Extreme Response
Education Reinforcement
Fish Hoek Dream Center
Our vision for the Fish Hoek Dream Center is to enable individuals, families, schools, businesses and groups to partner with ER by volunteering and providing scholarships for children who are learners at the Dream Center or Victory Kids. Victory Kids serves pre-school children, while the Dream Center serves kids in grades 1-5.
Program
Goals
Fish Hoek Dream Center Provides Kids with Education Reinforcement
The children who attend the Dream Center are from high-poverty settlements near Cape Town, South Africa. Their families have few resources and most kids do not finish high school. Some are from refugee families who are learning a new language and culture.
The Dream Center provides a safe early and primary learning environment for children at risk for falling behind academically. ER staff members discovered why kids were falling behind. They noticed the children responded with blank stares when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”.
Children who live in survival mode are unable to see beyond their current circumstances, much less their futures. They can only focus on today. They are unable to dream of being anything. The Dream Center name came from a desire to help children learn to dream big dreams. Learning to dream big dreams includes helping them succeed, giving them opportunities to recognize their God-given gifts and teaching them that as God’s children they are special and loved.
We’ve learned something while launching the Dream Center: It takes incredible effort to change the course of a child’s life. Sure, we knew tutoring, homework help and nutrition would be foundational to giving these kids a good chance of succeeding in their lives, but we’ve seen that engaging them in activities is equally powerful for creating well-rounded, confident kids.
Today the Dream Center provides a safe after-school tutoring and homework help program to enable these kids to succeed academically. The Dream Center also partners with schools and parents to ensure the children remain on course with their academic studies and provide opportunities for them to develop their talents.
See more about ER Dream Centers in our Newsfeed.
Do Something Today
Short-Term Volunteers and Career Staff are vital to the success of Extreme Response and our programs. Without you, we would not be able to change as many lives as we do. We mobilize people to serve others through volunteering, career work and advocating.
