February News

A number of years ago a friend of mine, who pastors a church in a community where alcohol abuse is rife, made the following comment; “January is panel-beating month for us”. He then explained that so many people in the community fall apart during the Christmas/New Year holiday time, spending too much, drinking too much etc. that January is then spent putting people together again (hence “panel-beating”). At Themba Training January is also a bit of a “panel-beating” time for us. Many of our students, who own micro-businesses, spend too much money in December. Numbers participate in the traditional annual “trek” to the Eastern Cape where families expect them to entertain and buy gifts. They then return to Cape Town with no money, and spend the next month trying to sell to people who are in exactly the same situation as they are.

During January the decline in numbers of regular traders and their little shops is obvious when driving around the townships where we operate. The only ones occupying their usual spots are the fruit & veg traders. The requests for money can be overwhelming and January remains a challenging month for the Micro MBA training side of our project. We have received a new intake of students at our facility at Mfesane, Old Crossroads and once again Patson will entertain many with his unique style of teaching!

At our Bellville premises Malibongwe has continued with the PC classes. We are starting the year with 2 classes doing the Introduction to PC course. We have been supported by Global BPO and Jana Loock ,in particular, has been an absolute blessing. She has put together a very professional, high-class training manual and we are so grateful for her support.

We have now (hopefully) submitted the final forms for Themba Training to be a fully accredited SASETTA training provider. Lionel is itching to start his Security Training classes. Please pray with us that this last hurdle will be crossed in record time!

Finally – Malibongwe became a dad! Liam (little boy, weighed 3.6kg) was born 23 January. Hopefully he will be as good looking as his mom!