Entries by Rachel Scott

Teaching literacy classes to physically disabled and mentally handicapped.
We have now been teaching basic literacy and numeracy classes in a squatters camp for 17 months and we have beginners and absolute beginners classes several times a week.

We have a list of 70 of the neediest children in the Diepsloot informal settlement. We take them food three times a week. Some of the children tell
us that they would otherwise just have a drink of water before they go to bed to try to fill up their stomachs.
We are also trying to help improve their living conditions a little with blankets and basic necessities.

The Orphanage Crèche in the Informal Settlement of "Deipsloot".
This is for children who are either orphans or whose parents cannot afford for them to pay to go to nursery school even though they both work and have no one to supervise their children.
One three year old girl had set fire to the shack while her parents were at work, which highlighted the need to take action.
We have been able to give 40 of them some brand new cloths and also a large quantity of second hand clothes. We have fitted our crèche with tables, chairs, toys, educational equipment and a playground. The children receive two nutritious meals a day.

by Rachel Scott , Johannesburg, South Africa
You and I probably take it for granted that we can read and write, but imagine being unable to read a newspaper, unable to fill in a form, unable to read directions on a packet, unable to even sign your own name. For nine million adults in South Africa this is a daily reality. And most of these are people who have suffered a great deal in their lives. Many of the adults we work with were forced to stop their education at a very early age due to poverty, being abandoned by their parents or having to live with their grandmothers in the so called "homelands" set up by the Apartheid regime, while their parents left home in an oftentimes fruitless quest for employment.
Many started work selling vegetables or cigarettes at 8 or 9 years old. Click here to read some of the stories of our students.

Local companies have donated all the fencing, poles,concrete etc we need to build our "mustard seed" project teaching unemployed women to grow their own food.
This has taken a great deal of work and has not been without its setbacks but we know it is going be tremendously worthwhile.

Performing Clown Shows for schools in deprived areas.

Our Educational Christian Clown shows have been enjoyed by thousands of school children throughout the Johannesburg area.
It has been presented in nurseries, primary and secondary schools, squatters' camps and the Alexandra Township bringing the a positive message about sharing, having a healthy diet, concentrating on school work along with a strong gospel message. Thousands of children have prayed with us to receive Jesus into their hearts.