Meet John Chauke, a role model for boys in Alex
Rays of Hope is thrilled to welcome John Chauke as a permanent member on our staff team, as he takes on the roles of Gender-Based Violence Field Worker and Boys Support Group Facilitator.
“I believe I got this opportunity because I am persevering, hardworking and eager to learn, and I strive to reach my goals,” he says.
Having joined Rays of Hope in 2020 to help with packing and distributing food parcels, Chauke’s determination and passion for helping others earned him a place in Rays of Hope’s Y.E.S internship programme, designed to give young people real-world, on-the-job work experience.
In his current role, Chauke is directly involved with families in the community and conducts weekly home visits to check in on the well-being of members. He is also involved in gender-based violence education at schools and plays an active role in advocating for the rights of children and families. Building partnerships with other community organisations in Alex, as well as stakeholders and government departments, is a major area of his focus too.
“I learn a lot about others in this role, which is big motivator for me. Children need someone to spend time with them and to give them love. All I want to achieve is to build up young boys, and to be an example to them so that they can be great and responsible men in the future,” says Chauke.
“My hope for Alex is to see brave young people taking big risks to create the futures they deserve, and for better opportunities for the community of Alexandra as a whole,” he concludes.
Why spend your community service hours in Alex?
For high school learners across the country, completing community service hours is a mandatory part of their schooling years, requiring learners to spend their time in aid of and service to others.
Not only is this a way to give young people an edge when it comes to university and job acceptances, but – more importantly – it’s a system that ensures communities like Alexandra receive much-needed goods, services and support. When approached in the right spirit, community service programmes can help make a huge difference in the lives of people in need.
In 2021, the Rays of Hope Community Hours programme for high schools made a significant contribution to our work in Alex. We received:
- 2,256 loaves of sandwiches, equating to 18 048 sandwiches
- 6,624 hot dogs
- 522 party packs
- 5,376 muffins
- 1,650 meals in a bag
- 3,690 packets of fruit
- 76 Christmas gift boxes for children
These incredible contributions were in addition to gifts for volunteers, workbooks put together for our Saturday School, assistance with donations sorting (an often-time-consuming affair!), toiletry hamper donations for special occasions, cakes for birthdays, and Easter eggs over April.
We are proud and grateful for the impact that was made in 2021, and invite you and your school to join our programme and make a real difference this year.
Contact Lindi Nkiti at lindi@RaysofHope.co.za for more information.
Making a difference in the community starts at home
In line with our objective of bringing lasting change to Alex, Rays of Hope is taking proactive steps towards organisational transformation to ensure we are better equipped to understand and meet the needs of the community we serve.
As such our team has just started working through a globally recognised Values-Based Leadership course, facilitated by the Ki Leadership Institute. It is a 10-week training programme dedicated to boosting morale and establishing a more productive and inclusive culture within organisations.
While this has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience for our management team so far, we are excited about the impact this will have on the rest of our organisation, on the work that we do, and eventually, on the people of Alexandra.
Our hope is that we are able to pay our learnings forward in the form of training and workshops that will be facilitated by our staff within the community. This is, of course, a dream that is quite a few years in the making. However, we are working on building the foundations now for this to become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
You or your organisation can help us make this reality and bring true and meaningful transformation to the community of Alex by helping us finance more staff members to participate in the Values-Based Leadership course and start making a difference in their own lives, in their Rays of Hope roles and for Alex residents.
You can donate here and help us bring change and transformation to Alex. For more information, please contact Tracey Peppler at tracey@RaysofHope.co.za, or visit www.kileadershipinstitute.com for more details on the Values-Based Leadership training programme.
Congratulations, Grade R class of 2021!
We are beaming with pride following the graduation of our Grade R class of 2021 – the first class to graduate from the Rays of Hope Hlayisanani ECD centre in Alexandra since the centre was taken over from Save the Children in January 2021.
The Rays of Hope ECD program runs daily from 08:00-15:30 in Alex, and accommodates a total of 60 learners who receive quality pre-primary education and benefit from a well-equipped playground – an important yet rare facility for children in Alex.
“It was such a sad but proud moment for the teachers to see their “babies” go off into the real world,” says Bafana Mohale, Education Programmes Manager at Rays of Hope. “They have all been placed in different schools in Alex, depending on the home language each child speaks.”
The first five years of a child’s life are an incredibly important time for building the right foundations to promote social, cognitive, emotional and language skills that children need to be able to learn, perform well academically, and become contributing members of society and the economy.
In fact, according to a recent amendment to the Schools Act, it is now compulsory for children to attend school from Grade R. Rays of Hope welcomes this change, and hopes to give even more children from Alex a better chance at a brighter future.
Keeping the ECD programmes running successfully, however, can be challenging. According to Mohale: “Our learners pay R200 per month, but this does not even cover their meals for the month. So, we raise funds for literally everything, starting with teacher salaries, stationery for learners and teachers, toiletries, teaching aids, and maintenance of the ECD.”
You can help us continue these programmes and make a real and sustainable difference in the lives of children in Alex with a small donation or monthly sponsorship – just R100 can buy a child a school uniform or provide appropriate, good quality nutrition necessary for a child to learn, play and develop.
Make your donation or pledge your support through a sponsorship here.
