HANDS
AMAKHONO OKUPHILA - SKILLS4LIFE
CfC is situated in one of the poorest parts of South Africa with very high unemployment. This is also an area with one of the highest incidents of HIV/Aids and teenage pregnancies in Southern Africa. There is an estimated population of 90 000 people on our doorstep, many of whom are young adults without work or skills to find a job.
In 2016, CfC decided to establish a skills development program for the local community. It was named Skills4Life as the aim was to provide “basic skills” to interested individuals, but also seek to impart “life” through addressing relevant life issues, including the most important life altering truth that true-life is only found in relationship with Jesus Christ.
In this program, adults from the local community were given basic training in sewing, cooking & baking, computers, and woodwork. This was done with two main goals: to empower the individual to be employable or start their own small business, and to give them hope. We are looking forward on expanding on the courses offered as more volunteer teachers are available.
Skills4Life has proven to be a successful venture, and three or four times a year, two dozen students are taken through this basic training and come out with a hopeful vision for the future through the skills and knowledge they gain.
In 2020 it was registered as Amakhono Okuphila – Skills4Life (AO) with its own board and with Section 18A donation tax exemption status. As the program grew, a new need was discovered: Business training. Thus, the first Business Incubator program was run in 2020 in which a handful of previous students were given a further three months of support and training to establish their own businesses. The pilot program was run with previous sewing students, but it is envisioned to expand this to the other courses in the future as well.
AO seeks to build strong and fruitful relationships with other NPOs to serve the community, and aims to offer hope and dignity to people through practical training and life skills development.To learn more about AO, to see pictures of the work done and if you are interested in donating towards this specifically, please follow the link here.
OUTREACH
CfC believes that the local church should reach their community for Christ. For this reason, it aligns itself in strategic partnerships with churches that has a Kingdom vision, and then seek ways to assist that local church to effectively reach out to their communities by providing relevant training for evangelism and discipleship to the local church.
We seek to further assist and bless these partner churches by providing a link between them and another church for outreach and encouragement. Such outreach could include sports ministry; door-to-door; Jesus film; holiday Bible clubs; etc.
CfC Ministries is strategically situated to facilitate short term outreach to assist its partner churches who are within its immediate area, or further afield.
The following could be arranged:a. A Work Team serving on the CfC campus.
b. A Beach Mission – reaching out to those on holiday.
c. Outreach in partnership with local churches that could include:
- A team staying on the premises of CfC and commuting to outreach location;
- living in a rural area serving a local church. This option is possible with small groups up to 10 people.
Whatever the option, ample time is required for preparation, especially option (c).
CFC FARM
CfC owns a property of 4 Ha, of which about 2 Ha is used for Silver Oaks Retreat and Conference Centre. Since 2016, with the help of local farmers, CfC has developed the remaining 2 Ha into a viable farming venture where Macadamia Nuts are grown as well as Bananas. The nuts are harvested annually and sold for export. Bananas are harvested on a regular basis and sold to local distributors for resale. These sales add income to the needs of keeping the CfC site maintained.
A further aim is that the “farm” be used for training “skills in farming” as well as “home gardens”.