New centre opens at St John’s
Not only was the main aim of the function to bless the building but it was also an opportunity for the donors and friends to see what has been done with the money and items they had donated.
The new St Joseph’s Learning and Skills Centre was officially opened and blessed by Bishop Joseph Sandri during a ceremony that took place at St John’s Mission last week.
Sr Anece Salay (administrator at St John’s) addressed the guests and said that after much planning and begging for donations, the new building’s foundations was dug in February 2015. “It did not seem possible to start the building due to the high costs, but Bishop Joseph (Diocese of Witbank) told me in no uncertain terms to go ahead and promised that he would seek funding from overseas and that “together we could do it”.
Sr Anece addressed the invited guests and donors at the function and explained why the new building was necessary. During the last couple of years it became necessary to move the children that received home schooling out of the rooms that were in the dormitories. The rooms were needed to admit more children that were in need of care. The administrative staff also came to the realisation that due to some children being in the process of reunification with families, they needed to be exposed to the local area and thus started to place them in public schools.
“At present 24 children are attending local schools,” she said. However, there are children at the centre who have special needs. “We need to educate these children somehow to survive in life, having many obstacles to overcome,” she said, adding that the need would now be better met in the new learning and skills centre. “These children not only have to be taught to read and write but need to be taught some skills so that they can sustain themselves in their communities one day.”
The centre will eventually have an arts, crafts, sewing, computer, stimulus and reading room, equipped to meet the needs of not just these but all the children. It also houses the crèche where the children from the ages of four to seven will be prepared for school in a grade R and RR class.
Bishop Joseph was excited about blessing the centre and after first blessing the St Joseph’s statue he went from room to room and blessed it with holy water. Then followed the whole area around the building. He thanked the sisters and staff for their dedication and for making another dream come true.
Not only was the main aim of the function to bless the building but it was also an opportunity for the donors and friends to see what has been done with the money and items they had donated. Although most of the funds was raised overseas from donors in Italy, Spain, Germany, Slovakia and the USA local donors also assisted in small ways.
Apart from the money used for erecting the building, they were able to put in ceiling fans, a security system, shelves in the library, office furniture and appliances in the kitchen. A special thank you goes out to Chris and Sanet de Nysschen of Mount Olive, Scholtz and Yolandi Kruger of KCS Computers and Signage, Louise van Greunen, Laerskool Laeveld and Peter Owen of the Phoenix Hotel.
The local Rotary Club also managed to organise school desks and chairs through the Rotary Club in Middelburg which is used in the different rooms. The facility serves as an after-school centre in the afternoons when the children come for a study period and to do home work. Many of the rooms are not in use at the moment as they are still trying to raise money for the items needed. There is also a possibility in the future that the centre could be used to teach skills to community members.
If you want or feel you can assist in any way, please contact Sr Anece on 082-092-6444 or Lynette Spencer on
082-473-1570.
