End Of Year Message, December 2022

The end of 2022 is almost upon us and who would have thought that the year would have been as it was.  Firstly we have had a more “peaceful” year in South Africa compared to the previous few years which were disrupted by COVID-19 and “riots”.  This year however we did suffer from severe flooding during April but these mainly affected the coastal areas around Durban.  Little damage was done to the local area in which we operate.

As the year closes we would like to wish you all a wonderful “festive season” remembering that the reason for the season is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  

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 800 children in these crèches who receive excellent basic skills which will enhance their school carers in the future. 

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 community and they are enjoying the support they receive from us.

Gateway Christian School:

Our Gateway Christian School children have been very busy this year with many outings and events which they all thoroughly enjoyed.  They have reached the end of the school year and are currently busy with exams and end of year prize giving celebrations. Our marketing department has kept the Facebook age active this year and this has helped in boosting numbers for 2023.  We look forward to even more 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.  They also played against other local schools during the year in football and netball.

Gateway School of Fashion:

During the past year the School of Fashion had great success at the Durban July Handicap Fashion Show and are now working towards the end-of-year Fashion Show.  The Show was held at the end of November and was a great success with the learners interpreting the “themes” extremely well. The judging was very thorough and it was mentioned that the level of work produced by the learners was excellent. The Graduation ceremony was very exciting as the learners really enjoyed the success of the year in receiving their Certificates.

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.