So, after the celebrations of Christmas and the holidays, it is now time for all to go back to schools and colleges. It was my real pride and pleasure this year to be able to award two study scholarships to deserving students within the Community. With your help, of course!

The first was to assist a High School student, Alaister Van Wyk. Alaister, known to his friends as "McGyver", is the son of a single mother with two school going children. His mother works as a domestic cleaner, and she struggles to provide for her two children and deal with her own circumstances. Both Alaister and his brother, Angelo, work with us in the community garden, and Alastair, as an older child, was put in charge of ensuring that the garden was watered frequently. We provided all the books and stationary that he would need for his academic year. Here he is pictured with his books.

Here is an extract from a letter that I received from his mother: "....as a single mother with two school going children, I thought that I could cope alone, but it doesn't always work that way....I appreciate what you have done for me and my son, Alaistair. It comforts my heart to know that there are people like you who are willing to help. It is not always easy to ask for help......"

I am especially proud of the next Scholarship that we awarded, since it was funded by money raised from the program that was set up by my German publisher from sales of my German Book, "The Indigo Crystal Adventure". Our Co-ordinator, Wilma Papier has a son, Dominic, who attends College and was about to enter into his final year of study for a Diploma in Social Work. They were unable afford the fees, and were uncertain about whether he would be able to complete his studies. In this community, so few people manage to complete College, and especially in such a valuable field. I was just so happy to be able to offer him a Study Scholarship to the value of ZAR 6000 to cover his college fees for the year. Here Dominic is pictured with the letter informing him that he had been awarded a Starchild Global Study Scholarship for 2008:

As part of the conditions of the award, Dominic had to agree to spend some time working with the children in the project. So, here he is supervising some work in the garden. We didn't stay very long,as it was just so hot. We are looking forward to the coming of the cooler weather in March so that we can replant our garden for the fall season.

So THANK YOU to all you wonderful German people who bought the book, and the two special people who helped to make it a reality.....Michael Nagula the publisher from Amra Verlag in Germany....

and Anja Ida Becker who translated the book into German....

This truly feels to me like a Global Co-operation Project for the New Earth!