My name is Tina Harcourt-Wood and thanks to the continued and dedicated support of Abigel Sheridan and Chic Mamas we have been running the Wordworks programme here at Capricorn Primary School for the last 4 years.

Capricorn Primary School is situated in an area known as Vrygrond, one of the most impoverished ‘townships’ in Cape Town, the children who attend the school have countless battles to face on a day to day basis, including but not limited to, hunger, abuse, violence, drugs and alcohol, not to mention taxi wars and land protests. This combined with the multiple languages spoken in the area can make the classroom environment very challenging for even the most accomplished teacher and reading and writing support becomes crucial and is needed by more than 50% of the children. On average Wordworks at Capricorn is helping between 80 and 100 children each year in the Grade R and 1 classrooms and the support these children have received over the years has proven invaluable in regards to their progress in their school careers.

Wordworks focuses on Grade R’s and 1’s, teaching the phonetic alphabet, followed by basics like CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words, high frequency words and then progressing to blend and multi syllable words, to give the child a sound base for further learning of the English language. We were finding that a lot of the children were “winging it” in regard to reading and could identify whole words without knowing the letters within that word which ultimately became to much for the child and they would simply give up in their attempts to read and write, often leading to them dropping out of school.

I am currently also working together with another organisation supported by Abigel and Chic Mamas, known as the Butterfly Art Programme, they are working with children off the streets here in Vrygrond, running a programme to give them some basic life skills, we have been working on the reading and writing for children between the ages of 12 and 16, starting with the very basics of the English language.

I have personally been working in the Vrygrond area for 9 years and I know that Abigel has been involved for even longer. Being exposed to such poverty daily is humbling and we continue to learn year on year exactly all the aid that is needed. One thing I am sure about is that for most of the youth that grow up in this community, there is only one way out of such extreme poverty and that is education, that education starts with the ability to read and write. We would like to give a huge thank you to Abigel and Chic Mamas for their continued and passionate support of not only the children at Capricorn Primary School, but also the Vrygrond community.

Abigel and Chic Mamas not only support the Wordworks programme here at Capricorn Primary, their dedication and support touched the lives of hundreds last year when a devasting shack fire spread throughout the township destroying hundreds of homes in one night, we were able to provide food, clothing and basic household items to many of the fire victims. Small things like having the right uniform amongst your peers are big things to those that were affected and the look of gratitude on the children’s faces that had just lost everything was one that is not easily forgotten.

Thank you so much Abigel for touching the lives of countless children and giving them at least a chance of a better and easier life. Your support, passion, compassion and dedication is greatly appreciated!

Yours sincerely

Tina Harcourt-Wood
Wordworks facilitator, Capricorn Primary School