Jikani is the local outreach and community organisation situated in the heart of Hogsback Village. This weekend we are launching our latest achievement, the Funda Ukhule Reading room, and all are invited!! Wamkilikele! Funda Ukhule means Read to Grow, and we are delighted to announce that our dream to build a reading room in Hogsback has finally been realised! This reading room’s goal from the outset was to create a safe space where the people of Hogsback could meet, do workshops with a focus on skills development, and use the space for literacy and reading programmes for the local children. The initial idea was to use the existing Kraal, which had a roof, and build the walls with eco-bricks, thereby promoting an eco-friendly way of recycling plastic as well as an alternative, creative way of building. The community of Hogsback and its environs, as well as participating schools (mostly East London), came together to support this objective and the required amount of bricks was nearly achieved, making this reading room truly a community effort. In the meantime, BUCO got involved and stepped in to supply the necessary building materials to complete the project. The eco-bricks were not only used to insulate the reading room walls, but have also been repurposed to make amazingly comfortable chairs! The biggest outcome so far is that the famous Hogsback Library, touted to have been one of the smallest libraries in the world, has relocated Funda Ukhule - a wonderful asset to complement the literacy programme objectives. Whilst it is sad to have lost the title of the ‘littlest library’ in South Africa/the World, the library was in desperate need of a new home after the thatch was badly damaged in the rondavel at the old premises. This was a difficult decision to make, as the little library was well known and loved the world over. It has been an iconic building in Hogsback and been used as a library since the early 1930's. However, Jikani has welcomed this positive move as it now serves young and old in a spacious comfortable centrally located building with lots of space! The reading room is already buzzing with activity and a mums & toddlers group is using the space for regular story time. This is quickly becoming a popular weekly occasion for the younger children to meet and learn. A real success is that the weekly lessons with the local school, Crabbush Primary School, has been expanded. In the past, the Grade 7's came to Jikani for IT training once a week, but only 6 learners could be accommodated each week. This year all of the Grade 7's (15 in total) are able to attend - offering an hour of IT training plus an hour for reading - so there are 2 groups that alternate between the 2 sessions every week! This means each learner has regular weekly sessions and offers them the opportunity to improve their English and literacy skills before they head off to High School. If the programme is successful, and there are enough volunteers, the literacy classes will be expanded to include the younger grades, hopefully encouraging a love for reading at an early age, which can only be beneficial to the learners in the future. We are also hoping that the Funde Ukhule reading room will encourage growth on so many different levels! It was designed as a studious place where people are able to concentrate and study. The hope is that people will start using it for this purpose. As part of the concept for the use of the space, it is also intended to hold workshops, mostly focusing on skills development and educational talks. We have plans to hold CV writing courses as well as hospitality skills training, thereby making this space a place of growth and opportunity! As the reading room currently has no electricity, we are fundraising to make that a reality. The Edge made a contribution towards the electrical installation at Funde Ukhule and has challenged other establishments and locals in Hogsback to do the same - this will definitely make Funda Ukhule a much more user-friendly environment with much needed lighting as well as heating for the colder months! This Saturday, the 23rd of February, we will be officially opening (9:30-11:30am) the Funda Ukhule reading room and we are planning a community party! There will be a talk on butterflies, a bake sale, a jumping castle for the kiddies and various crafters. If you want to come and sell your crafts, donate eats for the bake sale, or contribute to the fundraising effort, please contact Contact Gemma to make your pledge today!
Gemma 045 962 1001 or Email [email protected] www.jikani.com and www.facebook.com/jikani
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We kicked off our annual #spring #hogsbackcelebrations festival weekend, with a fundraising event for Jikani, our local outreach in Hogsback.
It was held at the the Tea Thyme venue at the Edge and provided for an intimate backdrop to the musings and book reading of author Marc Schroeder. He inspired us with his life story of how he went from the High life of money, drugs, riches, and zero fulfillment to a life of peace and happiness, living in the Himalayas in India. It is truly a story of how to turn your life around!
Fundraising
This successful fundraiser was further boosted by an auction of 2 books that were generously donated by Marc Schroeder. The auction raised an additional R2800, thanks to Paul's incredibly enthusiastic & passionate auctioneering! Many thanks to Sarah Currie & Vikki Boyes whose bids ultimately won the books.
Well done to the Jikani team for all the hard work that you all have put into this worthwhile endeavour. To support Jikani and for more information about Jikani's great work, see www.jikani.com
Hogsback is currently a cacophony of colours and visiting our open gardens should be on your bucket list!
So how does it all work?
Some of the gardens you can only access on a guided tour while others are open gardens and you can go and stroll at leisure through the enchanted gardens once you have your self guided tickets. Tickets are available from the information centre in the main road. See the garden map and information below.
Spring has sprung (give or take a bit of snow here and there) and it is time to get ready to come and join us for a splendiferously colourful time in Hogsback. Come and stroll through our amazing open gardens and join us for the #spring #hogsbackcelebrations weekend from the 12-14th October.
We are inviting you to attend a Gala Dinner, with guest speak Marc Schroeder – “Author of Sleeping with Dogs - A Tale of Madness!”
A personal account of how he was able to change his life "for the better” – “Better” being incredibly relevant to each individuals expectation level! *From riches, to drug hell, to Kashmiri hiking guide and author – come hear his inspirational story!* When: 6-6.30pm on Friday 12th October at The Edge. Menu Starter: Red lentil soup with cumin, ginger and garlic served with homemade ciabatta bread. Mains Chicken in red wine served with rice and seasonal vegetables. or Vegetarian – Paneer curry served with rice, sambals and poppadom. Dessert Caramelized bananas served with vanilla ice-cream Cost: R200 per person To book please contact Gemma: [email protected] / 072 492 6868 to book your seats. All proceeds will be used to renovate Jikani's driveway which is much needed to provide access to this amazing local outreach . As Jikani is a PBO (*Non Profit Organisation NPO: 126-277 Public Beneficiary Organisation PBO: 930056685) , they can issue section 18(A) receipts making your donations tax deductible. A hearty congratulations to all the #snowhunt winners who have worked so hard to complete their hunt throughout the village under sometimes difficult but fun circumstances!! As it was our first #snowhunt of many more to come, we did it as an experiment.... and did we learn a lot!!! Maybe even more than the contestants! The aim of the hunt was:
The good news is that there were over R50 000 worth of prizes and everybody was in on the fun!
The rest of the prizes went into the draw.....and the following Terms and conditions apply:
Draw Winners Gerald will be running his Huskies on the main road, on Saturday 28th July at 11am. The Huskie run will start at Jikani, take a loop around the village green and back to Jikani. The road will be closed for the duration of the Huskie run, so make sure that you have a good viewing point somewhere along the road between Jikani and the Village green before 11am. We have asked Gerald to share his story about how he came to be a huskie fan. This is his story.... It started many years ago when I rescued a stray Husky in Walkerville where I previously stayed. Like most people I knew very little of the breed. I soon found out that they are high energy, extremely intelligent dogs. In the beginning I couldn't find much apart from the fact that the most common husky in South Africa is the Siberian Husky, which is also the smallest of the husky breeds. We visited Hogsback early in 2016 and I fell in love with the area and village, and decided to make the move. A chance remark by my sister that this would be a good area for huskies led me to renew my search for ways to harness their amazing energy. This led to me joining Sled Dogs in Johannesburg in 2016. Here I was introduced to a popular pastime called "sledding" in SA. (Correct term is bikejoering). This involves riding a mountain bike while harnessed to 1 or 2 huskies, who run in front. I also adopted 2 huskies in the same year from Midrand (Ice) and Benoni(Shiloh) SPCA. The following year Rusty joined my pack from Husky Rescue. At the same time I was able to purchase my property in Hogsback, so the idea was becoming real. This was when I first came up with the name Hogsback Huskies. In January 2018 I added Daemon to the pack, adopted from friends of my sister in East London. I currently have 5 huskies, but only the 4 males actively walk/run. The fifth is my oldest Husky, a little female I also found as a stray, and was never claimed. My goal is to build up to a full husky team of 12 to 14 dogs. They will be trained to pull a wheeled cart, which I was recently given by a friend at Sled Dogs. I was not able to spend the time required to learn how to run the cart for this year, so please visit next year when we will have it running with a small team. For this year, I hope you enjoy watching 2 of my pack running with the bike. They absolutely love it. I have also opened a guesthouse for dogs to come and unwind in Hogsback. If you feel your dogs need some caring R&R in a paradise location, book them into Dogwood lodge. Gerald Goosen |
Hogsback Winter Celebration:
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