By ‘Maleruo Leponesa
The Lebone Centre’s 20 years of loving service to thousands of young local children were recently celebrated at a rousing ceremony at the Kingswood College Chapel.
Lebone’s literacy projects coordinator, Cathy Gush, said the 20th anniversary marked a huge milestone in the road that Lebone has travelled. “Its footsteps may need the whole book to cover them,” she said.
The celebration was shared with founders, donors, past and present Lebone staff, hundreds of Kingswood learners and a cohort of little people from Lebone’s Little Red Dragon preschool. The preschool is named after Kingswood’s dragon symbol.
In 2005, the Kingswood College Council approved the Reverend Tim Rist’s proposal to purchase a house in Currie Street to serve the community that would be named the Lebone Centre (the Sesotho word for ‘light’). “Rist believed it was important for Christians and the learners of a Christian school to be able to exercise their faith and demonstrate the Christian ethos through service,” Gush said.
Initially, the aim was to serve orphans and vulnerable children, and those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. However, over time, the Centre evolved into a fully-fledged NGO named the Integrated Community Development Projects Trust (ICDP), with a strong focus on literacy and other educational support projects, although still mainly with young children as the beneficiaries.
The preschool, which was the anchor project at the beginning and the only full-time initiative when the Centre started, is flourishing. Just last year, it received the ECD Centre of Excellence Award at the inaugural Makhanda Teachers Awards.
However, Gush said that in the early days, financial struggles were “real”, and Lebone even struggled to pay the preschool teacher. “But we remained faithful in the hands of God through the spiritual guidance of Rev Rist. Today, Lebone runs 10 major projects that form a pipeline of educational support for young children and families in the community, and an annual budget of around R2 million raised from a range of donors,” Gush said.
Amongst many programs, Lebone has a comfortable and well-stocked library, replete with cushions, where Kingswood learners and others read to local children. A Rhodes University Honours student recently told Gush that the little library had instilled a love for reading in her.
Lebone strongly believes in the value of partnering with others and was named Community Partner of the Year by Rhodes Community Engagement as far back as 2011.
“From small beginnings, it has grown into an NGO with an excellent reputation, even nationally, good community relationships, and a range of valuable partnerships. Thank you for celebrating our 20 years with us. God is good,” Gush concluded.
Lebone multi-lingual storyteller and home visitor Kaylynne Rushin said Lebone had helped her achieve her purpose in life. She thanked everyone who contributed to the success and growth of the Centre.
