ANOTHER YEAR HAS PASSED

Bells are ringing as 2010 Christmas is on the horizon.

To all the Rooiberg Tirisano Project donors a hearty thanks from the staff and children of Itireleng school.

2010 has been an interesting year as the school has managed to operate quite sucessfully with less input from RTP and lots of excitement about the World Cup.

National teacher strikes disrupted some of the developments we had been hoping for.

Nevertheless RTP is still needed and thus a big project for the establishment of a school library is in the planning phase.RTP members have diligently accumulated funds this year to make it a possibility in early 2011.Without our donors we would not have been able to make these plans.

This is our dream!

In 2010 the National Government focused on developing food projects in all schools. Itireleng has benefitted from this and the children receive a mid morning meal daily.

MAY YOU ALL BE BLESSED THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON AND HAVE MUCH JOY AND PEACE

GOOD START TO 2010

2010 started with a bang for Itireleng school. During our last visit it was fantastic to see that all teachers were on duty and classes were in order with all children in school uniforms.There was a great sense of learning happening and the learners were enthusiastic and teachers positive.

Kumba Mine fulfilled their promise in that they renovated the toilet areas for the school. The teachers have devised a system whereby the learners will be looking after the areas very carefully and taking pride in what has been given to them.

RTP continues to donate toilet paper through the monthly donations of donors.Thank you very much.

To all our donors and friends we hope that the Easter season will bring or has brought life and joy.

Happy Christmas and a Blessed New Year

To all our donors and anyone else looking at this blog the RTP team would like to express our heartfelt thanks for all the support received over the year 2009.

To end the year the team went to the school to wish the teachers a happy christmas and a well deserved restful holiday. Gifts were exchanged and the pictures tell the story.

The picture of the angel illustrates the creativity of the children who used waste materials to create the ornament.The earings were also made by the children under the direction of Teresa after RTP dropped off a donation of beads made by the Braamfontein Catholic Church.

Ally the principal very enthusiastically went about explaining some of the highlights of 2009 one of them being that the school won an art prize of R10,000 sponsored by the Dept. of Tourism.

A learner April Morwe won a R20,000 sports sponsorship from George Cronje of the Rooiberg community to further his sporting talent.

Naphtally Sepoloana was awarded 1st prize at a public speaking competition in Polokwane receiving a bursary for further study in any commercial subjects at Wits, Limpopo or Venda university.

Pinkie Khoza a previous learner has been sponsored by the organisation Love Life to run a programme for the school children and community teaching youth to take responsibility in their own lives.

2009 had some real success stories and we all look forward to greater things in 2010.

A Gym for Rooiberg

Peter, Anna-Marie, Mariette and Emily recently visited Rooiberg. Thanks to Jacques and Margaret Lambiotte they were able to stay overnight at their home in Monati-a game farm. A productive meeting was held at the school followed by a braai for teachers and RTP Team hosted by Simone and Dave(YES - Simone's new fiance!!)

The following day a meeting was held with the RTP Team and a couple in Rooiberg, Mike and Teresa, where many issues regarding the community were discussed. Mike and Teresa who live in Rooiberg are taking on many projects, one of them being the establishment of a gym. Through experience in other communities they have worked in,they have seen many youth's lives changed for the better as a gym is physically healthy and keeps them occupied both in body and mind.

They are working hard towards establishing a gym for Rooiberg. The premises have been secured as well as the promise of a donation of an excercise bike and weights. Needless to say much more equipment is needed so any donations in money or in kind towards this wonderful project will be greatly appreciated.

Find the contact details on this blog.

Pupils fundraising

ON YOUR MARKS -GET SET - GO!

WE ARE VERY SERIOUS ABOUT OUR TASK !

For a 2nd year in a row pupils were given the opportunity to raise funds for their school by washing bikes for very tired competitors of the Garmin Eco-ride during the weekend of the 5th and 6th of June 2009.

Emily,Mariette,Peter and Kay went to cheer them and the teachers on. Amongst all the activity on the golf course Peter took the opportunity to meet with Ally the principal to discuss leadership and Ally's role in the school.

Simone as always was there giving her wholehearted support.

Another donation that is helping so much.

Thank you Nexus Resourcing for assisting the children of Rooiberg.

Simone hard at work

Read her exciting goals.Great excitement in the school.


My plan for the next few months at Itireleng Secondary School:

Coaching/training:
· I’ll coach every teacher and the principal in how to teach and how to run a school.
· First I want to have a meeting with all the teachers together and discuss what the points of improvement are at school. We have to set goals for the school and for maintenance I’d like Ally to lead this. I will support him in this.
· I also want a meeting with every single teacher to discuss their points good points and points of improvement. Together we will set up an assessment to improve their teaching with short-term goals and some long-term goals.
· Together with Peter Spence I want a meeting with Ally to talk to him about leadership, teaching, organisation, etc. Peter has a lot of experience with running businesses and can teach Ally about this.

o Set a date for a teachers meeting in week 18.
o Set a date for a meeting with Ally and Peter in week 19.
o Make plans with every single teacher. Finish this in week 19.
o Start coaching in week 20, and, if possible for some teachers, in week 19.
o Visit a class of every teacher twice a week.
o Have meetings with the teachers at least once a week about their improvement in reaching their personal goals.

Tuck Shop
· A Tuck Shop is a little shop where learners can buy food and sweets during break.
· Now the teachers don’t really have the time to run the Tuck Shop, because the break is very short and the teachers have to eat themselves.
· I would like to run the Tuck Shop every break and also feed the kids who eat the e’pap from the Tuck Shop.
· I would like to open the Tuck Shop during break and after school. Especially after school I need someone to help me, because I will have to teach computer lessons at Thabakibidu.
· The Tuck Shop already has a perfect location in the school. I would like to do some upgrading; for example a counter, proper boxes for the sweets, bowls/plates and spoons for the e’pap, etc.
· The prices of the sweets and food won’t be too high, so that everyone will be able to pay for it, but it will be enough to raise some funds.
· The money raised in the Tuck Shop will be used to maintain the Tuck Shop and for other projects in the school.

Computer lessons:
· I will keep on teaching computer lessons the way I did this the first two months: every day after school at two o’clock one class will go with me to Thabakibidu for their lessons.
· Itireleng agreed to pay R100 a month for the maintenance of the computers and the use of electricity.
· The learners often work two by two or three by three, because we don’t have enough working computers. I want to make a plan to make them all work again.
· I have to make a plan with the learners; not all of them show up at computer class and sometimes the whole group stays away. I have to find out who still wants to have the lessons and set a date for those learners.
Fundraising:
· The school needs a lot of funds to build and maintain projects and to keep feeding the learners. The projects are:
o E’pap: about 40 learners eat e’pap every day. This costs about R66 (€6,60) per child per month. So in total this is R2640/€ 264 per month. The Rooiberg Tirisano Project (RTP) is donated R1200 every month for e’pap.
o E’pap: the learners now eat straight from the bags the e’pap is in. They need plates or bowls and spoons to eat with. This also needs to be washed every day. We need money to buy bowls/plates, spoons and dish wash equipment or someone to donate this to the school.
o Tuck shop: Everyday learners are able to buy food and sweets at the Tuck Shop. We need money to really make the Tuck Shop a little shop; a counter, proper boxer for the sweets and a board with the costs on it.
o Library: a while ago the building for the library was finished. Now it’s only an empty room. We still need books (reading books and informative books), shelves and someone to teach us a good system to run and maintain the library.
o Maintenance of the computers at Itireleng and Thabakibidu. Now Itireleng pays Thabakibidu R100 a month. We have about 25 computers at Thabakibidu and 17 computers work, but not even properly. We need money to have someone to come over to fix all the computers and to maintain this every few months.
o The teachers are struggling with the rental photocopier. They are allowed to make only 1000 free copies a month, which means 125 copies per teacher. It often happens that the departments sends a test and that the teachers have to make the copies themselves. It would be better if the department would sent more copies, but they don’t. The teacher have to cross the line of 1000 copies a month, but they have to pay a lot of money for that.

Go for it girl. We are behind you!!

Great things are happening!

How time has flown since Simone was dropped in Rooiberg and so much has happened at the school since that day.

From day one she actively engaged not only with the teachers but with the learners as well.The teachers soon tapped in on her strengths and she has had many opportunities to teach the children but more so to encourage the teachers by evaluating their teaching methods and ways of operating.

Simone has been at the school for 2 months now and what an impact she has made.On Friday 20 March Mariette and Emily once again made a trip to Rooiberg this time with a trailer and car packed full of supplies for the school. A feedback meeting was held with the teachers, Simone ,Emily,Mariette and Peter and Kay Spence owners of Chili Pepper IT Solutions who made a special trip to join the meeting.Sue Bromhead and her daughter Bec also visited the school and attended the meeting. They came all the way from Australia.

How wonderful it was to hear all the positive things the teachers had to say about the last 2 months.Challenged they were and thrilled to realise that what Simone has brought to them is growth and new insights.They commented that they have become so much more aware of the importance of being an example to the children in everything that they do and are excited about following this through from day to day.

The learners have become even more excited about the computers they have in the school originally donated by McGaric Technology Corporation as Simone is a pro in this area and their computer skills have increased in leaps and bounds.

Simone is now back in Johannesburg having earned a well deserved rest and the teachers said goodbye to her urging her to return.Ally the principal has even asked her to consider extending her stay after June and this tells it all.

School starts again in mid April and Simone will then start her 2nd lap.

We APPLAUD you Simone and thank you so much!

Simone Vinkenborg from Holland has arrived in Rooiberg!!!! On Sunday 25th Jan 2009 Emily and Mariette got up real early to fetch Simone from the airport and set off in a LOADED Microbus loaned by Carla and Felix Ernst to get her, plus Epap,beads and clothes AND a few other things to the school. Thanks Carla and Felix.

She was heartily welcomed by Priscilla,Jeanette ,Teresa and Mike, folk of the local community who are happy to take her under their wings as she spends 6 months in Rooiberg.

Then onto the school to offload and meet the teachers who were delighted to receive her.Her room had been prepared in the teachers house with new bed and fridge.They achieved making her feel really welcome ,this dutch girl coming from the Netherlands to Africa.

Watch this space for an update.

Epap Delivery

Thank you SA Mercantile for your monthly generous donation for Epap. The pictures tell it all.