Wow, I need to catch up! I'll post more about the weekend later, and I'll start with Monday!
Monday, we met at the coffee shop with Aletia, the new CEO of Monte Christo Miqlat. I remember Aletia from the food center from previous years so it is nice to see her in this new position. We met for a lovely breakfast (as you'll see pictures, of course), and she gave us an overview of the organization as it is now since it has gone through some recent changes with the merging of Miqlat & Monte Christo Ministries.
For those of you who are not familiar with Monte Christo Miqlat, they have five strategic focus areas: Bowy House (our Tuesday spot), Food center (they are now feeding 9000 children across 4 regions), community centers in Mbekweni + Paarl East (while promoting social entrepreneurship), the homeless, and the coffee shop. The mission includes sustainably helping and empowering those in the community who are in need. They focus on partnerships to share resources and work together to fulfill the mission.
They are doing an amazing job here. Check out just a few of the stats from last year (2011):
- 65 homeless put in jobs each month
- 275 homeless fed per month
- 889,200 meals served
- 68,400 school holiday meals served
- 2,500 children coached and fed weekly
Then, we went on a tour of the area with Francisco, who is always energetic and a load of fun! There is never a dull moment with Francisco around. We started in the mountains overlooking the valley to get an aerial view while hearing some of the history as we looked onto the various communities. We drove around to the locations of the focus areas for the organization and heard from leaders regarding the daily activities of the facilities, target populations, and community information and demographics.
To me driving through, several times I was overwhelmed with the enormity of some of the problems and how each "area" has several interwoven factors that make isolating and combating them difficult. I'm always reminded of the starfish story and the need to start small and grassroots.
Here are some pictures from the day:
with Aletia
view of the valley
Francisco & Candice
garden planted at Lukhanyo
beads made by community women
sewing project available for women in the community
a few of the community heroes
class for community adults to learn basic skills to help with everyday living
That's a brief overview of our Monday introduction to Monte Christo Miqlat!
Please go their website for more information!
Danielle
