Since 26 March 2020, South Africa has been in national lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. With Anna Foundation’s after-school projects closed temporarily, our teams have been working on ways to best access our students in their homes to provide ongoing tutelage despite the physical absence. The majority of learner’ families lack digital connectivity in their homes and tend to access internet on smartphones using pay-as-you-go data. For this reason, we started off by sharing short, low-resolution...
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell While winter may conjure up feelings of cosiness, warmth and over-indulgence, the stark reality of the upcoming colder months is that many South Africans in vulnerable communities are without adequate clothing to protect them from the chill. Winter 2020 marks an especially challenging time for all South Africans...
I hope this message finds you safe and well! While we all adapt to a new way of living brought on by COVID-19, you may know that our after school projects are closed, which means that we are not able to reach our learners physically until further notice. These unforeseen circumstances have resulted in some inspired actions from our facilitator teams, who, over and above developing next term’s curriculum, are also working hard to create a library of short, ‘education-based’ video...
Our Life Skills Programme is exciting and fun and this term we have had many laughs together. An important lesson learnt is that “we do not laugh at each other, but with each other!” The concept of using play activities, dance, music and enactment to learn about the world and process life situations is not new. Humans have been doing this through the centuries. Children also do this in a very natural way. Unfortunately the environments in which some children find...
January The first training session in January started with an icebreaker leading up to educating facilitators on team work and setting goals for the year. The main focus was on classroom management, discipline and the role of facilitators in the programme. Facilitators soon realised their required contribution in making the programme a success and were shown how classroom management and discipline contribute to the provision of a better afterschool environment. They were given an example of a lesson plan and spent...
This year, we added new goals to our sports program for both facilitators and school learners. We are as passionate about developing our sport program, as the learners are at improving in school! While our facilitators have the tools and skills to perform what is required, we all benefit from monthly training sessions to offer guidance to take on any new challenges that arise. The facilitators play an instrumental part in cementing the Foundation’s structure. We supply them with material to support...
It may not have been the Cape Epic 2020 that everyone was waiting for, but there is always a light shining somewhere if you look for it. Following a recent skills training session with racing champion, Ariane Lüthi, it appears that the riding bug has truly bitten for the group of Anna Foundation learners from Neethlingshof who attended. In particular, three young ladies, Kelly De Villiers, Grade 8, Lee Kay Cloete and Junay Williams, Grade 9, had been particularly anxious...
Every year, the streets of Stellenbosch fill up with new faces from all over the world as artists and visitors arrive to celebrate the renowned Woordfees Arts Festival. This year, Anna Foundation received a very special invitation from a special young lady, 11-year old Isabella de Vries, to attend the production ‘Jakkals en Wolf’ at the HB Thom Theatre with her and her mom, Corrie. For the children from Rouxbyn...
The dusty trails of G-spot in Stellenbosch shone a blur of yellow as Swiss cycling great Ariane Lüthi put Anna Foundation learners through their paces during a fun mountain bike technical skills session. No stranger to the non-profit organisation, 2020 marks the third consecutive year that Lüthi has offered up her spare time and expertise to ride with learners from the Anna Foundation. Five-time Cape Epic winner and Spur Schools MTB League Ambassador, Ariane impressed and inspired the 11 students from Neethlingshof Wine...
Saturday 25th January kickstarted our race calendar for 2020 and children from Simonsig joined in for some Trailfun action in the 5km fun-run category at Simonsig Wine Estate! With the cooler weather offering much relief for runners, the event was a weekend highlight for our team – made extra special by the cheesy medals which were awarded to all finishers! Thanks to our volunteer support runners for your ongoing commitment which helps us make these events a regular treat for our...