Lifeskills for 8 children in South Africa - Pilot

My goodness, we are at the end of the first quarter already. Man, so much has been happening it’s unbelievable. This month we are hosting the Self Help Group Training for South Africa, the management team from our donors Dlalanathi are bringing the International Malawian based trainer for SHG, SHG Project Officers and Community Facilitators from Kwazulu Natal and Limpopo to Tzaneen for training and site visits because KTD196 is doing so well with this project. We are doing all the behind the scene’s logistics i.e. venue, accommodation, catering, transferring etc. for the two weeks the folk are here.

As part of the site visits they will be visiting some of our groups, meeting with the Induna’s, getting a feel for the area. The training we all will be receiving will be around the next level of SHG development which is called CLA, creating Clusters of SHG groups with representatives of 10 to 12groups attending CLA meetings and starting to see advocacy as a tool to claim services from the municipality but also the province. This is where we see the women working, not just to alleviate their own financial issues but to use human rights initiatives to realise their rights in this nation.

This month we are also preparing for The COLOR Run on 1^st April 2023, this run will focus particularly on Child Protection and Child Participation, so we will use it as a platform in the villages and scout groups to promote these two issues with the children, who in turn will use the information and share the information with the adults as they run through Shiluvane Village. The children will engage with adults, peel off from the pack running, spend time sharing their knowledge and their hearts. Then catch up to the main group. They will be carrying banner to raise awareness and drawn those interested back to the soccer field to hear a presentation by KTD196 on Children’s Rights, Child Protection and Child Participation.

We are also performing Star Assessments, that is where we go to every group in the province during March and do our first assessments of each Cub Pack, Scout Group, and Rover Crew. The groups are given the feedback so they know what needs to be changed, targeted or added to their program over the course of the year. The Final assessment is completed in November.

To give you an idea, in 2022 we achieved 3 Gold Troop (large group of kids) awards and 11 Silver awards. However, the patrols (small groups of kids inside a large group of kids) achieved 9 Gold Patrols Awards and 9 Silver Patrol Awards. Which is fabulous given we were still battling with the residual effects of Covid and not being able to easily go camping.

We also have our 5-10 children’s groups running daily throughout the month of course. Those happen continuously and is the back bone of KTD196.

We are able to do these activities because of your support. You are our partners in these activities. Your financial support goes a long way in subsidizing our work, none of the traditional donors we do have cover all the costs of the programs we run, the supplementary support comes from you. Your support is essential. Thank you is just such a shallow word to convey how I, how we, feel about you. You are our community base; we need you to be able to function.

I hope this snapshot for the month of March has left you excited and satisfied regarding what we are doing on your behalf. I said before, if anyone finds themselves in South Africa and would like to see first-hand what we are doing, that would be amazing.

Blessings to you and your family,

Please if you have any questions, I am happy to respond on director@keepthedream196.com

Louise

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