The first term at Levana has ended.

Physical education focused on bat and ball games this term. Baseball, Softball and cricket were just some of the games we played throughout the first 10 weeks.

More importantly, however, we completed all our high school applications.

We have a group of 21 students with whom we worked with. We handed in 45 separate applications to 4 different high schools. The annual high school fees for these schools are between R7,000-R16,000 ($450-$1050USD). These schools are much better-resourced and have a higher quality of education in comparison to the high schools these children would have attended in the immediate vicinity of Lavender Hill. Muizenberg High School is about 10 times the price of Lavender Hill High School, for example.

Most of the parents of these children will be earning around 1USD per hour if they are lucky. They would only be able to afford the types of high schools that we are helping them apply to, after 1,000 hours of work. That is without paying for food, rent, etc.

So, now we sit and we wait for responses. We helped the children complete their applications to the best of their ability, so now we hope for acceptances. If we get the acceptances, we will then start fundraising for as many scholarships as possible.

As for the next couple of months, we will continue our physical education as normal with a soccer unit.

Our teacher, Lara, will not only continue in the school, but she will also help provide teaching/administrative services to the Surf Outreach in Muizenberg.

And that leads us into my last 3 months in South Africa.

And finally. I’d like to say another thank you to all the people that have supported us, not only through their kind comments and words of support, but also to the people who have fundraised and donated money to The Compass Trust. Thank you so much to the Van Wyk family who have supported us from day one. My godmother Christine and her daughter Hannah, as well as Erik Fladager have also raised a huge amount of money for us to keep the program going.

Keep an eye on our “Our Finances” page to see exactly how your donations have been used in the coming months. We have come a long way since last July, but we’ve got so much to do in these next 3 months to create a sustainable program for when we leave. I look forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Always good and love to all.

Matt