Building a Brighter Future

Catch up with the March 2024 Highlights for the Genesis School Investment Program

We are so grateful for Greg Bradford and his team from Lake Pointe Church. In the month of March, the team facilitated two leadership trainings at Merlewood Secondary and Nobamba High. Some of the topics they spoke about were on Identity; having guard rails for your life, sex, self-harm and setting goals. The students from the team shared their testimonies with our students which was very important for them to hear. Some of our students have this idea that only they experience temptation or self-harm etc. Hearing it from other students and how God got them through it, they could really connect better with each other and have meaningful conversations around those topics.

We had our first Holiday Bible Club at Hlanganani P. School. Our maximum number of kids that have attended were 160.We had a local team from Kloof-Open Skies Church join us and they were a group of 10. With all the volunteers, I assigned them with different duties everyday so that they can experience the different stations and also get to know everyone on the team. Despite not reaching our goal of 200 kids, it was still a success.

We attended the workshop for Project Exodus for facilitators which was very insightful and provided useful information which we can put into practice, now that we have our teens group at Merlewood Primary. The team and I have discussed our triggers and mistakes in how we run group and we have taken advice from Pastor Mark and Jono on how we can improve with a deeper understanding moving forward. It Is challenging us to become better facilitators and explore different ways of running group. We identified learners that need one-on-one sessions and referred them to Marcella. Shannon and Leon joined their first session last week Friday and Leon shared with the group about how he feels like a failure.

At R.A.Engar, the kids are enjoying bible studies with us although they have the tendency to forget the days that we are at the school. The grade 3’s remembers the stories from last year and are able to explain it to the newcomers. The Latitude leadership academy will be joining us from the month of April every Tuesday and Thursday at R.A.Engar till the end of the year. They have showed commitment and enthusiasm at the HBC, so I look forward to working with them this year.

Group sessions at Murchison have kicked off with close to 20 kids and they are between the ages of 12 to 15 years old. During our leadership talks, the boys are always quick to answer and participate. In our life skill sessions with the girls, it is very difficult to get them to contribute to the discussion. It is a work in progress.

At Hlanganani, we spent a week focusing on bullying and so many kids were brave enough to come forward and share their story. Most of the kids who were bullied are now bullying others. If it is not addressed, this could lead to a domino effect. Name calling and teasing has not only become about your appearance but it has also become personal. Kids are teased about not having parents and being called an orphan.

Nobamba High School has become very co-operative which is progress from last year. The kids are very nice and respectful towards us.Last week Friday we discussed short term and long-term goals and some of the goals that they wrote down were: to make my parent/grandmother/sibling proud of me, to pass grade 9, to have a family etc.

Our Wishlist:

• Magazines 

• Arts and craft 

• Sports equipment

Student Counsellor-Marcella King

Progress

• The Project Exodus Training clarified everything and provided answers to my questions about counselling and facilitation. It has helped me in my academic, professional, and personal life. Change is essential to recovery, and with enough time and consistency, it is possible to affect mental and emotional change in any child.

• Our Project Exodus for teens at Merlwood Primary is having an effect on the children because it is allowing them to open up, something they wouldn't normally do or have the chance to do. Additionally, there has been positive developments in the one-on-one sessions with the children in this group.

• I've been doing home visits with social workers Zinhle Shezi and Zanele Mendu in an effort to learn more about the clients and the impact their home environment has on them, as well as to talk to parents and guardians about situations that have come up.

• We had a powerful combined session with the kids , the discussion was on 1 Peter 5:7 , which says to cast all of your cares - that is , all your troubles , anxieties and concerns on him once and for all . We practiced identifying and letting go of anything in our lives that is preventing the kids from moving forward as the past has a tendency of affecting our present situations/ life.

• The Holiday Bible Club was a huge success. Leading a group and engaging with the kids in all the activities was incredibly fulfilling, and every day the school was filled with the overpowering presence of God.

• This month's challenges included parents of clients who required one-on-one counselling refusing to bring their children to counselling sessions for a variety of reasons. However, this issue is being resolved by reaching out to the parents and outlining the significance of counselling for their children. Children are frequently reporting feeling unsafe to open up which can lead to behavioral and anger management concerns.

• I was contacted by Jai Hind Primary to work with their students because they have a history of self-harming among other issues which need to be addressed.

• In addition, I received a call from Hlobisile Mbele from the Department of Social Development enquiring if we held awarenesses/events since Nkonka High School has been receiving a high number of suicidal cases from children. I later confirmed that we as Genesis would be interested in lending a hand to the students at the school.

Our February and March Statistics

6 new referrals

Total - 15 clients

Merlewood Primary: SafePlace (6)

-1 suicidal attempt/family problems

-1 bereavement

-1 behavior / anger management

-3 family / school problems

Merlewood Secondary: SafePlace (2)

-2 behavior /family problems

Mahlubi SafePlace (1)

-1 suicidal attempt/family problem