spent, but in 2017 the final amount spent
will be considerably larger, as we now follow the principle of providing eligible students with laptop computers, and we have in
several cases also to pay a students rent.

Provision by the authorities of money for students needs seems to be increasingly tight in spite of the agitations of the Fees Must
Fall-group. At present a number of new applicants have had to be turned away by Masandise, due to limited funding. Masandise
currently assists 48 students with an expenditure budget of R520 160 for the financial year from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2018.
Its current reserves amount to far less than this.

We have not budgeted for any increase in intake in 2018. With sufficient funding we shall be able to do so much more for poor and
underprivileged students.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTORS AND THEIR STUDENTS


Some of the Masandise mentors have been involved with students for ten years or longer, others joined our team more recently.
Mentors represent a wide range of age groups. Most are women; there are two men. We have found that many students really feel
the need for a father-figure, but an understanding mother or sister is also a great boon, especially in the case of younger,
orphaned students. Several of our students have in the past become young parents themselves while studying, and this factor is

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strangely stabilising: it would seem that students gain an enhanced sense of responsibility. In the 2016-17 book year there was at
least one such new case. Several of our most successful past students have children and look after them very well. Mentors help
where needed in cases like these, expressing no sort of judgmental opinions. We are only too aware of the contribution of extreme
poverty and the lack of adequate social education at home to the phenomenon of single parenthood. These young parents that we
deal with, are mostly single mothers. However, at least one of our male students takes his parental duties very seriously. In fact, in
this case the mentor discovered the existence of this child only recently. He had kept the fact from her, although he is in many ways
himself one of those most needing of personal guidance and encouragement by his mentor.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF SOME OF OUR STUDENTS


Each applicant is carefully screened in an attempt to ensure success in their studies and Masandise is very proud of the achievements
of its students, of which some examples are cited below. These achievements were generally made under very difficult circumstances.
Many of our students are orphans and have no safety net except for his/her mentor and Masandise. In the spirit of multilingual South
Africa, the reports of the mentors are presented below in the language in which each was written:

Our longest-serving mentor reports: Ek mentor tans 7 studente. Sithembile is n kranige sokkerspeler, was nogal die striker in Malagaklub se
eerste span in Kayamandi, maar hy konsentreer vanjaar net op sy studies want hy loop B Maatskaplik by UWK. Helaas, hy moes die hoofvak in sy
tweede jaar herhaal, maar kan tog ook met derdejaar-modules voortgaan. Ons het oor die jare met registrasie, vervoer en n skootrekenaar
gehelp, sover tot n totaal van R30 000. Ons betaal losies naby Northlink Kollege, Panorama, en ook n kostoelaag vir Thandi terwyl sy Gasvryheid
studeer. Sy wil in haar niggie se voetspore volg, wat daarna n uitruilpos in die VSA gekry het van informele behuising (shack) na n
vyfsterhotel met vyf restaurante en drie swembaddens. En so kan ek aangaan Regstudie by UWK, Siviele Ingenieurswese by Boland- en
Northlink Kolleges; nog een besig met die diploma in Gasvryheid (n gewilde driejaar-kursus, insluitend prakties, met goeie verwagtinge vir werk
daarna. Al hierdie jong mense is die eerste geslag in naskoolse opleiding. Die meeste ouers, enkelmas of grootouers, het die skool teen Graad 3
verlaat en is dus nie in staat om enige sinvolle ondersteuning te kan aanbied nie. Dit is waar die mentorrol so betekenisvol word.

Another writes: One of my eight students this year achieved two BSc degrees in related medical fields simultaneously, after six years of study. We
are still supporting him while he is looking for an appointment in his chosen career, the pharmaceutical industry. Another is studying Tourism at
the College of Cape Town. She recently completed the matriculation equivalent (N4) in this field and is now working towards a National Diploma.
Another is studying Logistics through a correspondence college, while seeking full-time employment. Two others are completing their
apprenticeships in respectively Hospitality and Food Science, but each has another six month module to complete next year. Very few students
finish within the minimum time but all are dedicated workers and eager to raise themselves out of poverty. One dropped out of the system this
past year because he ceased to communicate with his mentors (We had a joint mentorship in his case, but he seemed to prefer to go his own
way). One young lady is very young and inclined to play. The sister with whom she lodges, regularly appeals to me as mentor to speak to the
young girl when she does not pull her weight with housework in a very tiny shack.

A third reports: Ek mentor op die oomblik drie derdejaar studente by UWK en een tweedejaar student. Twee doen BComm-grade en twee doen

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BA-grade. Dan is daar n student in sy eerste jaar by False Bay College in Khayalisha, en n tweedejaar by die Kaapse Tegniese Universiteit. Albei
doen besigheidstudies. Die laaste student is n tweedejaar in Maatskaplike Werk op Stellenbosch, dus sewe in totaal. Ek is die trotsste op n dame
wat BA met Politieke Studies en Antropologie by UWK volg. Sy het as jong meisie nie matriek gemaak nie. Sy was n aktivis en gemeenskapswerker
in n baie arm en moeilike woonbuurt in Lavender Hill naby Muizenberg, is later getroud en het twee seuns grootgemaak. Toe haar jongste seun
begin studeer, het sy self ook by UWK ingeskryf en op 40+ jaar begin studeer. Met baie harde werk en trane en vasbyt is sy nou al in haar
tweedejaar en het nog elke eksamen in al haar vakke geslaag.

Another mentor, who is a member of the Stellumthombo Board, reports: Ek is tans betrokke by vier studente wat finansieel deur
Masandise Studiehulp ondersteun word. Die kursusse wissel van BSc Rekenaarwetenskap, Landbou-diploma en onderwys, tot tweede fase
internskap as elektrisin. Maar emosionele ondersteuning gee ek ook aan n verdere sewe studente wat nie meer finansieel van Masandise
afhanklik is nie. Laasgenoemde groep is in verskillende stadiums van werksoek, onderhoude en die eerste tre in die jong werkende se lewe. Dit is
opvallend hoeveel die emosionele ondersteuning vir die studente beteken. Almal wat finansiel onafhanklik raak, is uitermate verlig dat hulle nog
steeds kan staatmaak op emosionele ondersteuning. Vir sommiges is ek Sissie, vir ander, selfs Mommy !

One of our younger mentors lists her four very keen, successful students as follows: P.M. is besig met sy BComm studies aan UNISA: neem
elke semester n paar vakke en behoort binnekort sy kwalifikasie te kry. L.D. is eerstejaar verpleegkunde-student aan CPUT. Sy vind die kursus
uitdagend maar uiters bevredigend. Sy het al haar vakke tot dusver deurgekom. Y.K. is eerstejaar Hulp-Maatskaplike Werk-student aan Hugenote
Kollege. Doen tans prakties in Kayamandi. Het ook tot dusver alles geslaag. Dan is daar die Moederkerk veiligheidswag, T.T., wat twee vakke via
Maties Gemeenskapsdiens se aandklasse neem om sy matriek te kry. Hy wag nog vir sy eksamen-uitslae.

A recently involved mentor, a young man, reports on the single student whom he is mentoring, and who has proved to be rather
demanding: Na vele teleurstellings en probeerslae is Kanetso by Boland Kollege vir Bemarking ingeskryf. Tot dusver was my hulp aan hom
hoofsaaklik aanmoediging en logistieke ondersteuning, maar die maandelikse toelaag wat hy van Masandise ontvang, bied fisiese hulp en
verligting.

Finally, our most recently appointed mentor joined Masandise through her involvement at the Legacy Centre at Kayamandi, which is
run by die Stellenbosch Gemeente. She has been involved with her student since the students school days. She reports as follows: Ek
mentor tans een eerstejaarstudent. Ons stap reeds vanaf haar graad 11-jaar n pad saam, en dit is wonderlik om te sien hoe sy groei. Sy voltooi
tans haar Educare-diploma by Northlink College en woon in die Echo-Huis in Stellenberg (Bellville). Akademies vaar sy goed en sy geniet die Echo-
Huis baie. Sy het hierdie jaar as n beeldskone jong vrou met groot toekomsdrome ontpop en ek sien uit na alles wat sy nog gaan aanpak!

J.M Claassen, Masandise Chair Stellenbosch, August 2017

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