This Week - Vinessa van Rensburg on The Rondevlei Learning Centre

This is a short video about Vinessa, our guest speaker on Wednesday.  I will repeat what I said about Rondevlei Learning Centre last week.  Our late treasurer, Richard Eley, asked that a certain amount of money be donated by the club on his behalf to Rondevlei Learning Centre.

About Vinessa van Rensburg 

The Centre is at Sedgefield, not to be confused with the Rondevlei Nature Reserve in Cape Town.

It's an unconventional school, ACTS at Rondevlei Learning Centre is a place of imaginative, loving and inspired teaching. The perceptive, intuitive and open-hearted teachers have attracted amazing helpers and tireless volunteers to support them. This has in turn, resulted in the creation of an unlimited space for a number of children to thrive, children who were not coping with the standardised mainstream government education system.

Carol Van Zyl and Vinessa Van Rensburg used to help out at Smutsville Primêre School. One day after discussing the painfully slow progress they were making because of the limited time they had with the children, Carol said to Vinessa it wasn’t enough; they needed to have their own centre where they could make a bigger and longer lasting impact. Seeing children struggling to learn, the pair were gripped with a determination to help them overcome difficulties that could otherwise negatively impact the rest of their lives.

Next Week

Jeremy Manuel will be talking about water retention.  This is something that is importance to all of us and the country as a whole.

International - Mauritius

On the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, Rotarians are helping the country shift from an agricultural economy dominated by sugar to one centred on technology, banking, and tourism. The Rotary Club of Haute Rive joined the Ministry of Education to coordinate a job and education fair to connect job seekers with employers in hospitality, financial services,information technology, manufacturing, education, retail, and other industries. “For many, it was a first-time experience of being seen, heard, and valued in a professional setting,” says Deeksha Bundhoo, a member of the club, which has since established a mentorship programme. Government officials lauded the outreach. “The fair represents a bridge between the aspirations of our youth and the evolving needs of our industries,” says Mahend Gungapersad, the country’s minister of education and human resources, who attended the fair with other senior officials and members of Parliament.