Summary of 2023 activities Kenton-on-Sea The year 2023 has proved to be exciting if quite challenging! It has arguably been the most successful in the history of the Kenton Programme. Our labour has borne fruits and Coach Khaya has been thrilled to have 6 of his young charges making provincial and regional teams. In addition, Coach Khaya accompanied two of the teams as a manager, adding yet another exciting notch to his increasingly impressive CV. We are extremely fortunate in that Life Skills training at school continues to be ongoing through the Kariega Foundation, probably doing far more than we would be able to provide. Khaya, originally trained by the Kariega Outreach programme, has himself now trained teachers and leads this programme at the local school. For just a few of our children, there have been wonderful growth opportunities – flights to catch, opportunities to play in teams in a truly competitive environment, travel to new and different parts of the country, bringing new knowledge greater than just the immediate environment and loads of self-esteem. Our success stories, one at a time, continue to provide us with such satisfaction. Lucia, from assisting with the coaching is now studying further, Prince who started with us when he was 11 and a year later was selected for the EC Schools team, Thimna who was 8 and at 10 also made a regional team as did Kylie, (Khaya’s daughter) and others. Khaya’s personal journey is amazing and such a credit to us and himself. The rather unexpected success has, however, brought with it unexpected challenges for which we had not budgeted. Achievements in the provincial and regional arenas have meant an upgrade in equipment, official team clothing, travel costs in buses and by air and accommodation wherever they needed to play. We obviously could not have done this without the ICP’s generous grant. But as you can see, we exceeded our budget by over 60%. We managed this with the help of Kariega Game Reserve’s Outreach Foundation, contributions from the Grahamstown Tennis Academy (GAP) and the EC Junior Tennis Association. The remaining amounts were from the IC South Africa, which will be refunded to the Vosloorus programme, and finally, by myself. Once again, we appreciate all that you do for us and the other programmes worldwide. Leonie LEONIE GRONDEL IC South Africa Kenton Programme Co-ordinator
