The Village News

ALL ABOUT LIFE AT Ya Bana Village JUNE 2019

Self-sustainable project:

Ya Bana Village Social Impact Experience

A growing trend in tourism is that of travelers who want to serve, give back, benefit local communities and experience destinations through the local community’s eyes. This special breed of tourist wants to work with communities to get to know them better.

The Ya Bana Village Social Impact Experiece offers all this and more. As a self-sustainable project, we are able to generate an income and we are also able to create job opportunities for our unemployed youth. A major focus of this project is to create opportunities for our local communities and businesses.

STAY IN TOUCH

https://www.facebook.com/yabanavillageforthechildren/ http://www.yabana.co.za

What makes this experience unforgettable for our visitors, is the opportunity to volunteer at Ya Bana Village. We have a variety of volunteering opportunities, ranging from reading to the kids, to maintenance and gardening. The Ya Bana Social Impact Experience is ideal for teambuilding, business get-away’s, youth groups and schools.

Ya Bana Village can accommodate up to 35 visitors in our comfortable, shared self-catering accommodation. We provide all meals, including a braai and sampling local cuisine. Mabopane is a treasure trove of tourist attractions: natural, cultural and historical.

One of the modern, comfortable bedrooms at Ya Bana Village

Support local community initiatives at

Mapoch Village

For more information or bookings, please contact Naomi: 083 534 4850 naomi@iafrica.com

Our own tour guide – Solomon Letsoge

THANK YOU! The kindness of businesses, organisations

and individuals is what drives Ya Bana Village. We are very grateful for your

ongoing support – you are the change!

Ya Bana Village is grateful for incredible support we receive from schools surrounding Pretoria East. The kind generosity we receive from teachers and scholars strengthens our believe of a better future for all. This term we would like to thank in particular: Midstream College, St Albans and Glenstantia Primary. 40 students from Sint Pietersinstituut and Sint Franciscusinstituut came all the way from Belgium to volunteer at Ya Bana Village. These students also worked a full year to collect funding for our Lego Room and Fantasy Playhouse. Thank you! Kealeboga!

The support and funding from Corporate Friends of Ya Bana Village relieves a great deal of pressure in terms of operational costs.

South African Institute for Electrical Engineers recently organised a golf tournament in Pretoria and donated the proceeds to Ya Bana Village. Thank you to everybody that was a part of this great event.

A group of very special ladies from Lynnwood NG Church made a long awaited dream come true. They made t-shirts for our Ya Bana Village soccer and netball teams. Baie Dankie! Thank you very much!

Early morning hike at the magical Tswaing Crater

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Thank you for joining us as we “spotlight” our sixth Ya Bana Village Cluster House family who live in the Blue House. This cluster home houses some of the older girls who range in age from 10 through 16 and are cared for by Mama Barbra who has been with Ya Bana for four years. Mama Barbra decided to become a house

Meet Mama Barbra and the girls of the Blue house.

She thinks it is important to teach the children responsibility and to pray with them at least twice a day and assure that they are in church. These children are starting to think for themselves and have strong opinions about what is right and wrong. As an example, when asked how Ya Bana Village could be improved, a couple of the girls said that the younger children need to

be taught to pick up paper and other trash from the yards so that a better impression is made when they have visitors. The children’s names, ages, and future aspirations follow: Nompumelelo (16)—doctor, dentist, or musician; Aphelele (14)—child psychologist; Thabile (13)—police woman; Letlhogonolo (12) - business woman; Omphile (11)—doctor and Anele (10)—social worker. From article published in Mabopane Foundation Newsletter

mother “in order to help the children with their emotions.” While she finds it challenging to deal with children who are going through puberty and experiencing lots of emotional highs and lows, she tries to minimize the “lows” and the drama by joking with the children and keeping laughter in the home.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE blue HOUSE

NEW FACES AND PLACES

Fantasy Playhouse

Ya Bana Village has been blessed with the addition of 5 new children. What an honour to be able to have a positive, and loving influence on these lives.

We are also happy to welcome two new relief staff members. Tumi (security) and Rebecca (housemother) will be assets to Ya Bana Village.

Lego Room

Imaginative play is essential for the development of young children.

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My name is Becky Young, some years ago, at the age of 38, my life seemed empty and without purpose; I was riddled with insecurities. I had a wonderful husband and two beautiful children but I had wrapped my whole life around them and failed to walk with God and give Him a place of prominence in my life. One day when I was feeling particularly helpless, I found myself on my knees with my Bible open to Psalm 63 and read these words: “Oh God, you are my God in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. I hunger and thirst for you.” As I cried out to Him, I could sense His presence beginning to fill up the emptiness I had been experiencing.

After we met, I couldn’t get the children of Mabopane out of my mind. My husband and my children were supportive if that was God’s plan for me to visit Mabopane. God orchestrated several events to confirm that this was His plan for me including a Sunday school lesson entitled “Will you go if God calls?” and an unexpected introduction to the Director of Missions, Roy Smith, who was organizing a trip to Mabopane, South Africa in just three months. I felt certain God intended for me to go on this trip. Going to South Africa was a BOLD move for someone who had previously been afraid to travel even short distances without the presence of my husband or children. But God continued to build my faith and give me the courage to go knowing that this was His plan for me. I grew up poor, but never had I seen such poverty. I asked the Lord, “What am I to do? This is so big.” His response was simple. “Feed My Sheep.” In the early years it was a privilege working with the shelters, knowing and loving all the wonderful children and volunteers. But through it all, my heart ached and longed for the children to experience family life in a real home. As time went by, I was shown a 10-acre piece of property with an old dilapidated farmhouse. I knew without a doubt this was where God wanted the home to be! God raised the funds, through miraculous events, to purchase this land without me ever asking; by receiving a check for $10,000 from a cotton farmer.

Within 4 weeks an additional $23,000 had been given to purchase land on which to build Ya Bana Village. Our ministry began with informal yard sales to raise money. The yard sales became popular as participants realized that 100% of the proceeds were directed to the children of Mabopane. In 2003, we established the Mabopane Foundation to continue our efforts on a formal basis. The mission house, located in Apex, North Carolina, was provided by a friend. He wanted the Foundation to use the house as a fund raising location to help the children in Mabopane. The yard sales grew to four days a month and within a few years God orchestrated the purchase of the Mission House by a ministry partner who leases the house to the Foundation for just $1 a year. Through the efforts of our volunteers and financial donors here in the United States and Mabopane, South Africa, we are building a community. The Ya Bana project stands as a testimony that God has a plan and way for all to know his love and experience abundant, purposeful living.

God has done amazing and miraculous things over the past 20 years. You would be touched by how God answered prayers and met the needs of these children in the most unexpected ways.

MABOPANE FOUNDATION – our American family

Becky Young – one of our founding directors have a wonderful testimony of God’s presence in her blessed road with Ya Bana Village.

Beautiful display of furniture for sale at Mabopane Foundation in Apex North Carollina

Becky is currently in South Africa on a bi-annual visit. She sells homemade strawberry pies to cover her own costs for these trips. Becky would love to do a talk, sharing her testimony, at schools, church groups, friends and companies. To book a talk, please contact Naomi. naomi@iafrica.com

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OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP “Any assistance, whether in the form of skills, time, services, goods or financial, big or small

makes a huge difference in the lives of the children of Ya Bana Village.”

DONATE The operational costs in respect of the entire Village: houses, staff salaries, social worker, medical services, laundry, food (we prepare and serve more than 2000 meals per week), clothing, security, transport, garden, excursions, school fees and uniforms, etc. amount to approximately R280 000-00 per month (without any major maintenance items arising) It remains Ya Bana’s biggest challenge to raise this amount month after month. Your financial contribution will ease our burden.

Ways to donate:

1. If you prefer to make an EFT or direct deposit into our account: Please use your surname as the beneficiary reference, and mail the details of your gift to us at carinagoosen61@gmail.com so we may thank you.

2. Visit our website: https://www.yabana.co.za/wproducts.php

3. Safe and easy donation through SnapScan. Download the free app (Kaspersky’s QR Scanner) and scan the code below to make an instant payment. SnapScan is free to use, incurs no additional charges and uses minimal data!

VOLUNTEER Just like any other parent, we want the best for our children. For this we need a Network of Professional service providers: Educational Psychologists for assessments and advice to our three grade 9’s, Psychologist for therapy and information sessions to assist the moms, dentists, optometrists, plumbers, builders – anybody that can make a difference in the day to day running of Ya Bana Village. If you feel the calling to assist in this way, please send the following to naomi4yabanavillage@iafrica.com : 1. Name 2. Contact details 3. CV 4. What service would you like to give 5. Age group 6. Frequency

GOODS We have weekly jumble sales for the community of Winterveld to generate an extra income. We need clothing, and household goods for this purpose. If you have goods to donate, please drop off at Lynnwood NG Church: Monday -

Thursday 07:30 - 13:00, Friday 08:00 - 12:00 and Sunday 8:00 – 11:00. SUSSEX LANE 439, LYNNWOOD Or contact Carina for collection: 082 900 4087

WISHLIST: Wrapping your child in a snuggly blanket and seeing the contented smile on her face before she falls asleep is what parenthood is all about. This winter, you can become a part of this by donating much needed blankets to keep our children at Ya Bana Village warm.

SPECIAL FUNDRAISING PROJECT 2020: Quality education to change the course of our kid’s lives

10 of our children have the opportunity to be educated at Prestige College in Soshanguve next year. These kids have consistently receive results above 70% for the last two years. We want to give them a chance to shine! Total cost for 10 children for one year: R277 500 Schoolfees R25 000-00 per child per year (books and stationary included) Uniform R1000-00 per child per year 5 tablets for our older group R3500-00 each

Please consider funding this life changing project.

All donations made to Ya Bana are tax deductible, and we offer Section 18a Tax Receipts.