Edition 1 - David Rattray Foundation

“With education there is hope,
with hope there is a future”
David Rattray, Foundern”.
Edition 1 2015
A shift in gear
Greater accessibility for learners
The entire village of Rorke’s Drift is still
buzzing with excitement as the school
kids have finally got their hands on a
convenient and economical mode of
transport with which to get to school.
Thanks to our partner Bicycles for
Humanity in Perth, Australia, the village
has become lively with learners cycling
up and down the roads on their prized
donated bikes.
On a dull, grey weekend in September learners from
Shiyane Secondary and Oscarsberg Primary joined
forces in a celebratory bike ride from Rorke’s Drift up to
the Fugitives’ Drift Lodge gate. It was a stunning display
of appreciation for the indomitable team Peter, Blaze and
Micko who are currently blazing a trail from Rorke’s Drift to
Brecon in Wales, raising funds for the Foundation.
Teams of learners proudly displayed flags from countries
along the team’s route and gave beautiful music and
dance performances. Once back in Rorke’s Drift, tailed
by two (weary) Foundation cyclists, the crowd gathered
at the school hall where learners delivered a programme
of informative speeches and performances taking us
through the Africa-UK itinerary. The amount of work that
had gone into the presentations was evident and the
results were educational, emotional and heart warming to
see.
Enormous thanks to Peter, Blaze and Micko for initiating
the partnership with Bicycles for Humanity and their new
fundraising initiative.
Mr Zulu of Shiyane Secondary School claimed
“Had there been a way, we would have
climbed Shiyane mountain and shouted
‘Go boys, Go!’ at the top of our voices
until Blaze, Peter and Micko heard us
from Sudan”.
Visit the David Rattray Foundation Facebook page to
see the video and experience the fun, laughter and
atmosphere of that day.
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davidrattrayfoundation.org
S PR I N G I N G TO WA R D S S U MME R
A welcome from our CEO, Ben Henderson
As the seasons change from Spring to Summer here
in KwaZulu Natal, it’s been a hive of activity at the
Foundation HQ! We welcomed two new staff members
to the office and an additional two staff members to our
Preschool Programme at Isisekelo.
We also bid a fond farewell to Peace Corps volunteer
Laura Bramblett, who assisted with accounting and
project admin at the Foundation after completing 2 years
teaching at one of our schools, Hlazakazi Primary.
Sibongi Thwala
Admin & Accounting
Assistant
Kat Miller
Fundraiser
At the same time we’ve had a steady stream of visitors:
Robin Woodhead, Chairman of the UK Trust,
Jordi Ruiz Cirera, Photographer and Videographer, and
Dave Brown, Creative Director at APE Inc and the lead
on the Foundation re-brand project.
I hope you enjoy catching up on our news,
Ben
Bonga Myeza
Isisekelo Preschool
Teaching Assistant
Zandile Mtshali
Isisekelo Preschool
Teaching Assistant
OUR WORK
I N FRAS TRUCTURE F OR L OCAL SCHOOLS
• Facilities
• Health & Sanitation
• Educational equipment
• Nutrition
TR AINING
•T
eacher training
including the Rattray Outreach
Programme for Educators (ROPE)
•L
eadership team capacity building
including the DUKE Leadership course
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
• Establishing Foundation Preschool
• Developing & training new staff in-house
• Building partnerships with ECD centres
EX TRA- CURRICUL AR
• Summer Camps
• Partnerships including:
Lalela Arts Programme
Madrinha Mentor Scheme
Peace Corps Support
Bicycles for Humanity
None of our work would be possible without the support
of the Rattray Family and Fugitives’ Drift Lodge.
Isisekelo Preschool children have particularly welcomed
Nicky Rattray and Simeone Kohrs’ visits to read to them.
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E XC I T I N G N E W D E V E L O P ME N T S
Lights, camera, action!
Mid September saw the arrival of
award-winning photographer Jordi Ruiz
Cirera, to shoot a feature documentary
about the work of the Foundation.
Jordi and Kat spent an intense three days
filming out at the schools, spending a day in
the life of a learner at Hlazakazi School and
capturing the essence of our work.
Ben, Sibongi and principals Ma’am Khumalo
and Mr Zulu didn’t manage to escape
the camera lens and delivered excellent
interviews to help narrate the documentary.
Coming soon to a screen near you!
Jordi in action
Transformational times ahead
Dave Brown: photographer, graphic designer and owner
of APE Inc, spent a working week with the Foundation.
His primary mission was to start building a library of
images, to get to know and understand the work of the
Foundation, to learn as much about our communities
and their needs and to understand the ethos of our
operations as much as possible in the five days that he
had.
Dave didn’t waste a minute - from Arrivals Hall to
Departure Gate he lived, ate and breathed as much of
Some of Dave’s shots from his trip
the Foundation and its setting as possible. Some four
and a half thousand pictures in three days on site was an
impressive haul and judging by the response to Dave’s
images we have shared so far over social media and
those that you see in our newsletter, our supporters are
most appreciative of the beautiful imagery.
Since his return to the UK, Dave has been busy
developing the creative themes he observed on his trip
and we can’t wait to share his work with you.
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O U R SC H O O L S
Building foundations
Over the years working within the local schools it became
apparent that there was a gap in the education process
before the children are enrolled in school. In order to
address this, we founded the first of our Early Childhood
Development centres, Isisekelo Preschool - meaning
‘foundations’ in isiZulu. The preschool takes children
ages 3-4 and qualified teachers supervise early motor
skills development and social interaction, helping to
prepare them for formalised schooling.
Early September saw the arrival of Robin Woodhead,
Chair of our UK Board and longtime Foundation
supporter Christian Ravina. Robin and Christian were
instrumental in the establishment of the preschool and
so were keen to see how the first class of learners were
progressing. The group were immediately impressed
by the standard of the education that these young
children had achieved since January and this will put
Celebration of our ‘beacons of light’
The Foundation team were honoured to be invited along
to the annual Teacher’s Day conference at Rorke’s Drift
Hotel in late October.
Awards were presented in recognition of the lasting
contribution our teachers are making to the lives of the
pupils. Following the awards ceremony Lindani Zulu,
Principal of Shiyane Secondary School, gave a moving
and motivational speech to his colleagues:
them in good stead for their future understanding as
they progress upwards through primary and secondary
education.
Robin and Christian also spent time at the Arts Centre
in Rorke’s Drift, in particular the pottery enterprise.
The small team there are struggling due to the limited
availability of resources and the minimal market demand
from the tourist gift shop in Rorke’s Drift. Employment
and livelihoods provision for families in the local
communities are intrinsically linked to education provision
for our learners. Without a steady source of income,
families may be unable to provide the basic resources
like uniforms, stationery and even meals for their
children, having a detrimental impact on the capability
of the children at school. The Foundation, with the
assistance of Robin and Christian, will be exploring ways
to boost this local source of revenue for the community.
“We work with the most precious
material on earth. The mind of
a child”
“Teachers are like beacons of
light guiding our learners through
their education”
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O U R PA R T N E R S
Overcoming obstacles to success
Madrinha Trust recognises that young people with
great potential often face many barriers which prevent
them from achieving their goals in life. The Madrinha
mentor scheme operates at Siyanda, Shiyane and
Springlake schools, with five Madrinha beneficiaries in
secondary education. Three of the original students have
progressed on to tertiary education.
The Foundation assists with the logistics of this
programme by purchasing and delivering the food
parcels, uniforms and stationery for the students, tracking
progress with their school work and passing along any
letters or reports to Madrinha Head Office in London.
We look forward to reporting that we helped the next
generation of leaders to succeed!
Expression through art
Lalela provides educational arts for learners to spark
creative thinking and awaken the entrepreneurial spirit.
Our partnership with Lalela provides art classes to pupils
of Oscarsberg and Shiyane Schools in Rorke’s Drift.
In mid-September, we were visited by Cat Rieper, from
the Lalela Head Office in Cape Town. Cat spent a few
days with the Lalela Team discussing the upcoming
syllabus and new ways to use local materials and art
styles to inspire the kids. In late October, the Rorke’s Drift
Lalela team made a reciprocal visit to the Head Office
for further training.
Rattray Outreach Programme
for Educators
ROPE, a team of passionate and well-regarded teachers
from Johannesburg, spent a few days with us in Rorke’s
Drift to complete a teaching assessment in our schools.
The findings of the assessment will enable them to
deliver bespoke content guaranteed to tackle current
challenges faced by teachers at their next workshop
proposed for early 2016.
The observations indicated a marked improvement in
the teaching practices in most classes as a result of the
bi-annual ROPE teacher workshops.
Of the nine schools observed, the teaching technique that
stood out was that of an educator selecting learners at
random to answer questions on the lesson. This kept the
whole class focused and asking questions whenever they
did not understand any of the content. A great strategy!
We look forward to the next workshop and to put into
practice the insightful findings of the assessment.
Sally & Nina from ROPE in discussion with Ma’am Manyathi, Principal of
Masotcheni Primary School
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F UN D R A I S I N G F OR T H E F OU N DATION
Rorke’s Drift to Brecon
Motorbike Mission
Since the departure of Peter Rattray and Blaze & Micko
O’Byrne at the beginning of August on a marathon
motorbike mission from Rorke’s Drift to Brecon in Wales,
we have been keeping our Facebook followers up to date
with their adventures through the blogs they sporadically
post whenever they can find a stable internet connection!
We are hugely grateful to the brave team who are raising
money and awareness for the Foundation, while at the
same time educating us by providing an insight into the
countries they are passing through. We wish them the
best of luck and look forward to their safe return here
at Rorke’s Drift!
Please support this cause and donate to the Foundation
please visit Peter Rattray’s fundraising pages on
Just Giving for UK donors and Doit4Charity
for South African donors.
www.justgiving.com/Peter-Rattray
www.doit4charity.co.za/fundraising/peter.rattray
Above and Beyond
Massive thanks to Rosie Morgan for completing the
Great North Run while fundraising for the Foundation.
Thanks to your efforts, the children of the local schools
will benefit from an improved quality of education hopefully that makes the blisters worth it!
Follow us on social media
/DavidRattrayFoundation
@DavidRattrayF
@davidrattrayfoundation
Donate
South Africa
UK
Branch: Ladysmith
Branch code: 057725
Account name: David Rattray
Memorial Trust
Account Name: The David
Rattray Foundation
Sort code: 40-03-17
Standard Bank
HSBC
Account number: 91563890
Account number: 060 148 330
www.davidrattrayfoundation.org