We live in a country of great disparities between those who have and those who do not. It is no different in this corner of our country. Communities situated not far from Hoedspruit are in desperate need of assistance in all manner of ways. The Southern Cross Schools Reach-a-Cross Partnership Programme aims to assist these needy communities with educational support.

In the past few years a great many educators from schools in disadvantaged communities have found support through this Reach-a-Cross programme. Initially educators from the local communities worked with educators from Southern Cross to address areas of content and methodology. Meetings were held once a month on Saturday mornings to cover important topics that benefited all who were involved in these interactions.

Two years ago a decision was taken to offer courses to local educators that would assist them in applying environmental education in their schools. An environmental education course was developed and offered over the course of one year. This course was offered on Saturday mornings at the newly built Resource Centre that was purpose built for the Reach-a-Cross programme. After the successful presentation of this course it was decided to develop and offer a computer literacy course for the educators participating in the programme. This course has been offered since the beginning of 2008 in the computer centre that has been set up in the Resource Centre. Some 300 educators will have completed this computer literacy course by the end of the year.