Education South Africa Project #15130

Lifeskills for 8 children in South Africa - Pilot

A microproject by Keep The Dream196

Lifeskills for 8 children in South Africa - Pilot

Project Report | Oct 26, 2022
Children's Right's Situational Analysis - Children

By Louise and the KTD196 Dream Team | Jack of all trades, master of none!

Children participating in the CRSA Process

Thank you so much for being a part of the change we are seeing in the lives, families, and communities in which we work. It has been 15yrs of hard slog but we are really seeing measurable changes for the better with the people we are working with, and they are influencing for the better those in their spheres of influence.

I have spoken on and off this year about the CRSA (Children’s Rights Situational Analysis) that we performed. Well, it is complete and submitted to the funder so now I can share with you our findings. It will be a series of issues I will discuss because there was just so much that came out of the CRSA regarding rights abuses and what rights the children were not enjoying and why.

The focus of the CRSA was on Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), that of participation, the right to be heard and to have your opinions considered. At KTD196 we use a Rights-based approach to development to achieve a positive transformation of power relations among the various development actors.

There are two stakeholder groups in rights-based development—the rights holders (who do not experience full rights) and the duty bearers (the institutions obligated to fulfill the holders' rights). Rights-based approaches aim at strengthening the capacity of duty bearers to fulfill their roles and responsibilities and empower the rights holders to realize and enjoy the fulfillment of their rights.

SO what does this mean? We have through the CRSA identified that children (rights holders) are not considered, not listened to, and are actively discounted by adults (duty bearers).

SO WHAT?

Well imagine you are a young girl aged 10yrs of age, you are asked to go to the local shabeens (pub) by your father to get alcohol, late at night, in the dark, to a place that is full of particularly drunk men. The community knows where the child is going, they know the child has money, plus will be traveling home in the dark with alcohol and change. The child does not have a voice and cannot say to their parent “I am afraid”, “I don’t want to go”, “I'm at risk”, or “No!”

Instead, the child has to do what they are told, without any say. Parents are putting their children at risk and they don’t even realize it, this is just one example. Many of the children who participated in the CRSA said that their parents are not interested in talking to them, in hearing their concerns, and if a child has a different opinion from the parent or any adult it is viewed as disrespectful.

This was confirmed by the parents that were interviewed for the CRSA. The opinion of adults was that kids are too young to have an opinion, and should not be listened to because they are just children with no life experience, besides it is the adults who provide for the children so they should not have a say. It is seen as a weakness to listen to a child, especially if observed by another family member or community member.

What was it like when you were growing up? Can you relate to this experience? As a parent, do you do the same to your children or have you changed your approach?

At KTD196 we are now in the process of formulating a 5yr proposal to address just this one aspect of child participation, I will discuss other issues identified over the next few weeks. I hope you found this interesting and would appreciate any feedback.

Thank you that we are making a real difference in the lives of the children through your support. This is on top of the children’s program we already implement through your support. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. I have attached the document in case you would like some reading....

Louise

Body Mapping Tool for rights related issues

Links:

Attachments:

CRSA Document (PDF)

3 Attachments

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Oct 19, 2022
Celebrating the top achievers - Cubs and Scouts!

By Louise and the KTD196 Dream Team | Jack of all trades, master of none!

Our 3 Springboks recipients, such a solem time!

WELCOME TO OUR CELEBRATION!!

While at camp we celebrated 4 young Cubs and 3 Scouts all of whom earnt the top NATIONAL AWARD!!

What excites me, which is obvious is the effort the kids have all put into earning these distinguished awards! The leadership skills they have learned and the character they have developed is stunning. This is a huge achievement for rural scouting.

What also THRILLS me is KTD196 pushed years ago (over the last 19yrs) for a national program to not only meet the rural scout/cub's needs but also that was flexible to allow alternatives to high-resource activities. Let me explain, research was done by Scouts and it was determined that for a scout to achieve the Springbok level would require approximately R80,000 or $5,300USD to attend the activities, have the required equipment etc to be able to advance to Springbok level. Through working with the Cub and Scout National Program team changes have been made to allow, for example, scouts to make their own tents out of Miele pap bags (a fibrous course woven bag covered in a plastic film) and not to have to rely on having a canvas or nylon tent. This meant the kids could make their own tents, and go camping any time of the year not wait for the 1 or 2 opportunities we provide throughout the year.

With the new program called Entsha, our kids are achieving Springbok for the first time. The Entsha program for scouts started just prior to Covid, we were a pilot area. Now since Covid, we have had 4 Springboks with a potential 5 more coming up the ranks. We also have a new Cub Program, and because of the support of Nkulu (who you have met before on GG) who is now the National Cub Program person, we are seeing Cubs achieve Leaping Wolf status for the first time for KTD196.

Through your support, we have been able to purchase resources such as first aid dummies, compasses, maps, axes, etc for the kids to learn essential skills. As KTD196 we focus on the soft skills of good character, caring, supporting, loving, empowering, and communication skills, and it's all wrapped up in FUN!

This week is all about the pictures. I hope you enjoy knowing that you are responsible for the achievement. You are part of the success through your support, not only are you affecting the children of this province, Limpopo but we are reaching the whole country and giving every child a chance to reach the top award. THANK YOU!

Blessings

Louise

Our 4 Leaping Wolves. Such a wonderful day!

Links:

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Oct 12, 2022
Camp Activities OOOOOOHHHHHH The fun!

By Louise and the KTD196 Dream Team | Jack of all trades, master of none!

Showing off their cooking skills

MAN, it is wonderful to see all the activities and see all the smiles. I love to see the kids enjoying themselves and learning at the same time.

We have had a lot of fun, and the kids have learned to make a 3-course meal on gas. Just to put this perspective, they don't know what a starter or entree is, and they don't know what dessert is, they have one to two meals a day at home, at camp, they have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and morning, afternoon tea, and supper before going to bed. All healthy, nutritional meals such as beans(high in protein), local Mopani worms, tripe, chicken feet, fish, and chicken with loads of vegetables. So to be able to cook a more European meal, on gas and not on an open fire is a real challenge PLUS, on top, there was load shedding so no power to see how the food was cooking.

There were camping competitions, as you can see from all the tents, structures, and gadgets that the kids made. See the photos below.

We were was also training adults on how to work with children aged 7-11yrs. With the education system and poverty in our area most adults as a child have never done coloring in, cutting out, or craft skills of any sort except weaving grass mats, or making beaded necklaces, etc. Although the latter is important, not having the creative skills to create craft activities as part of the project, especially by recycling is a real issue. So we teach the adults how to make different crafts, and how to be creative with different games for different purposes. The picture below shows some examples of simple cost effective crafts that the adults can reproduce in their Cub Packs.

All of this was possible because of you! We appreciate your support so much!

Thank you for putting so many smiles on so many faces!

God bless you

Louise

Learning to lash ropes to make gadgets for camp

The final Campsite

A view of the camp!

The final Campsite

Links:

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