Thanks to generous donations from Polyoak Packing and IDC our classrooms have had a bit of a face lift:

• Newly carpeted containers in Diepsloot make for a much nicer classroom environment especially when it comes to nap time!
• Noticeboards, white boards, new puzzles and games have been purchased. This means we can create a more exciting and visual learning environment which not only aids creativity but also helps improve classroom behaviour as children are more engaged and attentive.

If you are DIY minded and could offer some time and skill to get the noticeboards onto our classroom walls, please contact info@philile.org

By Barbara Mauchle

The first time I heard about Philile was at an evening service at Godfirst Montecasino. They were looking for people to join their 94.7 charity cycling team. Well, with my husband being a passionate cyclist and me being passionate about working with and for children I checked out the Philile website and read up a bit on their work & activities.

When, later in the year, we joined GodfirstSandton our site leader’s name struck me as vaguely familiar … searching for the connection I went back to the Philile’s website and was reminded there that he was the founder of Philile in 2008. Since joining Godfirst in winter 2011 I had been looking for ways to get involved but hadn’t quite found what I was looking for. Finding myself back on the Philile website made the difference! What I saw there under “things we need” caught my eye: “sponsorship of off-site language development classes for preschoolers”. Unfortunately, I was not in the position to offer financial support but I thought and hoped I might be able to offer my time and experience. This is how Lauren, Rachel and I got in touch and into talking and exploring different options ….

… until the perfect idea popped up right in front of us and made me jump with excitement: A mentoring program for teachers at Philile! Having had the opportunity to help set up a mentoring program for medical students back in Germany, I know what a difference it can make to have a supportive, experienced partner at your side. Someone who can offer advice, insights & a little bit of know-how, but who most of all uses all that to help the other one grow, develop & advance, detect “sleeping” talents and stimulate the will to explore her very own dream & expectations.

I was so excited then receiving an e-mail from Rachel warmly welcoming me on board and hearing about Lauren’s thoughts on whom to pair me up with. Even more excited was I about Sindie’s and my first get-together), and what a joy and enriching experience it was to then meet!
Sindie is a teacher at Philile Hillbrow and has been working there since it started in 2008. It was so interesting to listen to her remembering the very first beginnings and hear about how Philile Hillbrow has developed since then. Sindie has completed the Play With A Purpose Training with remarkable success and I could hear from her words and see from her sparkling eyes how excited she is to teach! I was overwhelmed by her warm and friendly openness and by her fun, curious & positive personality!

This is what I can offer her: a master’s degree in linguistics focussing on language acquisition and early language development in multilingual environments, three years experience in working with children (ages 3 to 6) in a bilingual German-English day care center, a certificate in Teaching German as a Foreign Language completing my methodological background, the passion to find the optimal way for each individual – as young or old as they have been brought into our lives – to learn & grow.

What Sindie and I seemed to share: that passion, a huge respect for the parents who trust us with their children, a curiosity to learn more about the little person in front of us, and find out the best ways to help them go their way (and dare to set foot on new ones).

In our first meeting, we spent the hour during her lunch-break and the kids’ nap-time getting to know each other and decided on a framework for our mentoring meetings. We will be meeting once a month and in the meantime will be in touch via sms or cell phone. As Sindie wished for feedback on her work and interaction with the kids, we decided to keep meeting on site. For our next meeting coming up the beginning of June, she invited me to sit in on her class, participate where demanded by the kids and spend a bit of time afterwards to exchange immediate feedback.

In addition to that, we will be touching certain issues from the theoretical point of view. Sindie expressed great interest in learning more about how to deal with speech impediments – not being a speech therapist I am more than happy to read & learn up about this myself to be able to give support – as well as recognizing different types of learners and meeting their individual needs – I hope I can offer some insights and visits on-site that will help to apply it and assist with putting methods into practice. Other topics she signalled might be helpful for her work are parent-teacher interactions and, in the long run, support in her studies coming up in July. Sindie is going to undergo further teacher training to qualify for teaching higher levels as wells. What an impressive and ambitious teacher!

Rachel sent me insightful words which describe the mentoring process as one in which a person actively encourages the development of another person [...] for the benefit of both individuals and organization. A good mentoring relationship is where both mentor/mentee enjoy mutual respect and value the joint opportunities for personal development. Mentoring should be supportive, confidential but with the overall aim of making the mentee take increasing responsibility for her development in a questioning and pro-active way.

I pray that God enables me to be such a person for Sindie and I pray that He will help us spot the magnificent opportunities He has sent our way to encourage in whichever way necessary. What an exciting journey there is lying ahead of us!

If this is something that excites you and you would like to get involved, email us at info@philile.org

Thanks to a generous donation from SAB, all of the classrooms at Philile Diepsloot have been fitted with roofing, helping to keep the rain out and temperatures regulated. In addition to this John, Violet and Lizzie have been doing a great job in laying carpet tiles in each of the classrooms. Only one more classroom to go before it’s all complete. This improvement in our facilities will make a huge difference as the change in season is quickly approaching. Brrr… it looks like it is going to be another cold winter!

On Saturday morning March 24th Philile Diepsloot was alive with a buzz of activities for our very first Philile Easter Fun Day. Over 250 children and parents from the community came to take part in the action packed day filled with face painting, crafts, relay races, a jumping castle, a visit from Barney, and of course, an exhilarating Easter egg hunt!
Philile staff and GodfirstFouways volunteers helped to make it all possible, offering their creativity and leadership in running the events. Here is some feedback on the experiences from some of our volunteers:

Melissa: “For me, it was amazing to see God’s hand on that community. He’s blessed them so much. I enjoyed seeing the eagerness of the children in getting involved with every activity. The teachers are such stars who love and nurture each child. Such love ”

Twaambo: “My experience at the Philile pre-school fun day in Diepsloot left me wondering where I could click “like” in cyberspace to convey my sentiments. I enjoyed the fun day and was especially struck by how the teachers showed genuine love and interest in the children. Two examples of this stand out. There was Teacher Agnes, who carried out full on conversations with every boy and girl who sat in front of her for a face painting session, drawing seemingly shy boys and guys into conversation – how awesome! Then came the point at which one boy collected what seemed to be more than half of the stickers for the Easter egg hunt and Teacher Violet persuaded him to share the stickers with some of the younger kids – teaching and ensuring that the day continued to be focused on the kids. It was my first visit to a Philile pre-school. I was impressed by the size of the site, the green grounds and the clean classrooms. I enjoyed the opportunity to see what Philile is doing on the ground, to meet the staff that are putting in the work and to meet the children that are being impacted.Barney was a real hit! It was so clear that the staff at Philile pre-school (from the teachers to John the gardener) are passionate about what they do.

On Saturday March 31stAnnaLecweleng, Philile staff member from Cosmo City will be hosting another Easter Fun Day in Cosmo City along with volunteers from GodFisrtTanz and local community members..

Philile can only be what it is today thanks to the incredible support we get from our volunteers. They are extraordinary people who give their expertise, time and support to assist the staff at each of the Philile Schools. We would like to honour and thank them for so generously sharing their talents and time with us.

• Hannah and David, teachers from the African Leadership Academy based in Honeydew, have been helping out with the older children in Agnes’ class at Diesploot. They come in ever Tuesday and are teaching the children Pre-handwriting skills and the English Alphabet. Helping children with this skill makes the early stages of learning to read easier and more enjoyable for children.

• Anneke, a social worker and teacher is back again this year in Violet class at Diepsloot, and is also helping with English and Alphabet lessons. A number of the children in Violets class will be going on to Grade 1 in 2013 so preparing children with this skill beforehand will prove to be very helpful.
Anneke has gone a step further and is continuing to support Percy (a Philile graduate who has autism and is now in Grade 1 at Witkoppen School). Percy is in a remedial class made up of 25 children of varying ages. Anneke is visiting the school three days a week teaching Maths, English enrichment and Art to Percy’s class, she has been amazed at how she has been received by the teachers and the children at Witkoppen School and is loving it!

• Anna Djuren found out about Philile through a moms and tots group. She has been visiting Philile Diepsloot for the last two weeks working on an English enrichment program with the three younger classes which involves reading poetry and stories to the children. Anna has not limited her involvement to just time in the classroom but has also gotten stuck into helping prepare the food for snack time. Anna has loved it so far and is excited about the receptiveness of both the children and teachers.

• Tracy from Godfirst Monte is continuing to offer her occupational therapy support at Philile Diepsloot. She is giving input to parents on how to help their children with their development. Read more on this on a previous blog entitled ‘Philile Diepsloot has its very own Occupational Therapist’

• The Roedean Primary school girls are back again at Philile Hillbrow doing community service every 2nd week. Their activities so far involve playing sports and baking

• Yolandi; an occupational therapist from Godfist came to visit Philile Hillbrow this month to check on a few of the children and see how we can help them improve at school. Her expertise has been very helpful in this early stage of development of children.

We LOVE our volunteers and greatly appreciate the support they offer the Philile Team. Using your skill and interest is a wonderful way to get involved with Philile; from offering classroom support once a week to assisting us with our graphics; If you have a skill and would like to get involved please contact info@philile.org

Philile would like to say a big THANK YOU to John of Godfirst Tanz for celebrating his 60th birthday with us early December last year. This year John asked friends and family to donate funds towards Philile Foundation rather than bring presents ‘my feeling is that on your birthday, people want to give you something, and I feel it will do a lot more good going to Philile than for me. Its a really good cause!‘

Thank you John and everyone who participated in this celebration for your kindness and support.

By Ingrid Langton:

Today I had the most humbling experience of my life!

I set out, in trepidation, not knowing what to expect to drop off the goods at Philile!
Didn’t wear jewellery, for obvious reasons, listened to gospel music and prayed all the way……….. the journey seemed to go on forever!!!

The directions you gave, took me straight to Philile’s entrance. Much to my surprise and ……….my disappointment at my lack of faith, I was greeted by a lady and gentleman who assisted me in carrying the few goods inside.
PhiliIe grounds were immaculate, the area totally safe and the people friendly.

I happened to glance over the grassy area and saw a little boy who could not have been more than 2 years old. He was clean and warmly dressed and had the largest RECTANGULAR smile I have ever seen!
Carrying an activity table, I walked over to show him and his rectangular smile seemed to grow even wider. I had the most overwhelming feeling for this little guy.

Violet came over to greet me with the warmest of hugs. What a lovely lady. We had a brief conversation and I found myself wanting to leave as I didn’t want her to be witness to a jibbering wreck. I instantly felt the lesser person as I could feel God resonating though her!

I turned to leave and this little boy caught my eye once again. And …………..once again his rectangular smile was brighter than ever. His little face will be imprinted on my heart and in my head for as long as I live 

Thank you so much for affording me the opportunity to make a little difference in a big world!!!!!!!

As we lined up in the mass of bright orange shirts at the start line, I really felt a part of ‘Team Philile.’ The countdown to the start came and went, and so our day of cycling began!
My personal battle in the 94.7 is the M1… I know I’m unusual in disliking the start the most, but that is one long undulating ride into town. Today, however, I was not on my own for that long ride. Even if I wasn’t cycling with someone, I was constantly cheered on by fellow Philile riders as they passed, and occasionally cheered on a rider I passed! Our bright orange shirts were impossible to miss which added to the sense of being part of something bigger.
The half-way highlight of numerous encouraging God Firsters, wet sponges and photo taking was another great reminder that we were riding for a purpose. A great purpose. With so many people supporting, and Reagan’s voice coming through the speakers, full of pride in the Philile riders was just what I needed to give me fresh momentum for the second half. Here we go, this is where the challenge starts…

Witkoppen Road… it’s long and up-hill! The lovely cool weather this year meant I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ride under God First’s sprinkler or not, but again cheers from the side were loud and clear! Everything becomes a bit of a daze then… I just wanted to get to the N14 and know I rode on Malibongwe to get there! The N14 is one of my favourite parts of the race, I’m strong in my head on that stretch and somehow that translates into strong legs! The N14 complete, it’s the final stretch of ups and downs to the finish line. Personally, I didn’t appreciate the ‘10km to go’ painted on the road when we were only about 1km from the finish, but I think I’d lost my sense of humour by then. I really must train more next year. Then again, I said that last year!
A final burst of energy, shot of adrenaline, and I find that I can speed up to finish the race and cross that line. Then Team Philile , in its fullest sense of the word came to life… drink, food, massage, congratulations, photos, hugs, and conversations for a couple of hours before heading home. One thing is for sure… next time I ride, it will be for Team Philile!

It was a cloudy, grey, Monday morning in July when an email from Michael Hewson arrived in my Inbox. The title of the email intrigued me as I clicked on it to open – “Team Philile Rider Pack”. The email informed me of the details for riding for Team Philile along with a host of attachments including a letter of pledge, letter of endorsement, a registration form and Philile bank deposit details. My first response and the reply I sent to Michael – “are we really doing this thing?” to which I got a firm “Yip, we are riding!”.
Earlier in the year, I had once kind of, sort of mentioned that I might ride the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge (at some stage). However, when Team Philile was announced it just seemed like a brilliant motivation to rise to the challenge and Michael’s email and belief in me confirmed my decision. From there on it was no turning back, training ride dates were scheduled, copious amounts of tips and information were provided to us on an ongoing basis and Team Philile was well and truly set in racing gear.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people…
• Rachel O’Connor and her team for massive amounts of behind-the-scenes work and logistical organisation. Rachel ensured that every detail was meticulously and professionally arranged and communicated to us. Thanks to Rachel for arranging amongst other things, the Team Philile riding jerseys, the Pasta party and post race drinks and snacks. What a pleasure to support such a worthy and well-run organisation like the Philile Foundation!

• Ryan O’Connor for excellent riding tips and advice as well as nutritional do’s and don’ts and anything else we needed to know to prepare for race day. Thanks too for co-ordinating a training programme to ensure that novices like me managed to complete the race.

• Ryan Schnell for the huge role he played in getting Team Philile together, for ongoing support and encouragement when I thought that I would not make the 97.4 plus km’s and for his enthusiasm in supporting the Philile Foundation.

• My fellow Team Philile riders, it was a privilege to be part of Team Philile and to ride the Challenge with you.

• New friends made during training sessions and old mates who rode and trained with me – you guys are legends!

• The many supporters who came out to cheer for Team Philile, thank you so much for your encouragement, snacks, roadside assistance and generous spirits – it made all the difference!!!

• All those who sponsored me – thank you for your generosity!
And so, here is to next year’s Team Philile Cycle Challenge… more orange jerseys, better race times, new challenges, increased awareness, ongoing support, lives forever changed…

On Saturday the 22nd of October a group of volunteers went out to Philile Diepsloot to help paint the four new containers which arrived earlier this year. Amongst this team was a girl named Ada from Canada who has been visiting South Africa over the past couple months. This was her first visit to Philile Diepsloot and below is a short commentary of her experience:

“Our mission of the day was to decorate/paint the outside of the new classrooms.   When we got there, all the paint and brushes were set up for us and we were each given a section of the container to paint with some sketches that we were supposed to reproduce.   The scenes that we were to draw were mainly of animals, mountains, ponds, lakes and trees.

I was assigned to a container that faces inwards into the playground area.  The hardest parts about drawing on the containers are getting the right proportions and to overcome the fear of messing up.  I started by using less paint and drawing in lighter strokes, and then drawing more firmly when I got a bit more confident.  It was also important to take frequent breaks to step back and look at it to make sure it looks good from far away.  The other challenging part was trying to balance on a ladder on the uneven ground.  It was a good thing that there were quite a few volunteers so I was able to solicit some help with ladder minding while I was drawing a bit higher.

I managed to reacquaint with my artistic abilities and not only able to copy some of the distributed sketches but also to free hand some new animal drawings.  In the end, I was able to draw 2 elephants, 1 lion, 1 monkey, 4 bunnies, 1 ostrich and 1 giraffe.  There were also some trees, logs, grass and flowers that I’ve drawn.  Others have also done well, there was a very cute cow behind a fence, a beautifully drawn peacock, a nice looking hen, a pair of cute lions, a few leopards, butterflies, a crocodile peeking out of a pond, a lily pad in a pond and a happy scene of a family playing in a flower field and much more.  Everyone did very well and I’m sure the kids will love them once it’s all coloured in.

Notably,  I had quite the experience while drawing the cute lion on the crate.  While I was drawing the lion, I had a group of maybe 8 kids all gathered  and sat down around me  and just watched me paint.  I wasn’t sure if it was because my lion was awesome, or was it the shade or just that I was asian.  But whatever it was, I wished someone else had my camera and captured it.  It was quite a touching moment and knowing that our efforts were going towards bettering their learning environment was quite rewarding.

I think all of the painters wish that they can be there when the kids come in on Monday morning to find that their new classrooms have been painted and decorated.  Even though the drawings are black and white and only with outlines, I’m sure they would be thrilled to see it.”

Thank you Ada for taking the time to write about your painting experience at Philile Diepsloot. We look forward to this Satruday November 5th where another group of volunteers will colour in your beautiful outlines.