Hello faithful friends!
Youth Mission Solutions is going through a lot of changes currently. But, before I get to that…:)… here is what we’ve been up to lately.
As you know, our volunteer, Kathryn, has been busy with training our youth in theatre and the arts. She is really doing an awesome job, and it’s been a lot of fun for both us (the team) as well as the youth. During December, we made a movie to represent who we are as: YOUTH, SOUTH AFRICANS, AND PEOPLE AT REFILWE. Please watch our video. It’s very powerful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rClr5eYiT4
The youth have made one other video, and will make two more in coming weeks, stay posted to see more of our creativity.
So, in other news, Youth Mission Solutions is losing two of their leaders: myself (Leah Bakers) and Piet Bakers. We have recently accepted a position at a new ministry called Africa Ablaze. We will be doing very similar work that we are doing now, only at a new location and adding a few extra projects. We will help with holiday camps, school ministry, and leadership development in youth. We are very excited about this new phase, but also very sad about leaving our life, friends, family, and precious youth whom we have invested so much.
Because of this, YMS will certainly cease to exist in the same fashion as before. If it continues on, it will only continue through the sports department and helping with homework after school.
It breaks our hearts to see this program discontinue the Saturday program, but we are trusting God that these youth will be looked after by others after we are gone. Please pray that God will bring others to invest of the lives of these youth!
Thanks for your prayers and support of YMS!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
January 2011
Yesterday was our first day back at work. It’s been a nice 4 weeks of holiday for our team!
ASTEP is now nicely settled back in their homes in the USA. We sorely miss them but have great memories of a wonderful holiday program through December. It was a month full of laughs, fun, and over flowing creativity. The ASTEP participants wrote songs and poems, created dramas and dances, and performed their little hearts out. What a great time we had.
This first week back will be filled with meetings, debriefing, and such to decide how the year will run. We have a feeling that it may be different than we anticipate, but we also know that God is in control.
Our main focus this year will be on Saturday Live youth program. It will operate as normal, but will have a greater focus and intention. We will continue to run skills classes, worship, and present spiritual teachings to the youth.
Out of this, we will pour into the youth that are shining potential leaders. This is our junior leadership team that meets once a week for leadership training and spiritual development. It is our goal that they rise above their generation and become influencers to those around them.
The Youth House will continue to operate as a leadership and training house for the four current residents. In the month of February, official leadership courses as well as skills classes will commence on a weekly basis for these guys. Some of the skills classes will include basic training of Word, powerpoint, publisher, how to maintain a budget, how to run a blog, and other basic computer skills.
YMS looks forward to the new year and how we will continue to grow as a program.
Blessings,
The YMS team
ASTEP is now nicely settled back in their homes in the USA. We sorely miss them but have great memories of a wonderful holiday program through December. It was a month full of laughs, fun, and over flowing creativity. The ASTEP participants wrote songs and poems, created dramas and dances, and performed their little hearts out. What a great time we had.
This first week back will be filled with meetings, debriefing, and such to decide how the year will run. We have a feeling that it may be different than we anticipate, but we also know that God is in control.
Our main focus this year will be on Saturday Live youth program. It will operate as normal, but will have a greater focus and intention. We will continue to run skills classes, worship, and present spiritual teachings to the youth.
Out of this, we will pour into the youth that are shining potential leaders. This is our junior leadership team that meets once a week for leadership training and spiritual development. It is our goal that they rise above their generation and become influencers to those around them.
The Youth House will continue to operate as a leadership and training house for the four current residents. In the month of February, official leadership courses as well as skills classes will commence on a weekly basis for these guys. Some of the skills classes will include basic training of Word, powerpoint, publisher, how to maintain a budget, how to run a blog, and other basic computer skills.
YMS looks forward to the new year and how we will continue to grow as a program.
Blessings,
The YMS team
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
December is here!
Hello Friends,
So where did we leave off? As I’ve mentioned before, this is our very busy season! We haven’t stopped to take a breath in weeks.
We are so excited to have ASTEP with us! (See our previous blog for more info). Welcome Kathryn (who has been here for 10 weeks already), Mauricio, Will, Damien, Tia, and Slaveya! The YMS leaders have been attending training classes, arts classes, as well as teaching our own classes! Last week, each ASTEP leader and YMS leader took turns teaching something they are passionate about in order for everyone to get to know each other as well as show off our individual teaching styles. Already, we as the YMS team feel we have so much to learn from ASTEP and we are so thankful for their presence here at Refilwe.
The program One World Through Theatre has begun this week. We are discovering who we are as the Refilwe community, South Africans, Africans, and human beings. At the end of this week we will put our ideas and discoveries into a theatre piece and film it...so look out for this in coming weeks! Our piece will be sent to theatre groups around the world for them to respond to. We will in turn receive three pieces of theatre from around the world to respond to.
After this week, the following two weeks will be a holiday program for all ages; from 2 to 25. The children and youth will participate in singing, dancing, drama, and visual art. They will share their findings in a production on 24 December, here at the Refilwe Community Hall. If you are in the Johannesburg area, please make a plan to join us!
As the year comes to a close, we are still praying that companies, friends, and other donors who believe in what we are doing as YMS will partner with us in order that we will be able to financially move forward through next year. We are so thankful that at the moment Refilwe is sponsoring our office space, electricity, etc, but as an organization, we need to get on our feet and become sustainable. Please speak to us if you believe in our cause.
Thank you for your support and prayers!
God bless,
The YMS Team
So where did we leave off? As I’ve mentioned before, this is our very busy season! We haven’t stopped to take a breath in weeks.
We are so excited to have ASTEP with us! (See our previous blog for more info). Welcome Kathryn (who has been here for 10 weeks already), Mauricio, Will, Damien, Tia, and Slaveya! The YMS leaders have been attending training classes, arts classes, as well as teaching our own classes! Last week, each ASTEP leader and YMS leader took turns teaching something they are passionate about in order for everyone to get to know each other as well as show off our individual teaching styles. Already, we as the YMS team feel we have so much to learn from ASTEP and we are so thankful for their presence here at Refilwe.
The program One World Through Theatre has begun this week. We are discovering who we are as the Refilwe community, South Africans, Africans, and human beings. At the end of this week we will put our ideas and discoveries into a theatre piece and film it...so look out for this in coming weeks! Our piece will be sent to theatre groups around the world for them to respond to. We will in turn receive three pieces of theatre from around the world to respond to.
After this week, the following two weeks will be a holiday program for all ages; from 2 to 25. The children and youth will participate in singing, dancing, drama, and visual art. They will share their findings in a production on 24 December, here at the Refilwe Community Hall. If you are in the Johannesburg area, please make a plan to join us!
As the year comes to a close, we are still praying that companies, friends, and other donors who believe in what we are doing as YMS will partner with us in order that we will be able to financially move forward through next year. We are so thankful that at the moment Refilwe is sponsoring our office space, electricity, etc, but as an organization, we need to get on our feet and become sustainable. Please speak to us if you believe in our cause.
Thank you for your support and prayers!
God bless,
The YMS Team
Monday, November 15, 2010
December is sneaking up on us
Well, here we are the middle of November. Everyone around us is wrapping up their departments for the year, but we are just gearing up for December and the most hectic time of year for YMS.
Kathryn, a volunteer from the US and part of ASTEP (see below), has been with YMS for about 6 or 7 weeks now. She has been a real blessing to our team! She has already begun to work with the youth during our Saturday Live youth as well as weekly through dance and drama classes. She is even giving a ballroom dance class for all the adults every Friday night! She is a great asset to our team because she is not only developing skills in our youth, but also empowering the leaders and leaving tools with which to continue on after she has departed.
Kathryn has been taking the YMS leaders through classes each week to develop skills for our very own theatre project. We (as leaders) will be creating our very own piece of theatre through a project called “One World Through Theater”. In December, we will be taking this project to our youth to create a piece of theatre of their own as well. The exciting part is that we are partnering, in a sense, with drama groups in Seattle, Washington, North Carolina, and the Philippines. These three groups will separately create a dramatic piece and send it to us, as we send ours to them. We will in turn create a dramatic response to each of these pieces. The project will take us all the way through March when Kathryn sadly leaves us.
ASTEP is an American organization that has partnered with the Refilwe youth program for the last two December s. ASTEP, which stands for Artists Striving To End Poverty, will be putting on a holiday program for Refilwe and community children for three weeks in December. The program focuses on performing arts and provides the youth and children with dance, singing, and drama classes.
Not only is December a busy month because of ASTEP, but myself (Leah) and Piet are preparing for our wedding!! It is literally just around the corner and we are busy with finalizing all the preparations for our BIG DAY!
YHO! I’m exhausted just thinking about everything we have going on!
Blessings to you all,
The YMS team
Kathryn has been taking the YMS leaders through classes each week to develop skills for our very own theatre project. We (as leaders) will be creating our very own piece of theatre through a project called “One World Through Theater”. In December, we will be taking this project to our youth to create a piece of theatre of their own as well. The exciting part is that we are partnering, in a sense, with drama groups in Seattle, Washington, North Carolina, and the Philippines. These three groups will separately create a dramatic piece and send it to us, as we send ours to them. We will in turn create a dramatic response to each of these pieces. The project will take us all the way through March when Kathryn sadly leaves us.
ASTEP is an American organization that has partnered with the Refilwe youth program for the last two December s. ASTEP, which stands for Artists Striving To End Poverty, will be putting on a holiday program for Refilwe and community children for three weeks in December. The program focuses on performing arts and provides the youth and children with dance, singing, and drama classes.
Not only is December a busy month because of ASTEP, but myself (Leah) and Piet are preparing for our wedding!! It is literally just around the corner and we are busy with finalizing all the preparations for our BIG DAY!
YHO! I’m exhausted just thinking about everything we have going on!
Blessings to you all,
The YMS team
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Youth House Project Update
Dear Friends of YMS,
Thank you to all of you would have supported us emotionally, spiritually, financially, or otherwise. These last two weeks have been some of the craziest in the life of YMS. We moved straight from the Holiday Program into a huge youth house project.
The majority of the renovations were completed this past Saturday. About 25 to 30 employees of the company Satreno and about the same amount of youth and Refilwe residents came to
work on the house and what a difference! The house came to us in desperate need and may have even been considered a health hazard. We came across a few obstacles in the final push of the renovations this week, but overall, the day was a success! We were blessed to have been given three bunk beds from one source and two from another. The unfortunate thing, though, was that the three steel beds would not fit through the passage way into the bedrooms. So, the guys are busy completely disassembling the beds and will reassemble them once in the room. When the beds are complete, we will have a total of 10 beds for young vulnerable men to stay!
The vegetable garden was completely redone with R2000 worth of vegetables! The food will not only be sustenance for the youth house residences, but will also be a source of income as YMS will be selling it to local businesses.
The biggest changes in the house are the bathrooms and kitchen. One can hardly recognize it as the same place. Before, the kitchen contained only a sink, stove, one falling apart cupboard, and a handful
of dishes. Now, the kitchen has a new sink, countertops, a brand new refrigerator, several cupboards, plenty of dishes and cutlery, and lots of food to fill their cupboards and stomachs!
Satreno was our biggest contributor to the youth house and we are so grateful! They have helped to make the house livable. However, they were not our only contributors. We had several donations from individuals and churches that included paint, beds, furniture, table and chairs, curtains, and clothes.
YMS wants to say a BIG THANK YOU to all who helped make this dream possible!
Blessings,
The YMS team
Thank you to all of you would have supported us emotionally, spiritually, financially, or otherwise. These last two weeks have been some of the craziest in the life of YMS. We moved straight from the Holiday Program into a huge youth house project.
The majority of the renovations were completed this past Saturday. About 25 to 30 employees of the company Satreno and about the same amount of youth and Refilwe residents came to
work on the house and what a difference! The house came to us in desperate need and may have even been considered a health hazard. We came across a few obstacles in the final push of the renovations this week, but overall, the day was a success! We were blessed to have been given three bunk beds from one source and two from another. The unfortunate thing, though, was that the three steel beds would not fit through the passage way into the bedrooms. So, the guys are busy completely disassembling the beds and will reassemble them once in the room. When the beds are complete, we will have a total of 10 beds for young vulnerable men to stay!
The vegetable garden was completely redone with R2000 worth of vegetables! The food will not only be sustenance for the youth house residences, but will also be a source of income as YMS will be selling it to local businesses.The biggest changes in the house are the bathrooms and kitchen. One can hardly recognize it as the same place. Before, the kitchen contained only a sink, stove, one falling apart cupboard, and a handful
of dishes. Now, the kitchen has a new sink, countertops, a brand new refrigerator, several cupboards, plenty of dishes and cutlery, and lots of food to fill their cupboards and stomachs!Satreno was our biggest contributor to the youth house and we are so grateful! They have helped to make the house livable. However, they were not our only contributors. We had several donations from individuals and churches that included paint, beds, furniture, table and chairs, curtains, and clothes.
YMS wants to say a BIG THANK YOU to all who helped make this dream possible!
Blessings,
The YMS team
The Finished House
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Holiday Program and Youth House Progress
While everyone else was relaxing and putting their feet up this September holiday, YMS was busy, busy with our September Holiday Club. Once it was over, our leadership team sighed a deep sigh of relief – one that indicated we finished strong and successfully.
Some of our vocalists at the Production!
Like any other holiday program or Saturday Live that YMS puts on, we entertained the Refilwe kids and community kids with active games and lots of musical activities to draw them in. The theme for the week was a continuation of Identity in Christ. Our subjects centered around this theme and included topics such as trusting one another, hearing the voice of God, sharing life stories with each other, and being confident in who God has created YOU to be.
The drama group!
The week concluded with our 3rd Holiday Production of the year. We are very proud of our youth as they really work hard to put on a good performance for community members and family. The singers, dancers, and dramatic performances left us very pleased!
With that being said…September holiday program 2010…COMPLETE!
In our last blog, we spoke about our youth house and the full renovations that will be taking place there. The project is being completed this Saturday 9 October! We have been working very hard in the last two months to get everything ready for the big day. As I am typing this, the majority of our leadership team is up at the house scraping walls, applying poly filler, painting the showers, and putting up the fence for the vegetable garden.
We are very excited that Satreno will be here this weekend to complete all outstanding tasks, spend time with us, and hand over the keys to the youth house residents! This is the beginning of a house that will now be home to 12 young men!
Praise God for his blessings and for our new friends at Satreno. We hope this will be a start to a long-term relationship with this awesome group of people!
Some of our vocalists at the Production!
Like any other holiday program or Saturday Live that YMS puts on, we entertained the Refilwe kids and community kids with active games and lots of musical activities to draw them in. The theme for the week was a continuation of Identity in Christ. Our subjects centered around this theme and included topics such as trusting one another, hearing the voice of God, sharing life stories with each other, and being confident in who God has created YOU to be.The drama group!
The week concluded with our 3rd Holiday Production of the year. We are very proud of our youth as they really work hard to put on a good performance for community members and family. The singers, dancers, and dramatic performances left us very pleased!With that being said…September holiday program 2010…COMPLETE!
In our last blog, we spoke about our youth house and the full renovations that will be taking place there. The project is being completed this Saturday 9 October! We have been working very hard in the last two months to get everything ready for the big day. As I am typing this, the majority of our leadership team is up at the house scraping walls, applying poly filler, painting the showers, and putting up the fence for the vegetable garden.
We are very excited that Satreno will be here this weekend to complete all outstanding tasks, spend time with us, and hand over the keys to the youth house residents! This is the beginning of a house that will now be home to 12 young men!
Praise God for his blessings and for our new friends at Satreno. We hope this will be a start to a long-term relationship with this awesome group of people!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Youth House Renovation
It is an unfortunate reality that many youth of this generation grow up in families that are unstable or broken. YMS sees young people hurt from abuse, neglect or need on a regular basis. It is a value of YMS to see these young people rise above their situations and backgrounds. One of the ways YMS has been able to do this is through the YMS youth house.
The youth house, which is within the Refilwe premises, is home to YMS youth leaders and students (all male). This house serves as a safe place to stay for those who have fallen subject to an inhibited upbringing. We have seen the potential in these vulnerable students from the community and would like to not only give them a place to stay, but train them as YMS leaders to serve their community. It is important that all the students that stay in the house excel in all areas including school work because they are setting an example for those with whom they will be working.
The criteria for staying in the youth house:
• School attendance and/or
• Part of small enterprise development/skills development within Refilwe
• 18 years or older
• 12 young people, initially men
• Upkeep of the house
• Maintain a working food garden
YMS is very excited to announce that a company by the name of Satreno has offered their time and resources to completely renovate the youth house. The house was given to YMS in desperate need of repair, so we are truly blessed by this opportunity. The renovations range from a vegetable garden extension, new beds and bedding, a brand new kitchen, and more! Satreno, a business consulting company based in Pretoria, is bringing 30 staff from their office to assist in the all day renovation. The Satreno staff will be at Refilwe on 9 October to execute the project alongside YMS and the Refilwe children, as this will be a good opportunity for them to learn how to serve their community.
Satreno has made several visits to Refilwe to get the process started. They have already brought basins, poly filler, and other supplies for us to do all the prep work for the house before the big day.
At the moment, there are only three guys staying in the youth house, but after the renovation, we will be accepting applications for up to 12 young men!
YMS and the future students of the youth house are eternally grateful to Satreno for this incredible blessing.
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