Hugenote College

From the photo you can tell that Hugenote College in Wellington, South Africa is somewhat different from TCNN, Nigeria, yet there are many of the same issues regarding poverty, abuse, division and hatred in society. As we were told soon after we arrived, you'll find first, third and all the worlds in between in South Africa.

Hugenote College

We came to the college at an interesting time as a group from the Evangelische Hochschule, Bocham, Germany had arrived to discuss and exchange ideas during a three day colloquium on  social work courses with Christian values. It was a chance for us to sit in, meet some staff members and learn about the history and ethos of Hugenote College where we'll be based. Here are some of the highlights.

One of the important focuses of HC is on training and equipping leaders to participate in God's mission of caring for and healing the world through innovative social service delivery and proclaiming the reign of God. It aims to integrate faith, knowledge and skills whilst promoting the Christian ethos of humanity, inclusivity and transparency. Throughout South Africa the college has a very good reputation in the area of training social workers whilst also running another strand of theological education. Interdisciplinary mingling is very important - good academic training linked with understanding and developing one's calling.

Most of the students are African or coloured, unlike ten years ago when the majority were white. Most of them come from poverty-stricken and abusive backgrounds and are the first members of their families to be able to undertake post-school education. This of course exposes them to the additional challenges of overcoming previous poor schooling and language skills. Hugenote College wants to help students overcome these disadvantages and fulfil their potential in the knowledge of their value in God's sight.