Stoep Stories

Dear Friends of Goedgedacht –

Every time I see one of those competitions for “Woman of the Year” I think of our Ingrid. . Being a pretty modest young woman she would be horrified to have that kind of exposure, so instead I’m going to introduce to you, not the “Woman of the Year’ but the “Woman of the Decade”!

This year our Path out of Poverty (POP) Programme is ten years old. A great moment for us to give credit to and acknowledge the inspirational and leading role which Ingrid has played in the programme.

She’s a girl with a great sense of the occasion and has now convinced us of the need to celebrate this important anniversary properly. ….
…so we’ve chosen Saturday the 31st of January 2009 for a day filled with thanksgiving and celebration . Make a note now!!

During this year I want to celebrate in my own way by telling you a little about some of the people who have contributed to the making of the Path out of Poverty.

So, lets focus first on the star of the show Ingrid Lestrade.

Ingrid is a product of Piketberg, just an hour’s drive away from here, the third daughter of an strong and courageous mother who brought up four lovely daughters singled handedly in very difficult circumstances. Amongst the gifts that she passed on to Ingrid were a deep and abiding faith, a passion for reading, a sense of the importance and value of education and a deep commitment to the poor..

Ingrid filled and washed cars in the local garage as a pomp-joggie to put herself through school. She became a member of the Springbok Judo team and got an excellent matric. After a year at Stellenbosch University and facing the huge disappointment when money for studying ran out she joined Lawyers for Human Rights as a receptionist and quickly showed her talents and climbed the ladder to head their office in Stellenbosch. It was then that she came into our radar in 2000 when she applied for and was given the job of part-time youth worker.

Driving from Stellenbosch once a week at night to run the youth group at Goedgedacht she started to build up the lives of a group of poor farm teenagers who had no belief in themselves, no dreams and no future.

We knew within weeks that we had found a rare and beautiful diamond and the next year she joined us as a full time staff member. With an active imagination, enormous determination and the courage to dry the tears of frustration she so often shed, Ingrid put her whole life into what over the years has developed into the Path out of Poverty Programme.

It would appear that there are very few successful youth projects in our country. Its tough work that requires enormous dedication. . but Ingrid and the team she has built up around her have produced a brilliant model where those youngsters who started ten years ago are amazingly still loyal and part of the programme today. This is a youth programme where children without hope are now bright eyed young men and women, role models for the younger ones coming up in the programme and good citizens of our country, ploughing what they have gained back into their own communities.

At the same time as leading this very demanding development programme Ingrid has been studying law through UNISA and the end is almost in sight. (In desperation I keep telling her she’ll make a hopeless lawyer!!!)

We have indeed been blessed with a rare and special gift, a talented and resourceful young woman, now only 29 years old, who has grown an indigenous development model now sought after by others all over the country who are looking for ways to help young people break out of poverty.

I present to you, the friends who have supported us in our work and made it possible for Ingrid to make this enormous and wonderful contribution….

Ingrid Lestrade

Breaking news………
The sports field is grassed and the Valley Eagles will be able to play on it within the next two months.
Our grateful thanks to John Le Roux and the Nussbaum Foundation, John and June Fannin, George and Moonyeen Muller and all the friends of Goedgedacht who have made this beautiful field a reality for the young people of this area.

Love Annie