What an incredible day of learning for all of us! We visited two innovative organizations focused on changing lives through skills development and utilization allowing persons to becoming employed and self-sufficient. LearntoEarn believes in a hand up not a hand out and Streetwires believe in people, passion, and pride. Emily Riley, another one of students, writes:
"Today we had a bit of change in routine, and while we missed the kids from Ocean View, most of the students seemed okay with taking a break from the yard work of the past two mornings. We toured two incredible organizations today: LearntoEarn and Streetwires. LearntoEarn is a busy and successful program in which South Africans were trained in areas like graphic design, computer skills, office administration, wood working and sewing. This organization also help find jobs for their students in the community, help some further their education and help some become entrepreneurs. We were all extremely impressed by the efficiency of this organization and the quality of the goods they made."
"We were equally impressed by Streetwires, which we visited later. This organization had a cool shop of gifts and decorations on the upper floor with the majority of studios on the bottom floor being used to make a variety of products from wire."
"In the afternoon we did some touring downtown and tried our hand at bartering in the Green Market Square in Cape Town. After lunch, we had the opportunity to visit St. George's Cathedral, where Desmond Tutu served as the first black Archbishop of South Africa, that allowed blacks and whites to worship together. We then took a walking tour of the park viewing government offices, museums and statues."
"On our way home, we stopped at Chapman's Peak to watch the sunset with the ocean stretching before us. What a beautiful and peaceful way to end our exciting and educational day. It was so great to get to see some of the different organizational, historical and cultural hotspots of Cape Town and to really immerse ourselves in the city. We are beginning to get a better understanding of South Africa, as we try to be both servants and tourists in this amazing city. We appreciate your prayers and support as we get deeper into our African experience."
I want to end by going back to Emily's first point about LearntoEarn. The organization's mission statement is "We seek to develop people especially unemployed people socially, economically, emotionally, and spiritually." Changing and transforming lives is a beautiful thing.
Until next time, thanks for following us on our journey here in South Africa.