From the outset, when we arrived here in 1990, we concerned ourselves with the rural people in our area, as they are mostly disadvantaged and very poor.
The first project that we initiated was to establish a school for the Zulu children of the families who work on the farms in the area. We are now also working in the rural area about 10 kilometers from here, where there are many aids orphans.
Sadly there are young teenagers who have to take over the care of their younger siblings and their situation is often desperately difficult. They do not have enough food at times and they come to their high school, return to run the home (Zulu huts) and have the responsibility of the younger children and babies. There is a desperate need for an orphanage in the area.
We are committed Christians as are most of the community that we care for. We are working to protect and care for all of God’s creation. In the rural area, we are planting trees and protecting the trees that already exist.
We are encouraging awareness about correct sanitation, clean water and the protection of water resources, as well as planting home organic gardens.
A vision to help the community set up an orphanage has been with us for some time now.
When you see the courage of the children and think how hard it must be for them not to have an adult hug them or even say good night to when they go to bed, it seems unbearable to consider.
It is very difficult to imagine how these young children must rise in the morning with no one to wake them, and they have the responsibility of trying to provide food for their siblings and then to still walk miles to school.
FALSE BAY SCHOOL ACCOUNT NO. ACCOUNT NO. 52490040295 EMIS 144485
“Thank you for your time and for your interest in False Bay School. Our school was established in 1992 by Mrs. Janet Cuthbertson. At first the school was situated in a wooden shack on premises of the old Pineapple Factory.
When we were given notice to move, Mrs. Cuthbertson arranged a SADF [South African Defence Force] tent and for 2 years this was our classroom.
During all this time, Janet was taking our challenge to find education to the desk of the Department of Education, and even the political arena where she lobbied ceaselessly, as the government has promised that all children would be provided with an education. Eventually a budget was provided and our school, of which we are truly proud, was built.
False Bay School serves a very important group of underprivileged children. Many of our children are aids orphans that reside in the False Bay area. They live with their extended families (perhaps a grandmother, aunt or uncle) or sometimes even acquaintances of family, who work mainly in the pineapple farming industry. These children are extremely poor.
Many of them do not have access to sufficient food or a balanced diet and for this reason our school also provides them with a feeding scheme. Their poverty and challenges at this early stage in their lives, do not change the fact that they have – like so many privileged children – all those wonderful characteristics which are special to all children.”
