HUMANSDORP – The Victory4All Foundation has unveiled its newest project, a specialised lunchroom at Humansdorp’s Rainbow Skills Centre in the Eastern Cape that will serve as both a training facility for young adults with disabilities and a community service initiative, such as serving senior citizens who cannot afford dining at local restaurants.
Victory4All was established in 2003 by Johan Vos and his wife, Astrid, in a bid to break the cycle of poverty by providing Christian-based quality education.
The Rainbow Skills Centre is one of the many programmes which form part of Victory4All.
The Rainbow Skills Centre lunchroom, which was officially launched on 1 October, International Day of Older Persons, represents a unique approach to addressing two critical community needs, skills development for youth with disabilities and social support for senior citizens.
Johan said that through this lunchroom training programme, the students will learn all the needed skills to work in a restaurant or in the kitchen of a restaurant, including hospitality, communication, teamwork, multitasking, time management, food safety and problem-solving.
The Rainbow Skills Centre, established in 2018, was created to provide additional training for learners from the Rainbow Centre who age out of the programme at around 18 years old.
“The practical and social skills the young people learn at the Skills Centre help reduce their distance from the job market. They love learning things here that they never thought possible,” said Vos.
“We hope and pray that the young trainees will receive hope through these programmes, and this will help them find a job and earn an income.”
Vos further said that they have always wanted to serve and bless local people.
Finally, on 1 October they accomplished their long-awaited dream and served approximately 20 seniors.
The programme will serve the Jeffreys Bay, Kruisfontein, and KwaNomzamo communities, with funding coming from overseas fundraising efforts and income from related businesses, including the Soete Swaan Bakery and vegetable kitchen.
Further elaborating on the Rainbow Skills Centre, Beauty Lusu, programme head, said that the centre is a learning environment for individuals with disabilities between the ages of 17 and 25 years old.
Since there is still a great deal of stigma experienced by those living with disabilities, she said that through the centre, they hope to advocate for the students and raise awareness.
“Our students have great potential, and once this potential is developed, they can do wonders,” said Beauty.
She further said that since many of their students are raised by their grandparents or parents who have disabilities, the Rainbow Centre has always had a desire to serve these individuals.
“We want to strengthen our learners but also encourage them to never forget where they come from,” said Beauty.
Hettie Groenewald, who recently retired as principal of King’s College in June, has taken on the role of host for the Wednesday morning gatherings.
“Once I retired as principal of King’s College, I knew that I wanted to use my time to serve seniors,” said Hettie.
She said that many seniors rarely leave their homes, and the lunchroom will be a great breakaway for them.
“The lunchroom, therefore, offers seniors time away from home and an opportunity for us to make them feel special,” said Hettie.
She said that since many people do not know much about what is done at the Rainbow Centre, each Wednesday they plan to take their visitors on a tour through each section.
The lunchroom represents just one component of the comprehensive skills training offered at the centre.
The 53 youngsters currently enrolled rotate through various programmes over two to three years, including woodwork, catering, baking at the Soete Swaan Bakery, landscaping, plant production, needlework facilitation, needlework production, crafts and housekeeping.
Vos said that the programme will initially serve seniors once a month, with plans to expand to twice a month and eventually every Wednesday morning.
He further said that the Wednesday morning sessions will feature varied activities including bingo, movies, games, performances by the Rainbow Marimba band and singing by the children, ensuring that each visit offers something new for the senior participants.
While the current lunchroom is not yet open to the public, Vos outlined ambitious expansion plans to open a restaurant at a later stage.
“In the near future, we hope and pray to find the right facility in Jeffreys Bay or Humansdorp to open a real restaurant where the students who were at the Rainbow Skills Centre will have the opportunity to work,” said Vos.
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