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GreenSparks Education

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GreenSparks Education

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." Socrates.

NPO: 236 - 602
SPARKING EDUCATIONAL GROWTH FOR CHILDREN FROM DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES
Training & Resources offered include: BrainBoosters, LEGO Play Boxes and Six Bricks Nelson Mandela
Unfortunately many children in South Africa are unable to benefit from their education as they are under-prepared due to low levels of input at home during the critical first 1000 days and a lack of provision and q

uality in early years education. This lack of quality early years education means that most children enter formal schooling under-prepared and they battle to engage with the process and curriculum. This leads to high dropout levels and poor quality final results, which add to the high unemployment levels experienced across South Africa. Too many children are leaving school without the necessary skills and education to allow them to contribute to their own development and the growth of their communities and the country. GreenSparks Education seeks to make a difference through providing training and resources to support parents, caregivers and teachers working with children in the critical early years. As shown in the Heckman Equation, intervention in the early years has a much higher return on investment and can make a vast difference in a child's ability to cope with formal schooling. GreenSparks Education Projects seeks to provide these training and resources to under-resourced creches through raising funds from donors both local and overseas, individuals and corporates. Get in touch to find out how you can support these projects.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year from the team. May 2024 be a year of good health and God's Highest favor for you and your loved ones ~

25/12/2023

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, we wish you a blessed Christmas. May your hearts and homes be filled with love, joy and peace. From all of us at

08/12/2023

This week we had a visit from Food4Africa and friends from both the UK and SA. They were able to go out to the creches to visit some of the children who are still attending as the year comes to an end.

They also took time to catch up with some old friends at the creches where they started their feeding project many years ago. Thanks Dawn, Gordon, Byron and Pauline for coming to see us, but also for loving the creches so well. It’s very heart-warming to see that colleagues and donors with the same goals and visions can quickly become friends. We really appreciate your support.

02/12/2023

To most people the gift of a cupboard might seem random, but these beautiful steel cabinets, sponsored by Alpha Project, Australia, were given to the new creches who have been trained by for the first time this year.

While they are given as a gift, the hope is that they will be useful for keeping the resources in good condition, and to help with organization in sometimes difficult circumstances.

For our creche teachers, these cupboards are always a huge blessing, and they are always very grateful for a bit of storage.

25/11/2023

For the team to run the projects and support the creche teachers and children as efficiently and smoothly as possible, there are various behind the scenes people that keep the practical, administrative tasks going.

The Bible has many references to seeds and gardeners in the context of furthering God's Kingdom and it's very apt. Gardeners faithfully plant and tend new seeds and saplings, with the full knowledge that they may never see, or even sit beneath those trees - much like the work we do at GreenSparks - we're sowing and tending the seeds of what we believe to be a BIG future.

So, we just want to express our thanks and gratitude to these people for working beside us in this work of planting and tending:

- Jo from The Admin Company who keeps our books in order and helps us provide important financial feedback to our donors each month.
- Karmen and Steve from Significounts for processing our financials each year.
- Letitia from Words Count who helps us keep our friends and supporters informed on a weekly basis of all the activities that the team get up to.

We so appreciate all they do to help make a difference in the lives of so many children.

17/11/2023

Have you ever felt as though the pace and demands of life just seem to escalate the closer we get to the end of the year? If you can identify, you'll likely also feel the accompanying physical exhaustion that is not uncommon at this time of the year. So, this week, as we contemplated the enormity of year end for our team and the teachers at the creches we serve, finishing well looked increasingly daunting.

Then, one of our creche supervisors shared this meme! It was, and IS a word in season, and such a wonderful reminder that our God is all sufficient - we just need to ask - boldly! So, we just wanted to share this beautiful verse with you too. God has everything we need to conquer the impossible-looking end-of-year-mountains we all face - we just need to ask. Praise God! ❤

It's also worth mentioning how amazing it is when we serve others as God leads us. On the face of it, it looks like a one-way action, when in reality, it often happens that those we serve, minister to us too - it's a beautiful thing!

10/11/2023

By now, you will be familiar with 's meaningful outreach to newborn babies and their mothers. It continues to be something that is very close to our hearts at , and we just wanted to introduce you to some of the newest community members we have had the privilege of meeting.

We consider it a privilege to meet these little ones when they are fresh from heaven - still in the safety of the hospital with their precious moms. It's an important moment in time - the beginning of something incredible, and we can't help being thankful for the miracle of new life, and excited for the unlimited potential of these little people with big futures.

While it is a protected (and by all accounts snuggly :-)) time for these adorable little ones, it's also a very emotional time for their mothers - the wonder of meeting their babies for the first time, navigating the emotions and new responsibilities of being parents, and feeling the weight of providing a good future for their little ones, all while coping with the physical healing process. It can be a lonely time!

So, being able to reach out in love, with essential gifts for mom and baby at the very beginning of their journey together, is something so special and meaningful, and we cherish the opportunity. Thank you for all that you do, and for the joy of being able partner with you.

27/10/2023

It's been a frustrating week for the team, with no power for more than half the week. It was a reminder of how difficult it is to work without electricity! It also just made us want to applaud the teachers in our network - they are doing AMAZING work under the most difficult situations - very often without the basic services we sometimes take for granted. Their dedication is giving the children in their sphere of influence a brighter future.

We would value your prayers for a restoration of power, so that we can have a super-productive week next week, serving those in our network and their communities.

20/10/2023

It was a joy and a privilege to visit Khula Community Centre this week to deliver the very last of our Story Boxes for their creche. Thuli facilitated the training to explain what was in each box and how to use it.

We were so inspired to hear from the teachers how else they could use the materials, not just for the pre-schoolers but also in their afternoon education program. Thank you for the warm welcome and hospitality as well as the delicious lunch. 😊

13/10/2023

This familiar pile of white sacks in the corner of the office can only mean one thing – creches are about to be blessed with a delivery of nutritious and delicious porridge thanks to Food4Africa UK 😊 .

Thanks to their fundraising efforts (in a time when the global economy is not conducive to raising funds) they have managed to send us a donation which will provide porridge for October and November to those creches who are most in need. Deliveries started this week thanks to Siya and Siya and our visitor Jeanet from the Netherlands, who was also the photographer for the day.

Needless to say, the teachers and children were all so excited to see their gift of breakfast coming through their doors❤.

29/09/2023

Visitors are always welcome at , and visitors who are able to get involved in our activities, and bless the children in the creches are a double blessing ❤. This week we had Jeanette visiting from The Netherlands and she was such a blessing to everyone. Thank you for bringing encouragement, energy and oranges to our Outdoor Play project. The team really enjoyed having you join them for the day ;-) ❤

22/09/2023

This week would like to ask that you pray for our team, our creches and our beloved South Africa. We don’t ask often because to be honest, we adapt to all of the changes and find a way to keep going, but it’s not easy.

We are still currently dealing with long and frequent power outages, no water supply at all to some areas, which leads to protests - which block the roads. This means our team have to struggle just to get to work and often have to change routes or go to visit other creches. We had terrible weather over the weekend caused by the spring tides and as the seasons change we can expect heavy rains. All of the issues we have shared in the past regarding non-payment of creches by the government are still ongoing.

Please pray for change – we need to see some improvement to encourage us all.

Address

Lot 17, Izotsha Road
Marburg
4250

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