Education South Africa Project #8713

Fund 170+ Primary School Children in South Africa

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Jan 21, 2020
Building dreams through education!

By Charlotte Goodwin | Assistant Program Manager

Sports Day

Dear Supporters,

In the words of Nelson Mandela, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Within the South African education system, children from disadvantaged communities and their families rely on school environments to provide a safe, structured and engaging spaces in which to facilitate learning and development. It is also a means of keeping children off the street and out of harm’s way. Therefore, during the school holidays, it is vital that children are provided with the same environment in which to thrive.

This year’s program has reached new highs in developing an advanced educational program, which is innovative and interactive for its students. By establishing a safe, integrated, fun, and empowering learning environment, students are given the opportunity to flourish in unique learning situations and are able to discover their potential in innovative and unique ways, which are not usually adopted in the typical school settings.

We would like to share with you some of the key highlights from the program, which has allowed students to discover their unique talents and build a platform to inspire their futures.

Over 40 children were split into Countries and competed in our very own ‘Holiday Olympics 2019’. The events included Long Jump, bean bag toss, penalty shootout, hurdles and a 100m sprint.

At many school’s sport is not a mandatory lesson, which means that at most, students will engage in physical education once a week. During this program the students thrived with daily sports sessions and loved the incorporation of a bit of friendly competition. Not only did this teach the children about teamwork, but highlighted talents that some of the children had never had the opportunity to share before.

What better way to learn about Volcanoes, then creating your very own? The children worked in teams to build their own volcanoes, fully decorated and then watched them erupt! Not only did this incorporate imagination and creativity but taught the children about how fun science can be, when explored outside of a textbook.

For many children from disadvantaged communities in South Africa, climate change isn’t spoken about till they reach Grade 6, but even then, its true meaning can be lost. During this program the children were involved in tackling themes of climate change, endangered animals and geography. Teaching them about the ways in which they can be eco warriors and do their part to protect the environment and their futures. It was incredible to see the children engage in such important issues.

For many children, they learn from an early age through watching their parents, what they want to be when they grow up. However, for these children, many of them are unaware of their potential and equally, the opportunities that they have outside of their current circumstances. Due to this, one of the major highlights of the recent holiday program was the work we did with the children on careers. The programs participants embodied professions such as teachers, police officers, photographers and doctors, who were then interviewed by the children. All the children then role played as police officers, lawyers, shop keepers and we even had a President! The children were able to learn and play in a safe environment, which is so valuable.

A lot of these highlights are thanks to your generous contributions - so a very big THANK YOU from all of us!

It is with your continued support that we can make a sustainable and long-lasting impact in the community. We are grateful for your generosity and it goes without saying that the GVI Trust and all its donors, play a vital and essential role in making a lasting difference to the lives of many children within the community.

We are proud to have your support in making dreams become reality and hope to have your continued support in the coming year!

Thank you, on behalf of every single life you have impacted, no matter how big or small.

ENKOSI!

With Gratitude,

SA Community

Science Day

Climate Change

When I grow up

Thank you

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Oct 23, 2019
Support community rebuild after devastating fire

By Charlotte Goodwin | Assistant Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

Recently a local community in Nomzamo experienced a terrible fire that wiped out 47 homes, leaving approximately 80 people homeless and sadly caused the loss of one person’s life. Unfortunately, fires are a frequent occurrence in many informal settlements in South Africa due to the lack of adequate housing and access to facilities within townships.

Our field team has worked hand in hand with community leaders, and with support from the GVI Trust to provide support to the affected community. For the most part we all have you, the donors, to thank for this. As it is with the support you have provided, that we have been able to buy food to make meals, clothing to replace lost belongings, and other integral necessities for those affected to begin rebuilding their lives.

Over the past 2 years Cape Town has seen an increase of 14% in the total number of informal settlements being affected by shack fires. These fires are brought on by an array of factors from smoking, open flames, cooking, heating, lighting, arson or electrical faults. Unfortunately, incidents like this are a common occurrence in areas where informal settlements have built up and families have a lack of access to proper and safe resources.

Within the communities that we work, fires like this are incredibly common. The people living in the settlement affected already face many daily challenges, with poverty levels being extremely high.

The informal settlement is made up of homes built with basic materials such as zinc and corrugated metal, as these are cheap, readily available and in many cases all people can afford. Unfortunately, this means that fires spread very quickly through this type of housing causing a high level of damage. Which in this and many other cases, leave families with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Over the past few weeks the GVI Trust and you, its donors, have played an instrumental role in enabling us to support the families affected by this horrible fire.

It has been incredible for us to see the astonishing level of resilience amongst the community members who have lost not only their homes, belongings and livelihoods. Their ability to shake off such hard times and team together within hours of the fire being extinguished to rebuild their homes from the rubble is not only a remarkable sign of strength, but of inspiration to us all.

For many within these communities such disasters are just another factor of daily life, which to a certain degree become normalised. However, their strength as a community is commendable, giving true meaning to the South African notion of ‘ubuntu’, meaning “I am because we are” or ‘humanity’.

It is through your support and generosity that we as a team have been able to play our part in helping this community rebuild and it is safe to say that every little bit goes a long way. By working hand in hand with community leaders we have been able to provide immediate relief in the form of food, blankets, clothing and toiletries. And as people start to rebuild their lives, we will continue to work with the community leaders to provide the resources needed, such as mattresses, bedding, clothing and other items to make the transition easier.

It is with your continued support that we can make an impactful and long-lasting impact in the community. We are grateful for your generosity and it goes without saying that the GVI Trust and all its donors, play a vital and essential role in making a sustainable and impacting difference to the lives of many community members within the Nomzamo community.

With Gratitude,

GB Community

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Jul 26, 2019
A safe place for children in South Africa

By Sian Morris | Program Manager

Dears Supporters,

This year we have continued to support local children and communities through a number of important initiatives supported through the Trust, including our holiday programmes for children in need in local townships.

Throughout the school year we work with a number of community partners including, tutoring at a local primary school, teaching sports to children, early years education and health initiatives. However, during the school holidays many children do not a safe place to go. Many of the children we work with live in areas affected by high crime, gangs and drug and alcohol issues. Without supervision, the children are very vulnerable and are exposed to these dangerous issues. Therefore, during each term break, we run our holiday programme for local children. This gives the children a safe place to go, provides them with a free meal, engages them with fun and educational activities and provides support around important topics.

Often children rely on their school for a day time meal, therefore with the support of the Trust, we ensure that the children still receive a free meal each day of the holiday programme. As part of teaching the children the importance of a healthy lifestyle, they are given fruit each day and then take part in our oral hygiene initiative. Many of the children do not own a toothbrush; therefore with the help of donations from the Trust, we provide each child with a toothbrush and teach them the importance of keeping their teeth healthy and clean. The children love getting to practice brushing their teeth each day!

During the holiday programme, volunteers engage the children in a range of different activities including, literacy and math support, sports, crafts, songs, games and educational activities. The holiday programme is based at a local library, however unfortunately this is often very under resourced. Therefore the Trust provides essential support by helping to provide sports equipment and materials for activities.

Each school holiday, we focus on different important topics with the children. Recently we have delivered workshops with the children around gangs and drugs. These are issues that many of the children unfortunately have first-hand experience of and often witness within their families and community. The success of these workshops succeeded all of our expectations and received a great response from the children and community partners. The children were not only provided with a safe place to share their experiences, but also learnt more about the topics and worked together with staff and volunteers on ways to choose to alternative paths and make positive choices. As part of these workshops, the children drew and wrote postcards about what they would like for their futures and their communities, with some truly inspirational outcomes!

With Gratitude,

GB Community

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