NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2015 Name of project: Eagle’s Nest Day Care centre.

The organisation was established in February 2014 after we as the founders have been working as volunteers at a children’s home for a couple of years. We became aware of the need in our community for affordable and quality early childhood services, since we live in a very poor community. We started the organisation with various projects in mind and the centre is our first project for the organisation. A local pastor from a church in the community started to build a centre, but realise that he does not have the resources and knowledge to continue the project. He contacted us and we came to an agreement to lease the building from the church and to start our own day care centre. We are totally dependent on donations at this moment because we are still in the process of applications for funding from the government. Since the applications take a while to be completed we are not able to provide meals and still need lot of things for our centre to be completed. We have come to realise that our space is also not enough. Everyday people still come and ask a place for their children in the school. Since we are situated in the community, parents is saving a lot of money on transportation for their kids. It is very dangerous for kids to walk to school so the parents have to pay for taxis, which they sometimes cannot afford. There is still some things we need to make our environment a happy and safe place for the kids.

Jungle gym

We currently to not have any outside play equipment for the kids so they just have to be creative. A jungle gym will help us very much because it will help with the gross motor development.

Toilets and kitchen

We currently are using the church’s toilets which is not fit for children from 2 – 5 years. It is also not situated practically especially during the winter season. We are also using the church kitchen and therefore we cannot put our things in the cupboards or in their fridge or use their stove. We are doing the best we can at this moment and are putting all of our stuff in our office.

Extra classrooms

Since we have a long waiting list we are really trusting the Lord for extra mobile classrooms to provide space for those children. The parents are really desperate for a place because it is expensive for them to leave a child with a nanny or the grandparents are too old to look after the children.

Learning material

We are truly blessed and thankful to our dear friends Herman and Hill Baars for donating a lot of paper and stationary to us the last time they were visiting South Africa. It is because of their generous donation that we were able to keep the children busy with activities when the school started. We appreciate anything that we receive because we know that it is from the Lord and we are thankful.

Fencing

The fence around the centre is not in a good condition anymore and it is very easy for stray dogs or even criminals to enter the premises. Ceiling and floors We do not have ceiling or anything to cover the floors on a permanent basis, so during the summer the classrooms are very hot for the kids and during the winter it will be very cold and especially when it rains the children will not be able to hear the teacher speak. We are trusting the Lord for all of the above needs and we know He will provide in our needs to make the school a happy and safe place for the children. We ask that you keep us in your prayers for all these needs please.

Future projects

We are praying that the Lord will provide for this project. We have lot of kids older than 13 who have learning barriers and they cannot cope in school so they become drop outs. Some of them cannot read or write or does not even know how to use a bank. We have a wonderful lady who used to work with special needs kids and also was a HIV counsellor and have lots of experience with teens. She is willing to run the project for us. Our hope and prayer is that we will be able to start this project very soon.

Afterschool project

Since we have a new curriculum in our schools, our children have to do a lot of assignments and tasks. Most or all of our children are not fortunate enough to have internet access in their homes or the necessary resources to even type their assignments for school. We came up with the idea to run an aftercare programme for children who are in school to help them with their homework or to provide internet and computers for them so that they can improve the quality of their schoolwork and have a sense of pride in their work. Our goal is that all our children will have a love for school and to learn so that they can achieve more in life as their parents and grandparents. We need to break the cycle amongst our kids of just accepting their circumstances and not have any dreams or goals or hope for a better future. We are trusting the Lord for computers since we need a few to help us to fulfil this need.

Soup kitchen

Lots of space to setup more classrooms Children busy with activities No ceiling yetSoup kitchen Our hope and prayer is also in future to have a soup kitchen in the community every day. We really hope that we can start this soon especially during the winter. We live in a very poor community and for some children and elderly people it is sometimes their only meal for the day. We were very fortunate that on Christmas day last year we were able to hand out food and presents for the kids, due to donations from loving and caring people. That was when we saw the need and really want to do that on an everyday basis. The Lord has really brought us far since February last year. It was not easy to leave a life of comfort to follow the Lord’s path, but He has a greater and higher purpose for our lives and if it is for us to serve Him by serving His people than we do it with all the joy and peace in our hearts. We trust Him for everything and He has not yet forsaken us. We are privilege to have people who is willing to help us on our mission to help make a change in our community and to established a culture of lifelong learning in our children’s lives. Without many people generous hearts, prayers and love for the Lord we are not able to do this. We are blessed to have prayer partners, financial partners and even people like our staff who are working for free without any salaries to be part of Eagles Nest Learning and Development Institute. Our hope and prayer is that every person who may read this may have a blessed and purposeful life.

If you would like to get involved or make a contribution towards our projects, please free to contact us. Please use the following banking details for any financial contributions. God Bless.

E-mail: info@eaglesnestladi.co.za

Contact nr: +27 73 938 2268

STANDARDBANK

SWIFT CODE: SBZAZAJJ

ACCOUNT NAME: EAGLES NEST LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

ACCOUNT NR: 277112168

BRANCH CODE: 033012

ACCOUNT TYPE: SAVINGS