A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIR 2020 was not the year that any of us expected, and it tested the Christel House staff, students and parents like no other could have. I am incredibly proud of the quiet, focussed and determined way that Christel House set about providing educational and community support services, through a multitude of innovative channels and platforms under incredibly arduous circumstances. However, it would be trite and untrue to suggest that this response was anything other than damage limitation. Perhaps the two most irritating homilies of 2020 were: “We are all in this together” and “This, too, shall pass.” The sad reality is that while we may all “be in this together,” we are not in this together equally. Christel House students, past and present, come from the most vulnerable communities and backgrounds. That vulnerability has been exacerbated and cruelly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. For all that Christel House has done to continue to deliver education and support to our students and their families, we know that 2020 did not allow us to be as effective or impactful as we have in years gone by.
2 | CHRISTEL HOUSE SA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT
While I do not disagree that “this, too, shall pass” it totally misses the point that 2020 passed for different people in different cycles of their lives. For our students, especially those in the higher grades who were readying themselves for matric, the COVID-19 hiatus created the most enormous hurdles for them to overcome. Leave aside the uncertainty of how and when the exams were completed, the practical disturbances to normal education routines and disciplines have had a significant impact on outcomes and grades for the class of 2020 and for the next couple of years to come. Our students do not get that education, that time or opportunity back easily or lightly. Surely the question for all of us who are in a position to help is what are we doing now and in the medium term that recognises, addresses and attempts to remedy the damage done by the pandemic to the youth of our country? It is the realisation by the Christel House Board and Leadership Team that what we have done is simply not enough that sets us apart. While we appreciate and laud the brave, valiant and heroic efforts of our staff and their efforts to continue to teach under these circumstances, we also know that in reality, this is the band-aid that simply covers the far greater wound.
