Amato pregnancy Counselling Centre
Edition 03/2014Newsletter October 2014
Amato has settled down again after a time of upheaval and change. We faced quite a few challenges and big decisions had to be made.
After much prayer and investigation, premises were found at 787Arcadia Street in Arcadia. A donor came forward in answer to our prayers and leased the mentioned offices for a year starting September 2014.
Our new door is open
August and September were turbulent months for Amato. Marlene Jansen, our centre director lost her 89 year old father on the 25th August after a short sick bed. This was a traumatic time for her but she stoically did what she had to do and our move took place on the 5th of September. With sadness we stripped our old little office of our Amato presence and moved into our new spacious and beautiful ‘home’. With the help of all our volunteers and Mike Jansen and especially Lina, we have now settled in and it is business as usual. We thank all our friends and colleagues for their prayers during times of uncertainty, It kept us going
Cathy,Marlene,Ria, Esther and Lina dedicated our new premises to the Lord
A big heartfelt thank you to Rick Wynbergen of Sign Brite, who did our Boards for us free of charge. The first one disappeared after 2 days and Rick spontaneously, did a 2nd one and fixed it to a wall inside the premises. We appreciate!!
Amidst the chaos of packing and moving, we hosted a training for the Undiluted Program. Moussa Mulamba of Think Twice came all the way from Cape Town to present the course. This training equipped the volunteer counsellors to address groups of teenagers and students to help them understand the importance of relationships and choices which may impact their lives and future.
Phetsile, Cathy, Moussa, Marlene, Heila & Karen
Heila Chapman did a presentation to medical students from various universities on how to support a lady who finds herself faced with an unplanned pregnancy. A testimony was given by a lady who had an abortion and the impact of that on her life. The weekend was extremely succesfull and wonderful feedback was received.
We are in the process of establishing a working agreement with Dr Matete Madiba, director of the Department of Student Affairs of the University of Pretoria, Sr Hannelie Coetzee and Dr Madeleine Nolte. We are in the process of obtaining approval to offer our services on the UP campus, which should enable us to reach many more girls and give them access to our services.
Marlene, Heila and Esther had an opportunity to speak to the B Cur Students at the University of Pretoria. It was a privilege to meet these students who participated actively and shared their opinions with us. We feel it was a valuable interactive session. Thank you to Dr Mariatha Yazbeck, who, for the past 4 years, requested an information session regarding unplanned pregnancies and options for her final year B Cur students.
Heila, Marlene, Dr. Yazbeck and the BCur students
Dr Annah Sefolosha from the Health and Wellness Department of Tshwane University of Technology, invited Amato PCC to partake in the Health and Wellness Open day on the campus on 24th October 2014. It is a wonderful opportunity to create awareness of our services and to provide students with information regarding unplanned pregnancies and available options. It also provides us with an opportunity to talk to them about sexual integrity and exposure.
Cathy and Phetsile talking to some students
at TUT
Cathy and Karen at TUT
Phetsile Fani (left) at the school in Olievenbosch. Where she talked to the students about sexual integrity
We held a volunteers meeting in our new offices on the 20th of October.
Volunteers attending volunteer meeting. From left to right: Marlene Jansen, Ria Kruger, Esther Visser, Phetsile Fani, Karen van Heerden and Theresa Gillingham
Marlene, Theresa, Esther and Ria with service awards 5 years +
We are in the process of fixing our Face Book Page and will soon be operational again.
We wanted to keep all our friends and colleagues posted on Amato activities. We want to give glory to God for keeping Amato going strong throughout an extremely difficult year.
Glory and Honour and Praise be to our Heavenly Father now and forever!! AMEN