The Norfolk Venda Educational Project News:
Big News: We are hoping to assist another deprived school in South Africa called Mphigalale Primary which was brought to our attention during Philip and Patricia Jepson's recent visit to South Africa.
June 24th 2011
Philip was asked to give a short talk about the Project to the Norfolk Branch of the Institute of Directors who had previously given us a generous donation.
May 20th 2011
A very successful Charity Golf Day was held at Eaton Golf Club, Norwich in beautiful weather. As a result we now have funds to complete the Gardens Project. Sincere thanks go to the 64 golfers who participated together with some very generous donors.
26th April 2011
We are looking forward to a Charity Golf Day to be held at Eaton Golf Club, Norwich on May 20th 2011. We are receiving generous support and the funds raised will be used to complete the garden project.
27th February 2011
Patricia Jepson, Philip Jepson flew to South Africa and with Solly Nkhumeleni stayed in Thohoyandou and visited the four schools, Tshadzume, Tshanowa and Khalilali Primary schools and Ramugondo Secondary school. The beneficial changes and ongoing excellent progress they are making is testament to the assistance we have been able to give them.
There is an SA Government initiative to improve childrens’ nutrition and this visit was made to help establish school gardens to grow vegetables which can be used in school lunches, sold to raise funds and used as a teaching aid. Each school was given a set of gardening tools and we bought a motorised cultivator which will be shared by the schools. We will develop this project by providing funding to enable the school grounds to be levelled and prepared for the vegetable gardens as well as recreational areas. We will also fund the purchasing of children's swings, climbing frames, goal posts for the playgrounds.
We were asked by the Local Education Manager to visit another deprived school, Mphigalale Primary. We hope to be able to raise funds to help them.
June 2010
Princes Street United Reformed Church, Norwich made us their "Good Cause" for the month of June and, as a result, sent us a very generous donation.
November 2009
Ceri, Michelle, Philip and Tricia visited all the schools accompanied by by Dr Solly Nkhumeleni. We very much enjoyed their generous hospitality and some excellent performances by the talented learners.
Tshadsume school now have a new kitchen where the children’s lunch is prepared.
Tshanowa school. A new kitchen is under construction and shortly this school will have an adequate water supply of purified water. (This water will be made available to local villagers)
Ramugondo school. An excellent water supply has been installed from a bore-hole. Offices for the Principal and teachers have been built and furnished.
An Opening Ceremony was held involving local dignitaries, teachers, learners, local inspectorate and the Trustees.
October 2009
Following presentations by Ceri and Michelle links have been made between Tshanowa Lower Primary School and Caister Infant and Junior Schools in Norfolk. We are very grateful for the generous donations made by these schools.
April 3rd 2009
Nick Farrow, the Chairman of Norfolk IOD, presented a cheque for £750 to Trustee Patricia Jepson.
Decenber 2008
We would like to thank Norfolk Institute of Directors for making a very generous donation to our project.
December 2008
Ceri was invited to speak about our project to the Norfolk Headteachers' Association who made a generous donation to assist our project.
December 2008
Ceri and Michele visited the schools and are very pleased and encouraged with progress. An oyster mushroom growing project started in 2007 was aborted due to an invasion of rats. The new building and the much needed perimeter fence have been completed. A survey has also been completed in order to test the viability of supplying water to Tshanowa School.
November 2008
During this month Ceri and Michele visited the three schools with whom they have been working, to check on progress that has been made over the year. Considerable progress has been made at all three schools thanks to all the donations we have received.
Tuesday June 19th 2008
Philip was invited to speak about our project at the East of England, Business in the Community Gala Awards Dinner held at Audley End House. We raised well over £1300 and would like to take this opportunity to thank those present for their very generous response.
Sunday May 18th 2008
We joined a walk for charity organised by the Rotary Club of the Norwich Marchesi called 'The Secret Norwich Trail'. It was a very enjoyable walk with competition clues to be answered along the route. The final amount raised was £780, thank you to all those who took part or contributed.