art from the heart and no more leaks :)

This week at Crabbush Primary, the Hogsback heArtists volunteered time doing art with the grade 4-7's and  

fixing the leaky pre-school roof. 

We drew pictures of things that are close to our hearts in wax crayon then painted over our
drawings with food colouring mixed with water

                                            

Thanks guys - great job!

for the love of the children

This week we joined forces with The MylifE Foundation and spent time with the children and teachers at the local primary school, Crabbush as part of our joint efforts to enhance 

Youth Development in the Eastern Cape. 

On Tuesday we met with the staff  at Crabbush and discussed how we can collaborate to enhance the school's image, repair classrooms and most importantly, connect with the children in meaningful, uplifting ways.  From next week we will be spending time with the children on a weekly basis with the goal of enhancing english literacy, communication skills and self-esteem. We also have the dedication of two staff members who will be spending the upcoming September school holidays participating on our first train-the-trainer Needlework skill development program. At the start of next term, they will be ready to implement their training into the school curricular.

Ryan Von Stein, from The MylifE Foundation has joined forces with local soccer coach, Don Green, who has been volunteering his services to the youth of Hogsback for many years. Ryan's fitness training experience will add a much needed vitality to the current coaching program and he will be joining the training sessions at Crabbush on a weekly basis. 

 

Not forgetting the little ones, heArtists Sarel Prinsloo and Luyanda Mayekiso helping to coach our future generation of soccer players.

Watch this space for further developments - we are excited for what is to come! And if you would like to give our online fundraising campaign a boost, please consider following the YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN CAPE link below and use the share tools to tell your friends - this increasing our "go-go factor" and gains our cause more exposure via the fundraising platform.

THANK YOU FOR BEING THE CHANGE!

heArtists at play

This week we have had some wonderful art happening at the HeArt Space Studio - thanks for the creative energy, guys!

Luyanda Mayakiso painting vivid Hogsback landscapes.

Sarel Prinsloo revamping an old pair of hiking shoes with his leather crafting skills...

....looking good!

Craig Whyle glazing a hand-sculpted mask....

...lovely smiles all round :)

Meet Luanda

Heartist, Luanda Mayakiso

Dear Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Luanda Mayakiso. He is 20 something, lives at the foot of the Hogsback mountains in a rural village called Aukland and he is a ceramic artist and entrepreneur. Not only that – you should see his veggie garden!

Luanda travels up the Hogsback pass to sell his wares and produce as well as to participate in jobs anyone has for him. Never have I heard him complain – instead, when we chat about our hopes and dreams, I discover that he has a quiet passion for his community and wants to make a difference.


Luanda would very much like to share his love for ceramic arts with youth from the community. He tells me that there isn’t much for the youth to do and many of his peers end up drinking to pass the time. One can see his concern when he talks about the youngsters who seem to be falling into a cycle of hopelessness – and the glint in his eyes when we imagine the possibility of creating a future for the next generation that honours their unique gifts and talents.


Luanda sells his creations from the Heart Space shop and has become well known and loved in Hogsback over the years. His work is unique, with a whimsical quality and bright colours. He enjoys portraying aspects of everyday life: men on their horses, baboons and hogs that are well known to the area and paintings of women in the fields and children herding cows on coffee mugs.He also creates bright and beautifully hand sculpted vases, depicting the wild life of our continent.

hand painted and fired hog

cheeky baboons

man and his horse

In the future, Luanda would like to teach his skills to the youth and help them become creative, expressive and happy individuals. We support Luanda wholeheartedly and would like to see his talent celebrated and shared.

If you would like to show your support, please consider visiting our online fundraising campaign page and leaving a comment in the COMMENTS section of that page. This will boost our GO-GO factor and gain us more exposure.

Thanks for stopping by - we appreciate your time and energy :)

giving bottles a second life

Alice is the closest town to us (30km away) and the local butcher there sells milk on tap. Customers bring in their own containers and if they don't have one with them, the local entrepreneurs on the side-walk outside will sell you one.

We pledge to bring in our empty milk containers for these good folk to sell. We believe in supporting earth-friendly practices and this effort helps us to give our used items a second life. It's a great feeling to know that in a rural town like this, being waste-conscious is evident and re-using is being encouraged. Thanks, Alice :)

box shelves and satisfied smiles

We are making box shelves for the house and studio - 

with a little help from our friends :)

thanks guys - great job!

Amber learning to saw the wood

 

girls who can use power tools - yeah!

Noah making sure the planks are flush

Tatum concentrating on hammering 

Amier giving it a go

whoo! the sides are done!

We had a great time and the kids have learned some new skills. We look forward to seeing what they get up to next :)

sNOWhere :)

The snow has arrived in Hogsback! 

We are feeling very blessed for the beauty that surrounds us - the atmosphere is truly magical. 

We trust you are enjoying the season wherever you may be :)

Make a Beanie Teach a Child

The MylifE Foundation, in partnership with Heart Space Hogsback invite you to co-create a Train-the-Trainer Arts and Culture Development Centre for Youth in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, by making a beanie and raising awareness.

Why? 

MylifE began on the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, working with and successfully rehabilitating hundreds of disempowered youth living on the streets. During their ten years in operation they discovered that the majority of poverty stricken youth that land up on the streets and in prisons come from rural areas seeking better opportunities. 

The MylifE team embarked on a journey through the Eastern Cape (one of the largest rural provinces in SA) with two goals in mind: 1) to find out what the impact is on community with decreasing numbers of youth and 2) what can be done to create sustainable communities that prevent the youth from leaving with false hopes. 

The Solutions

·        The MylifE Train-the-Trainer Village at Glenara (areas of focus: Green Building (Housing/Shelter), Food Production (Permaculture principles), Alternative Energy Technologies, Water Sanitation, Waste Management and Environmental Consciousness)

·        The Train-the-Trainer Skills Development Centre at Heart Space (areas of focus: Holisitic Life Skills (health and wellbeing, communication, goal setting, motivation), Homesteading Skills, Entrepreneurial Skills, Skills Development through Arts and Culture, Recycling, Volunteering) 

The Make a Beanie Teach a Child campaign aims to raise awareness and funds for the Skills Development Centre by inviting you, the community, to make beanies for us to sell. Funds will go towards starting  our first skills development project: the Needle Work Program. Our goal is to train female youth (16-24yrs) in areas of crocheting, knitting and sewing. 

How You can Get Involved

1. Make a beanie. Heck, make lots of beanies! In fact, the more you make, the higher your chance of winning the monthly give-away prize.

2. Get someone to take a photo of you making the beanies as well as one with you and the finished beanies. These will appear on the "Wool of Fame" and on our Facebook Page.

3. Send the beanies, along with a short hand-written message of hope and love to the youth of the Eastern Cape to:

PO Box 109

Hogsback

5721

Eastern Cape

RSA

4. The beanies are sold to raise awareness and the messages will be displayed all around Hogsback.

5. Profits go towards the Hearts and Hands Train-the-Trainer Skills Development Centre for the Youth of Hogsback and Eastern Cape.

Thanks for stipping by and spreading the word - we appreciate you!

commUnity

We think these ideas are great. 

What are you doing to create unity in commUnity - please share, we'd love to hear! 

chicken coop progress

This month has been the coldest of winter so far. Whilst we haven't had much snow in Hogsback itself, there is snow on the Hogs and Gaika's Kop, which calls for icy air and rather cold fingers!

Gaikas Kop 

Nevertheless, we are enjoying the season and slowly but surely things are plodding along. Our chicken coop is looking good and just about ready for the brood boxes, which the children are eager to help build. 

From this...

... to this... 

We are just about ready to start building the brood boxes. The idea is to have the chicken coop alongside a small nursery. The chickens will keep the nursery warm and the little chooks will help with pest control. We are also looking into chicken assisted composting. 

We can't wait to get our first batch of chickens! I would love to get some ex-battery hens, simply to show them that life can indeed be grand. 

We'd love to hear about your chicken rearing experiences - visit us over at Facebook and let us know :)

the really really free market

From the US.... 

.... to Australia...

...to Muizenberg in good ol' Z.A...

The Really Really Free Market concept is growing wings and taking off.

In fact the next one is taking place in 1 WEEK from now 

on July 14th in Muizenberg, Cape Town! 

Check it out here and if you are in Cape Town 

GET DOWN THERE because there really is such a thing as a free lunch ;

And if you are anything like me and cannot be there, why not start your own Really Really Free Market?
I think this is a great way to enhance unity in community and can't wait to have our very first Really Really Free Market here in Hogsback :-)

Here are some pics of Really Really Free Markets past - who wouldn't want to get involved? 

mending clothes and sharing goods and services

fixing bicycles

a vision: skills development through recycling

After spending time with some of the local children in my neighbourhood, I have come to learn that there isn't much for the youth to do during school holidays - and even on weekends. I mean let's put it into perspective here:

You are around 13 years old; self-conscious, hungry for acceptance and recognition - craaaaaving something to stimulate your drive for mastering something exciting.... aaaaaaaaaand you live over 200km away from the nearest movie theatre. These kids are some of the most inventive I have seen; making the most innovative toys with discarded and found items: a bicycle wheel, some wire, a stick and a pair of running feet!

I would LOVE to offer the Heart Space Studio to the children of Hogsback on a regular basis for the purpose of giving them the opportunity to explore, expand and express their creative talents.

Noah, Thembalethu, Simamkele, Asabulela, Sinonuyo, Simbulele, Tatum, Lakayla
(not pictured: Siphamandla, Anelisa, Abongile, Avisiwe, Amier and Amber)

Since we have a recycling centre, I would like to focus on crafting skills that make use of upcycling and giving things a second life - things these children are good at because that is life on The Mountain :-)

The Heart Space Recycling Centre

Amber's upcycled tin to bird feeder :)

Noah and Tatum with their toilet roll bird feeders :-)

In order for me to realise this dream of sharing heart and space with these children, and offering them the chance to learn new crafts and skills, I need to be able to keep up a supply of craft materials and tools for them to use, you know, the usual: paints and brushes, glues and scissors, wax crayons, pencil crayons, chalk, aprons....  and this is where I need your help!

The space is ready and waiting, with tools and supplies to get started.... now we need your support
to help us grow until we become self-sufficient.

How you can support us: 

Share the love with word of mouth. Scroll to the bottom of this post and hit the Facebook button to share this page with your Facebook friends. The more who know, the merrier :)

If you would like to donate supplies or tools please feel free to email me and we can discuss logistics. 

If you would like to make a monetary donation, please visit this page for more information.

And remember to come back to see what we have been up to! 

hearts, hands and cake at Crabbush Primary

The journey of the Live Your Best Life cake continues! Yesterday we went with some of the MylifE team to Crabbush Primary School in Hogsback, where the principal and some of his dedicated staff and children attended the celebration during the school holidays.

The children of Crabbush Primary eagerly awaiting the arrival of the cake

It was a blessing to be able to share this cake with these children at this time because it allowed us to officially dedicate the collective energy of MylifE and Heart Space Hogsback to the school with some added beauty and thanksgiving. 

While the staff of the school are beyond dedicated (some working without pay for months) the school is in need of assistance. The blessing is that pro-active individuals and groups within the Hogsback community have responded to their needs and we will be joining forces with them to bring about even more positive change.

Linzi Thomas thanking the children of Crabbush  and explaining that MylifE and Heart Space will be spending lots more time with them, both at school and within the Hogsback community

Cutting the cake - making it official 

Receiving the cake - thank you Charly's Bakery!

... and thank you O Magazine, SA and MylifE!

It takes a village to raise a child - and we believe it takes a whole village to raise all of it's children. We will be spending time weekly with the children - reading, crafting and learning to "teta". We will also be lending our hearts and hands to maintenance and beautification initiatives while continuing to initiating programs and projects to enhance skills development, food production, recycling and community integration.

Crabbush Primary School has three classrooms to house all seven grades.
The pre-school, which caters to children between 0-6 have a separate container classroom. 

We are looking forward to sharing time and space with the children of Crabbush and getting to know the teachers better. I have the deepest respect for each of them and appreciate the opportunity to learn from them and be of service. 

If you are interested in offering your time, skills and energy to Crabbush School, or if you would like to make a donation to the upliftment of the school, please feel free to email me - thank you for being the change!

With Love,

Shireen