JEFFREYS BAY – A long-standing international partnership has once again delivered meaningful support to a local community initiative, with generous donations to Makukhanye Primary School and the SOS Project in Jeffreys Bay.
St Faith’s, the largest day primary school in Cambridge, England, catering for boys and girls aged three to 13, visited Jeffreys Bay again in April this year, for the sixth time in 23 years.
Ed Johnson (Director of Sport and Bentley House) and Elizabeth Kennerley (Head of Outreach and Chaucer House), with a group of 44 learners and 6 teachers, visited the school this year.
Makukhanye Primary in Pellsrus, Jeffreys Bay, educates 1,300 learners, and like any other public school, struggles with a high number of learners per class and inadequate infrastructure.
St Faith’s in England, on the other hand, is a well-established school with 550 learners and is well-equipped.
Two different countries, two different worlds.
Johnson said that in 2003, a St Faith’s rugby coach, solely referred to as Mr Mitchell, raised money with the idea of starting a project in one of the townships in South Africa.
His mother-in-law, Martie Viljoen, was volunteering as a music teacher at Makukhanye Primary at the time.
“Since then, St Faith’s has contributed almost R1.5 million in donations over the past 23 years for improvements such as classrooms, a medical centre, a netball court, and various other upgrades,” said Johnson.
He said that St Faith’s recent visit to Makukhanye Primary this year was to formally hand over the facilities and upgrades which were completed in 2025.
“An existing classroom was converted to a library which will be used as a boardroom, and a skills room to teach learners how to crochet, knit, mend and sew,” said Johnson.
“In addition, an unused container was converted into a welding centre where Pastor Luthando Eric will teach the learners to weld and to repair the school furniture, which is in short supply.”
Johnson said that the jewel in the crown is the computer centre, a classroom converted to a computer room.
Furthermore, he said that St Faith’s also donated 35 computers, and the school is currently looking for volunteers to train the teachers and learners and to champion a programme to train the trainer.
“This relationship is particularly important for both schools as it teaches learners from both sides of the spectrum the different values of life, but simultaneously their similarities which exist in their goals, desires, and dreams even though the schools are 12,000km apart,” said Johnson.
He said that the visit this year was different from the other visits.
Both Johnson and Kennerley learned from an article published by the Kouga Express about the SOS Project, a non-profit organisation in Jeffreys Bay.
Kennerley said that the school decided to adopt the SOS Project as one of their charity organisations and to assist the communities in Jeffreys Bay.
“St Faith’s donated R18,900 to the SOS Project, which will enable the project to expand its outreach to the community with a second soup day on Fridays,” said Kennerley.
She said that the funds were raised by hosting a concert at St Faith’s.
Kennerley said that every year, six learners (ages 10 to 11) at St Faith’s do a big musical and drama production.
In addition, she and Johnson bought African fabric in Cape Town, from which they will make scrunchies, purses, pencil cases and pouches to sell.
All this money will be earmarked for the SOS Project. For more information regarding Makukhanye Primary or the SOS Project, contact Wessel Vosloo at 082 4656 489 or email vosloo.wesselj@gmail.com.
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