2018 in Review

2018 did not come without its challenges. But it also didn't fly past without blessings. We want to thank Jesus for everything he does for us, in good and in bad. This is our year in review.

If one can summarise 2018 for Joshua Project, we can just say by God’s Grace, 2018 was blessed compared to 2017. Where 2017 started off with a consuming fire, 2018 started with showers of blessings.

Extended days

We extended our morning programme from 08:00-12:00 to 08:00-15:00 for the group consisting of +/- 17 children. This added 8 hours to our programme per week. The reason for this extension of time was to make sure that we serve the students with full attention, strengthening our relationship with them (Mentoring) and creating more opportunities to teach and equip them with skills.

We have achieved this by approaching community members to volunteer as well as to continue partnering with some local organisations such as Aleph Surf and YWAM. This grants our team members the opportunity to mentor the children on a one on one basis.

We would like to share a few highlights and events with you but also some challenges we faced and continue to face at Joshua Project.

Camp news

Good ingredients makes for good times – each year Joshua Project organises a camp for the children and youth coming from vulnerable situations that regularly attend our daily programme.

This year we had great ingredients to work with, cool weather perfect for a camp, magnificent views of the ocean and good food. Add to this the theme “God Saves’ and we were set to have a fruitful camp!

Eersterivier camping site was the venue where the kids spent a wonderful weekend that allowed them to escape the day to day routine of home. The tranquil surroundings were a world apart from the circumstances that the kids find themselves in on a daily basis. With the well planned camp that included spiritual activities and loads of fun as well as sport, the kids benefited tremendously on many levels.

The programme included activities that helped to develop leadership, teamwork and taking responsibility. The camp allowed opportunities for the kids that have trouble coping with emotions such as anger, despair, sadness and fear to be assisted in the relaxed “off-site” environment.

The value of camps like this is immeasurable and the friendships and fruit will outlast the memory.

It takes a lot of detailed planning and time to successfully plan and host a camp, not to mention the financial aspect.

We already started the planning for our 2019 camp that will take place Lord willing in February; your involvement would bless these kids. You can get involved in planning, volunteering or financial assistance. Your contribution, no matter how big or small, is an investment into the lives of the children and team members of Joshua Project. Please contact us in this regard.

Joshua Project Humansdorp has been operating with drop – in hours for the past few year but has officially opened on April 11th 2018. It now serves the children from the community 5 days a week.

Although there are only 6 children attending at the moment, Joshua Project is becoming more and more known in the community of Humansdorp and children are being referred to us.

If you want to invest your time in serving with us in Humansdorp, kindly click here.

Below are some overall achievements captured in both Humansdorp as well as Jeffreys Bay.

Achievements

Humansdorp

We reach out to children we see on the streets during school hours. The children attending Joshua Project receive breakfast and lunch on a daily basis and they also get taught responsibility by taking turns washing the dishes.

As part of M.E.N.D. (Mentoring, Educating, Nurture and Discipling), we use AET (Adult Education Training – accredited by Media Worx) as a tool to equip the children with Mathematical Literacy skills and communication in English.

We partner with various other organisations with serving hearts that volunteer on a weekly basis to enrich the children’s lives with arts, crafts, sports and other uplifting programmes.

You too could get involved by completing an application form to volunteer.

As a drop-in centre, we face many challenges. For instance, some of the children don’t live with their parents or don’t have parents at all. Some even live on the streets.

With the involvement and assistance of various role players, we are busy tracking down some families of the children.

The children are attending on a regular basis as shown by the pictures below.

The children are being taught that hard work and discipline has rewards.

They are being taught how to wash their own clothes. The reward was watching a movie.

Jeffreys Bay

As part of our Skills Development programme, we are equipping the children with skills that would enrich their lives. This year the children learned about servicing in the food industry and got to put it into practice at our parents evening held in May.

We hosted a First Aid Training course in May as well and 3 of our team members, as well as 2 of the children, completed and passed their accredited First Aid Level 1. We even extended the training to the community and it was well attended.

First Aid Training Certificates of Competency
First Aid Training Certificates of Competency.

The children, who attend Joshua Project on a regular basis, get the opportunity each year to attend a special holiday programme hosted by Jeffreys Bay Baptist church during the July school holidays. An event they thoroughly enjoy each year.

Joshua Project is an organisation where the community has the opportunity to get involved and invest into the lives of children and team members.

In July, some students from Global Leadership Academy came and served at Joshua Project as part of their giving back to the community on a Mandela Day outreach.

GLA students on Mandela Day outreach
GLA students on Mandela Day outreach.

Want to invest into the lives of the children or team members of Joshua Project? Contact us.

2018 has also birthed a new pilot initiative which we call ‘JP Leaders – The Next Step’.

This initiative focuses on helping the children attending Joshua Project on a regular basis who are 16 years and older to prepare for “life outside of parental care” and guide them in gaining confidence for a healthy sense of independence through a positive contribution to society.

We currently serve 6 learners in this way by connecting them to different businesses to attain work experience, work ethics, networking and other skills.

Aleph Surfing, Timion and Awethu are but a few organizations that have partnered with us in this new venture.

As this is still in a pilot phase, there is much room for growth and we invite businesses and individuals to come on board.

If you think that you could invest into this venture, you are more than welcome to make contact. Or feel free to come and visit us if you are close by.

As the saying goes, “giving is better than receiving.”

We want to teach the children that giving is better than receiving and thus we are focusing on doing outreaches and giving back to the community.

In August, we visited a crèche in Pellsrus, Eldon Groep. The whole team was involved. We sangs songs, prayed and shared a meal with the children and teachers and ended the day with a nice story time.

In July, we had our Annual General Meeting. This was well attended by various parents, role-players, sponsors and community members in general.

AGM

This is always a wonderful opportunity to share our journey and progress of the children as well as sharing our plans for the remainder of the year.

If you want to attend our AGM in 2019, kindly subscribe here and get your invite sent to you personally.

Equipping team members

In order to equip the children attending Joshua Project, we need equipped team members.

For this reason we try to invest into the lives of our team members as this has a direct impact into the lives of the children.

Two team members, Olivia Mlangeni and Tembani Loli attended a Computer Competency Course. They did very well and with the skills they are even more equipped to assist the children coming for homework support.

Project YOS

Project YOS (Youth off Streets) organised an outreach to the Humansdorp Landfill site on Friday, the 15th of June as part of Youth Day 2018. Project YOS is a partnership project between various role players in Humansdorp.

Present on the day was Humansdorp SAPS, CPF Sub sector 4 NHW members, Social Development, Kouga Municipality, Joshua Project, The Co-op Community Trust, Child Welfare and various Churches in Humansdorp.

About 80 children and youth were served with soup and snacks by Shoprite’s wonderful Soup Truck that was organised by Clint from Checkers Jeffreys Bay. The staff of Shoprite Humansdorp helped to serve the hot soup on a cold, windy morning.

Shoprite donated blankets that will come in very handy on chilly winter nights.

Charles from SASKO also joined in by sending the SASKO Music Truck and it attracted a dancing crowd. They also handed out fresh bread rolls. Humansdorp SAPS and Social Development gathered information regarding the children’s ages, their school attendance and social needs. The children were encouraged to join Joshua Project at the Bet-El Revival Centre, the orange building in Voortrekker Road.

This was a great day for community partnership. It clearly demonstrated that when we work together, we can achieve much more.

Our team members gladly invest their time and resources into the lives of the children, even though they have their own families to take care of. Want to invest into the lives of our team members who often give way more than what is expected of them? Contact us to find out how or simply click here.

Our local municipality has invested in a beautiful recreational centre next to our premises. This has granted us the opportunity to meet and serve children who do not normally attend Joshua Project.

They can come and enjoy a meal with us and enjoy some fun games. This also grants us an opportunity to share the gospel with them.

2018 was not without challenges and although we know that not all challenges will be able to be fixed or resolved overnight, we do want to share them with you in the hope that by sharing our concerns with you, more advice, resources and help can be obtained by the community.

Below are some of the challenges we are currently facing.

Challenges

Jeffreys Bay

Behavioural

The Challenges that we face are behavioural challenges from the children and commitment from the parents, so we are working with local social workers to try and help the children and their families with social difficulties.

The challenge we are facing currently is that in order for our Auxiliary Social Worker to visit families, she often needs to walk long distances to do home visits as transport is most of the times a challenge and public transport can become a very costly exercise.

Security

Since the erection of the recreation center next to our premises, it has become an increasing concern for us as well to have control of individuals entering our premises during the day, as we do not have a fenced off area.

We have also experienced an attack on our team members and cases of theft during the past couple of months.

We are thus busy with funding proposals to have proper fencing and controlled access points erected to ensure the safety of the children and team. If you would like to invest in this campaign click here.

Humansdorp

We are currently being hosted by Bet-El Revival centre in Humansdorp as the premises where Joshua Project can operate from. We are truly thankful for the hospitality that Pastor Baartman and his congregation has shown towards us.

Lack of ablution facilities

But this in itself has a few challenges for us as the church has no ablution block with showers for the children to clean themselves.

Currently it is a whole day event for the children just to get clean. From collecting water in buckets, to washing in basins.

We would love for the children to be able to have a nice warm shower, something that some of them are not even able to do at home as they have no family or home to return to and most of the times, getting a basin wash at Joshua Project is their only means of getting clean.

There are future plans of having our own premises but in the meantime we are are facing the challenge with proper showers for the children.

An option we are currently exploring is buying or renting a fully equipped ablution container where the children could shower and even wash their clothes in a washing machine.

In need of volunteers

With the amount of children who attend Joshua Project increasing, we need volunteers. If you want to see where you could possibly volunteer, click here.

Drug addiction

Drug addiction is a challenge and the boys have expressed the need for help and the process to enroll them in a drug rehab centre needs to start soon. The children also show signs of great trauma and they are in need of special trauma counselling.

As can be seen, even though there are many challenges to overcome, one can clearly see that there are way more positive and promising outcomes worthy of celebration.

Joshua Project is 21 years old!

A huge milestone that is being celebrated this year, is that Joshua Project is 21 years old this year! As we started off as a soup kitchen, we have grown to be one of only 2 drop-in centres in the Eastern Cape.

We are looking forward to seeing what our Lord,Jesus Christ has in store for Joshua Project in the years to come as it is only by His grace that we’ve kept our doors open for the past 21 years and all glory and honor belongs to our Lord.

Remember, there are many ways in which you can become involved. Your involvement, now matter how big or small, is an investment and possible life changing opportunity in the future adults of this community.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us.

2018 Annual Report

Joshua Project 2018 Annual Report
District: Sarah Baartman.
Area: Humansdorp.
Organisation: Joshua Project Drop-In Centre.
Reporting period: January – October 2018
Indicator (programme and service levels) Number of Children Type of Service provided
Number of Children identified 80 Life Skills Programme Discipleship programme, Arts
Number of Children received services 16 Referral, 60 Homework Support Referral, Counselling, Assisted with Homework etc
Number of Child-headed Household identified 20 Psychosocial Support
Number of Child-headed Household received services 2 Psychosocial Support
Number of Families identified and serviced 20 Parenting Programme
Number of People benefited from soup kitchen 80 Lunch and snacks
Training of Community Caregivers
Indicator Number Specify the type / name of training
Number of community caregivers trained 15 Life Skills 4 Success, Down Syndrome Awareness, Computer Competency Training, YOLO (You Only Live Once)
Number of community caregivers who attended at least one accredited course in the reporting period 5 First Aid Level 1 Training
2018 did not come without its challenges. But it also didn't fly past without blessings. We want to thank Jesus for everything he does for us, in good and in bad. This is our year in review.