Nemato Change a Life plot rezoning approved

Rezoning of centre

AFTER many months, and a lot of knocking on doors, the rezoning of the Nemato Change a Life (NCAL) plot has been approved and signed.

The use of the land had to be changed from residential to institutional to allow NCAL to build the Nemato Change a Life Centre.

“The next hurdle is the approval of the building plans, which shouldn’t take long, hopefully,” NCAL founder Jan Blom said. “At least we can start preparing the ground so long. Hopefully by the end of April we’ll be building.”

The centre is funded by the Mike Thomson Change a Life Trust and Blom said he was proud to be one of three organisations supported by the trust and is extremely grateful for all their support! Holiday activities

The past summer holiday was time for fun. Members who had been working hard got spoiled with great activities, like going to the beach and visiting places.

“We went to Grahamstown where we visited the only Camera Obscura in the Southern Hemisphere,” Blom said. “We also visited the Addo Elephant Park where, despite the hot weather, we were very lucky to see many animals including lions and large groups of elephants.”

Another holiday “special” was the beach and building sand sculptures. Carol-Ann Stiekema of the Sunshine Coast Gymnastics Club was the teacher, and in no time, the guys were building beautiful and creative sculptures. Numeracy class

NCAL began using the numeracy programme of the SA Numeracy Chair Project from Rhodes University.

“It's a fun programme to improve number sense and fluency, using dice, playing cards and other tools. “We are hopeful the programme will give our members good numeracy skills, providing them with a solid base to become strong and confident at maths,” Blom said. Maths class

This term, at the daily maths class, the members learned algebra. During the last half-an-hour of the class, they focused on other subjects such as sex education, English text comprehension, learning to study, speaking English and goal setting.

Blom said: “When you grow up under the severe stress of poverty, it is very difficult to focus on achieving success in the distant future. Even with our programme offering basics like food security, it’s hard to turn the brain around from impulse reactions to the self-control needed for long-term prosperity.”

To support this process, NCAL introduced two new programmes to its class for secondary school pupils. These were goal-setting and learning to study. It is also hoped to introduce a mentoring programme that LifeXchange developed on the Cape Flats. Sculpture

In the last NCAL newsletter, it was not yet allowed to announce details about the sculpture NCAL member Odwa Quma helped sculptor Maureen Quin make.

“It’s a sculpture of Olof Palme, the murdered Prime Minister of Sweden who spoke out strongly against what was wrong in the world, including apartheid in South Africa,” Blom explained. It was commissioned by The National Heritage Project, and will be at the Fountains Nature Reserve in Pretoria as part of the Long Walk Collection. At the moment the sculpture is at the bronze foundry. FutureLife donation

Every month NCAL receives 70kg of FutureLife, donated to them by the Eastern Cape Academy of Sport. This instant porridge gives the athletes all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrition needed for a healthy body and brain. Together with its cooked meals every day, donated by KFC Add Hope, NCAL is able to ensure that no members goes to bed hungry or suffering from malnutrition. Clothes donated

Rhodes University rowers donated a large amount of clothes to NCAL.

“Great luck for the active members,” Blom said . “All went home with an arm full of clothes. Nothing for lazy members: you snooze, you lose!”