A dream of more than a decade came true last Tuesday with the inaugurating of the Greenville satellite campus of Fisantekraal Centre for Development (FCD).
FCD, which operates from the Daniel Centre at the Durbanville Town Centre in Durbanville, was selected in 2021 by the Garden Cities Group to operate the new youth skills centre in Greenville, Fisantekraal, for a five-year lease period.
The centre consists of two lecture rooms, an office, a small kitchen, an internet cafe area and four toilets.
At the inauguration Jane Gelderman, chief executive officer of FCD, said this is not about the FCD team, but the community which made this possible.
“It takes a village to run a successful non-profit organisation,” she said.
Various previous students shared their success stories at the inauguration and how FCD has changed their lives.
The centre started with its first job readiness course the very next day with a full intake of students.
Neels Hubinger, chair of the FCD board, said: “FCD had only one theme running like a golden thread, every day, throughout the past 12 years: God’s heart for people. It is very apparent that people overcoming poverty and achieving their potential is in the heart of God, hence we can testify to the day-to-day provision over the years.
“In every stage, at every challenge, God provided the right people and resources to do His work,” he said.
FCD established its roots when, from 2000 to 2004, the non-profit organisation Learn to Earn did basic skills training to the people from Fisantekraal on a nearby farm.
“Unfortunately, as their main campus was in Khayelitsha, they found it hard to give Fisantekraal the attention it deserved, Hubinger said.
“However, local church and community members from Durbanville wanted to continue the work and so the fledgling organisation was called FCD,” he said.
A small space at the Durbanville taxi rank became available at the beginning of 2010 and FCD was blessed by donors, receiving all the required furniture and equipment to commence training, he said.
The first training programme being life skills, followed by computer training in May, and office administration in September that year.
“From a humble beginning in 2010, with one part-time trainer (Linda Oosthuizen, who is still involved as secretary of the board) and an original budget of R204 000 – presenting two skills training programmes, FCD has grown and matured to a well-established, recognised and meaningful training institution in the Cape metropole, continuously changing the lives of unemployed people daily,” Hubinger said.
This year FCD will offer 11 different skills training programmes, employ 13 permanent staff members with an operating budget of R4,8 million.
“Over the past 12 years, FCD has impacted the lives of 2 868 beneficiaries, receiving a total of R16,4 million from donors and investing R14,3 million back into the lives of our beneficiaries.
“Based on the further indirect impact on families and dependents, we believe more than 14 300 lives have benefitted from FCD’s services and we are proud that currently, our success rate of economic activity is 77%” he said.
“We’ve always wanted to establish a more permanent footprint in Fisantekraal to be more accessible to the local community.
“Today we thank Garden Cities for building this beautiful, comprehensive facility in Greenville and giving FCD the opportunity to utilise this as our local satellite campus,” he said.
Karen Milan-Shadrach, chief financial officer of the Garden Cities Group, said at the opening the vision of Garden Cities since the beginning was to create not just homes, but communities for people to live in.
“Garden Cities was founded just over 100 years ago and has since established 17 suburbs in Cape Town and has been responsible for building just about 21 000 homes.
“Greenville is one of these 17 suburbs and Garden Cities has every intention of providing Greenville with all the necessary complements and amenities to make it a well-rounded development.
“So far, in partnership with the government, we have built and handed over 1 937 units to beneficiaries.
“We have also provided support to non-profit organisations by providing them with operating space and they in return support the community with crèches, counselling, animal care and social work.
“We have also enabled the provision of a primary school, a clinic and the Tjek trade school, as well as the recently constructed Usave supermarket,” she said.
She commended FCD as an admirable initiative and Jane Gelderman and her team for the fruitful work that they have been doing through FCD.
