WHAT WE OFFER
Our ProgramsINSPIRING STORY
David
David was brought to us by Margaret, our Cleaner in 2008. He was 13 years old at the time, haven’t been to school yet and did not have any identification. A couple of years earlier David came to South Africa with his parents from Mozambique. They settled and built a home next to our cleaner’s house. Soon after they arrived, both his parents passed away and Margaret let him stay with her. We had no information about his level of schooling. As he was too old to start school in the foundation phase, we made space for David in our remedial class and tailormade a two year curriculum for him that included Grade 4 to 7 work. David was an eager learner and 7 years later he matriculated with distinctions in Maths and Science. Through Blue-O David obtained a bursary and he is currently studying computer science at the University of Pretoria. David is also doing volunteer work at Blue-O as a camp leader at our youth camps.
story of care and giving back
John
John was an Olievenhoutbosch Christian School learner who attended the first school camp in 2010. After he matriculated he started working as a volunteer at our after-care centre. John is passionate about the development of children and is committed to his work. He made a positive contribution on the lives of many children at the school. In 2016, Blue-O obtained a bursary for John to study Education at Unisa. While studying John is working as a teacher at the school in the mornings.
REACHING OUT
Mpho and many others
Mpo was enrolled at our school in 2016 as a Grade R learner. In 2017 the teacher noticed a drastic change in his appearance and a noticeable decline in his school work. When we detect such changes in children, we make contact with the parents and ask permission to do a home visit. We discovered that both Mpho’s parents have recently lost their jobs and his mum is baking and selling fat cakes in order to earn money for rent. They had very little food and other necessities. We offered to make Mpho a beneficiary of our feeding scheme that includes a cooked meal for Mpho at school every day and a food parcel every Friday. Within two weeks the teacher reported that Mpho’s performance has improved and he again participated enthusiastically in class.
Blue-O
Camping with a purpose
One of the main concerns at Olievenhoutbosch High Schools is the pass rate. When learners fail more than once, they easily lose hope and leave school without a matric qualification. In 2010 Blue-O was informed that 90 Grade 10 and 11 learners were repeating their grade for the third time that year. Blue-O interviewed these learners to determine the cause of failing a grade twice. The main reason was social challenges opposing to learners not having the ability to succeed. These social challenges include learners being a single parent or the absence of parents, especially father figures. Many learners were also using drugs. Blue-O arranged a camping weekend for the 90 learners at Oppieberg in Mooinooi. During the weekend Blue-O presented sessions that covered emotional healing, personal and spiritual development as well as motivational discussions. At the end of 2010 80% of learners that attended the camp passed their grade and approximately 50% of them obtained their matric qualification.
BLUE-O
Chess is our game
One of the pupils that attended the 2010 camp, Bafana started to volunteer at Blue-O after he completed his matric. We started a Chess Club and assigned Bafana to be the coordinator. Within six months we had 20 chess players rated at the Tshwane Chess region. Ten of these players succeeded to go through to the SA Chess Junior Championships. Four learners won prizes at SA level. Within six months, Blue-O started with learners that had no Chess knowledge to having four learners achieving recognition at SA level. again participated enthusiastically in class.
Get In Touch With Us!
LOCATION
Stand nr 4930
Malenga Street 1
Ext 24
Olievenhoutbosch 0157
DIRECTOR
Ria Wessels-Maluleke
EMAIL
riawm@blueo.co.za
blue.o.community@gmail.com