Beginning Of Year, March 2023

We are now 2 months into the New Year and we have had exciting developments at Project Gateway during 2023.  Generally in the NGO Sector in South Africa money is very tight and Project Gateway is no exception to that.  We have attended local discussions regarding the economics of the country and things are grim all over the world and South Africa is no exception EXCEPT God is on our side.  We praise Him for sustaining us through this difficult time and we know that through prayer we will come through this stronger than we were before.

CARE Ministries:

Our Crèche programme continues to be active and our Social Worker visits the 15 crèches under our care on a regular basis.  The number of children are growing each time she visits them and they are all actively involved in vegetable gardening as well.  There are now over 700 children in these crèches who receive excellent basic skills which will enhance their school carers in the future. 

In Partnership with ABELUSI our “Community feeding Communities” garden project is also growing well and we have recently identified and added 5 more gardens.  That means that people in 9 Wards have access to fresh vegetables.  We have also completed leadership training with the garden communities and they are enjoying the support they receive from us.  We are delighted to host an Information evening later this month where we will expose this programme to more Business people in our area. 

Gateway Christian School:

Our Gateway Christian School children numbers have increased substantially this year and we now have 394 children in our school. Our marketing department has kept the Facebook page active and this has helped in boosting numbers for 2023.  We look forward to these children benefiting from the excellent education that we offer through our school.  Our sports department was also very active and the children enjoyed the physical education lessons as well as the after school sport.  We have started recreational swimming for the senior Grades which the children are really enjoying. I was told the other day by a child in Grade 6 that He will be an Olympic Swimmer when he’s grown up!!

Gateway School of Fashion:
During the past year the School of Fashion had great success at the Durban July Handicap Fashion Show and at the end-of-year Fashion Show which we held in Howick.   The learners interpreted the “themes” extremely well. The judging was very thorough and it was mentioned that the level of work produced by the learners was excellent. This year we have a record number of learners.  We have 23 in Year 1; 8 in Year 2 and for the first time 2 in Year 3.  Our Year 3’s are running their own SMME’s which is an exciting milestone for us.

MUSEUM:

We are based in “The Old Prison” in Pietermaritzburg and have a world class state of the art Museum on site depicting the history of The Old Prison and the city in general from the early 1800’s through to freedom in 1994.  Tours are available at a minimal cost and we encourage all ages to visit our historical site.