News Archives
LATEST NEWS UPDATE FROM GOD'S GOLDEN ACRE KHAYELIHLE - 19th December 2007To read the full news update from Heather:
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Young Zulu Warriors DVD.
A Norwegian family who are spending some time in South Africa have been helping Heather to produce the Young Zulu Warriors DVD. Here their children Solveig and Astrid will post progress reports and accounts of their experience with God's Golden Acre Khayelihle.
To see full updates please click on the dates below:
A VISIT FROM A RESIDENT OF GOD'S GOLDEN ACRE KHAYELIHLE - 14th February 2008
We visited GGA in 2005 after sponsoring a young man named Menzi Zulu. We got to know this personable young 13 year old quite well during a two week stay at GGA. A visit in 2006 convinced us that a visit to the UK for Menzi was on the cards. GGA worked a miracle in organising his passport and flight. All we needed to do was pay for the ticket and sit back. He arrived a week before Christmas and stayed for four weeks. We are volunteers at a special school, and as we are not young, the school provided company and friendship of youngsters of his own age. He was a great hit, to the extent that he was presented with a class photograph with Menzi in pride of place.
Christmas was spent with our children and grandchildren who were all impressed with Menzi's manners and behaviour, reminding us of the 50's. Packing his case to go back, his first items were a football and football boots in his school colours. He touched many hearts and was a great credit to GGA.
We hope he can come again soon.
Hugh and Beryl Duffy of Bedford
Fundraising Cycle Ride from London to Paris - Guy Ashworth - 13th November 2007
Guy Ashworth cycled from London to Paris in June 2007 in aid of GGA, raising £2000 from sponsors in the process.
The 300km trip took him and his cousin, Liz Touzel, three days and they endured some of the summer's most changeable weather en route.
Guy chose to support GGA after a member of his church went to work there.
He said:
"The trip was mainly enjoyable - despite the last few hours battling the traffic into Paris in torrential rain - and was certainly an experience to remember. I am very grateful for the support of my sponsors and my family who made it possible."
Jude Law and Sadie Frost launch a major initiative with young Zulus - Press Release - 31st May 2007
A major initiative by young Zulus to fight the HIV-Pandemic in a vast rural corner of South Africa is being launched this summer by actor Jude Law and Sadie Frost.
Jude Law and Sadie Frost will introduce the first performance, at South Africa House in London, of the Young Zulu Warriors, who are staging the musical drama 'Thula Sizwe'in 20 performances throughout the UK in June/July 2007. Jude will also introduce a later performance at The Clapham Grand Theatre on 2nd July. Sadie Frost will introduce a Gospel Concert by the cast at St. Mary's Church, Edgware Road on 25th July at 7pm.
For full details press release
LATEST NEWS UPDATE FROM GOD'S GOLDEN ACRE KHAYELIHLE - 1st February 2007
To read the full news update from Heather:
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Young Zulu Warriors Tour - presenting Musical Drama 'Thula Sizwe' - June/July 2007
Fifteen performances throughout the UK.
Venues and dates to be advised.
Contacts:
Scotland: Susan Westwood - 01786 833 728 Susan Westwood
England and Wales: Talitha Butterfield - 07870 644 076 GGATour
Dominique LeVack - 07738 506 575 Dominique LeVack
TV4LIFE Advertisement - 17th October 2006
The following appears in the next issue of TV4LIFE who have kindly allowed us to use their graphics to reach our faithful supporters of God's Golden Acre, thus enabling us to improve the lives of our vulnerable children.
View advertisement
Graphic design for advertisement created by www.tmhtelemedia.co.uk
Heather's Diary - 13th October 2006Heather is travelling the UK arranging venues for the next tour of The Young Zulu Warriors' performance of her musical production 'Thula Sizwe'. This is planned for mid-June in Germany and The Netherlands, and the last few days of June and the whole of July in England, Scotland and Wales, with over twenty concerts taking place. The full programme will be posted on the website as soon as it is completed.
Whilst here this Autumn Heather will be giving addresses and holding speaking engagements, will be attending a Celebrity Gala in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is the Guest Speaker at Princethorpe College Prizegiving at the Spa Centre, Leamington, on 3rd November. Three speaking engagements will take place in Bournemouth.
Heather's visit
Heather Reynolds will shortly be visiting Germany and the Netherlands to set up a Tour of The Young Warriors, proposed for June 2007. On 19th October she will be over here arranging venues for The Young Warriors throughout the UK.
She is due to present the prizes at Princethorpe College Prize Day, which will take place at The Spa Centre in Leamington Spa on Friday 3rd November, and will also be giving Television and Radio interviews.
More detail to follow when available.
Awards
The Celebrities Guild of Great Britain awarded Heather Reynolds the 'Unsung Heroes' Award at the 23rd Gala Evening held at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London on Sunday, 13th November 2005. She was introduced by Michael Buerk and David Jacobs.
Heather Reynolds in England Nov 2005
During Heather's visit she appeared at the following venues
The Dominion Centre, London
The Living Branch Church, Sudbury, Suffolk
Dynamic Ministries, London
Grace International Ministries, London
New Life Church, East Grinstead, Sussex
Gods Golden Acre Newsletter Issue 4. December 2005
A message from Heather Reynolds, God's Golden Acre Founder/ Director.
The children are all doing well thanks to your marvellous support. Little Mbali is eleven months old now, and it is such a blessing to see how, when it had seemed impossible for her to survive, she has responded and flourished through love and care. It makes everything worthwhile and reminds us why we are doing and what we are doing. Mavu is about to start his third year of teacher training and has just got his Code 10 drivers licence. We are very proud of him.
Zanele too is continuing her secondary education in preparation to train to be a teacher. It is very rewarding that these young people are entering into society through being nurtured at God's Golden Acre.
Khetie, Sizwe and Chummy Mthalane are travelling via England to Norway to stay with Marianne and Vibeke and their sponsor families for the holiday season. This is an amazing opportunity for these children and we thank their families for making this possible.
The Young Zulu Warriors are going to Europe for a tour performing 'Sizwe'- A Musical Drama.
They open in Munich on 17th March through to Hamburg on 30th and then move to The Netherlands for four concerts 1st to 7th April. The Warriors will return home and I will continue on to Chicago on 8th April, then to Los Angeles and New York for one month, until 15th May 2006 helping to set up Friends of GGA USA, and promoting my biography 'God's Golden Acre'
Wishing you a blessed Christmas and thinking of all of you at this time.
Heather Reynolds.
Myrtle Venter's turn to tell us a bit about herself, the project and role
My name is Myrtle Venter and I've worked at GGA since January 2004. My husband Petrus also works here. He is involved with Nansindlela Training Centre. I've taken on a variety of roles since I've been at GGA. Currently I'm the Project Manager for Khayelihle.
My dream for the children at Khayelihle is that they have a stable and nurturing environment where they can feel at home. I love each child dearly but sometimes it's a tough job when they get up to mischief. I'm developing the counselling and vocational training programme at the moment as well as preparing for Christmas. The vocational training programme is especially important as I realise how quickly the children are growing and will finish their schooling.
When asked recently what I particularly enjoyed about my job, I realised it was the whole package. We are a strong team like a family and I really feel I have over 90 children to be proud of.
2005 at GGA
2005 has been a mixed year for us. There have been many, many blessings but also some heart' breaking moments. To our great sadness, Victor, our driver, died unexpectedly on 1st October 2005. Victor is remembered for his smile, easy-going nature, natty dress sense and fanatical following of Kaiser Chiefs' soccer team. GGA attended his funeral en masse and our sympathies go to his family, including his 4 children. Many of our staff and children have also suffered multiple bereavements. We have all attended many funerals and cried many tears this year.
Our 'Friends of God's Golden Acre' in Holland, UK and Norway have continued to support us in many ways. Through fundraising, promoting our child sponsorship programme and spreading the word about the situation in South Africa and the work we do at GGA, they enable us to continue. We would truly struggle to survive without all their hard work. You are too numerous to mention but please know that we value you immensely.
At present we are establishing Friends of GGA USA and Germany.
From children's sponsors to funders to our supporters at 'Friends of God's Golden Acre' to working holiday groups, we've enjoyed welcoming many people in 2005. We look forward to continuing these friendships in 2006.
Rosetta and her team have been working hard to develop our training facilities at Nansindlela in Inchanga. We have almost completed the renovations to the main training centre. We are now upgrading the accommodation block. We have also kick-started our income generating project to help cover our overheads. We have bought 200 broiler chickens and expect to show a profit within 8 weeks with purchases of new chickens every 2 weeks.
Rosetta has been applying for accreditation for GGA. She is in the process of developing training materials to this end. Some of our staff members have completed their first course in general facilitation skills.
Planting has begun for our 5 year essential oils programme. The seedlings are currently being nurtured and the land is being prepared. We have started a vegetable garden at Nansindlela with the objective of supplying families in desperate need, but also to generate income. So you can see that the team have been exceptionally busy.
Our working holiday programme has grown from 2005 to 2006. This year we met Peter Ahn and the Metro Community Church and we enjoyed seeing Jeffrey and Charles again with a new group of Japanese students. In 2006 we will be pleased to welcome them both back along with new groups from the UK with Nick Bailey, and from the USA with Greg Chute. This programme enables us to carry out a variety of building work projects, including new houses for vulnerable children, pre-schools and building maintenance.
Thanks to Peter Ahn and his church, we have been able to expand into a new area, Tugela Ferry in Msinga. The need in this area is great but it's a logistical challenge, as it's quite a distance from us. We have started with sponsorship for 10 families.
We have been able to develop our counselling programme for the children at Khayelihle with the assistance of Richard Rogers Partnership. Many of our children have endured highly traumatic experiences and need professional help to assist them in dealing with this. Through a variety of programmes, we have been able to help them to overcome their difficulties and express their feelings in a healthy way.
Our sponsorship programme continues to grow from strength to strength. There are many arms to this. We have sponsors for our children at Khayelihle who contribute towards the living costs for each child. Some sponsors can afford to pay the entire school fee for a child. In outreach we have child and family sponsors. The family sponsorship is a new concept where people can sponsor a family and their schooling at a higher commitment, rather than only one child.
The volunteer programme has also really grown this year. We are now blessed with more applications than we have places for. Many volunteers are staying for 9 months and over. We have a mix of people of many cultures and much variety of life experience. We range in age from 18 to 65. These factors have all increased the stability for the children and projects we serve
Another exciting development has been the opening of our resource centre. We were blessed when American volunteer, Dorothy Kennett, came to join us. She did extensive fundraising before her arrival. We now have a well-equipped library at Khayelihle. It has been a great pleasure to see the change in the children's attitude towards reading. Whereas before, many of them regarded books as school-work, they are now reading for pleasure.
Dorothy also refurbished our homework room so that the children have a comfortable environment in which to work after school. The Christmas holidays are about to start. During the last few days a lot of volunteers, aunties and gogos have attended school functions and prize givings. Most of our children have done very well and made good progress. Some have received awards for outstanding achievements in reading, soccer, cricket, cross-country and Zulu dance. In all, 2005 has been a successful academic year with lots of fun extra-curricular activities such as sports day and school outings.
Three children have been placed with us on a temporary basis whilst their situation is investigated. We said a sad goodbye to volunteers Jonas, Lizzie, Kristi, Lisa, Dorothy, Libby, Kate, Leighann, Debbie C, Lindsey W, Hannah T, Rachel W, Ben, Vania, David S, David W, Hannah B, Lynsey M, and Aisleen. A warm welcome to many new volunteers: Hanna P, Caroline W, Julia S, Ulli, Jan-Martin, Carolin B, David, Tilman, Astrid, Tamara, Stefan, Dominik, Brian, Mark, Ines, Andy, Holger, Johannes, Jan B, Jamie, and return volunteers Yoyo, Ruth, Lauren, Marie, Gael, Poppy and Sandra. European summer tends to be our time of big change for volunteers. Many thanks to all of them.
It can be a difficult time as everyone adjusts. Our team of caregivers has also changed. Charity, and Thoko have left us and Thandi and Thandisile have joined the team. Bhekinkhosi has recently joined us as a driver. And welcome back to Mary and Dane.
We have so many needs! Please support us in any way you can. In Africa a little goes a long way. Please also keep us in your prayers. Christmas is a crisis time for us as many of our budgets draw to a close. As mentioned in previous newsletters, the rise in fuel prices has had a detrimental affect upon us. We are struggling to make ends meet. Your support continues to be invaluable to us.
