Education South Africa Project #21813

Education Programmes for Kids &Teachers, Cape Town

by Children's Helpers Worldwide

Project Report | Apr 27, 2021
Thank you for supporting food and education for children in Cape Town!

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Some of the children at Noluthu's Kitchen

A big thank you for supporting ORT SA CAPE's food and education programmes in South Africa, through our page on GlobalGiving.

In March, GlobalGiving held its Little by Little challenge, and bonus funding was available. We are so grateful to each person who supported the children helped by ORT SA CAPE during this challenge! In total, CHW's supporters gave £1012.21 and we received £267.24 in bonus funds too! This was such a big help for this project!

Bev from ORT SA CAPE has given the following update:

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2020 was most definitely a challenging year, one which highlighted so many inequalities that ORT SA CAPE has endeavored to address. We continue with our food relief initiative that was started in April 2020. This has proved to be a lifeline for many families who continue to feel the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. Since January 2021, we have increased the size of the food parcels and are therefore distributing monthly and not bi-monthly. We are now supporting over 150 families every month.

This initiative will continue for as long as funding allows and we are most grateful to Children's Helpers Worldwide for their on-going support of our food relief initiative.

Dawn, a Project Manager at ORT SA CAPE, who is involved with the food programme said:

"...it makes you realize, that there is a greater reason why ORT SA CAPE is doing what they are doing, what an amazing foundation that does so much and it does not go unnoticed!! Many of the recipients told us that they share their food with more people in their family circle or with neighbors; I think that is simply awesome, realizing our people shows kindness when even they themselves are struggling."

The LEGO parent initiative continues to be a valuable resource for families of young children and to date we have donated over 18000 sets of LEGO Six Bricks to families in under resourced communities. This resource encourages ''learning through play'' and interaction between parents and their children.

With the slight easing of lockdown restrictions in South Africa on 15 February, we have been able to return to limited face to face training. We managed to present a LEGO Playbox training to a group of 12 ECD [Early Childhood Development] teachers at the end of February (pictured below).

However, the majority of our training continues to be on-line. In March we presented on-line LEGO training to over 120 teachers. LEGO resources were delivered to these teachers prior to the training sessions, which took place via Zoom (Our facilitators, Jade and Karen are pictured below presenting the on-line LEGO training).

We continue to allocate the generous donations from CHW to both our food relief and LEGO training initiatives. As well as giving food parcels to families ORT SA CAPE also helps creches and other centres. Kensington creche is one such beneficiary.

Kensington creche caters for low income families and is subsidized through fund raising and partnerships with organisations like ORT SA CAPE. They had to close down for most of 2020 due to families being unable to pay fees and have since re-opened with the help of their supporters.

The team at the creche wrote:

"We thank you most sincerely for your very generous donation of assorted groceries and vegetables... The Educare Centre is open every weekday from 07h00 which allows parents to work a full day knowing that their children are cared for and educated in a safe and nurturing environment.

With your donation, we are able to provide the pupils with daily nutritious meals. Our teachers are committed, caring and make every effort to provide the best for each pupil, especially under these very trying and difficult times. We are most grateful for the donation and appreciate your support."

Ria was a past student of ORT SA CAPE's ECD [Early Childhood Development] training. She unfortunately passed away from Covid complications in 2020. At the time of her death she was running a soup kitchen, Noluthu's Kitchen for over 200 children. We are honoured to be able to continue her dream by supporting the kitchen with food parcels every month. Her husband, called Honest, expressed his gratitude for the donation of the food parcels for the children, who were very close to Ria's heart.
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Thank you again, so much, for deciding to make a difference for the children in Cape Town!

Lego Playbox Teacher Training

Online Lego Training with Jade as Facilitator

Online Lego Training with Karen as Facilitator

Children at Kensington Creche

Ria, who sadly passed away

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Dec 29, 2020
Thank you for helping with food and education in Cape Town!

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Food donations to Little Steps Educare

Thank you so much for supporting ORT SA CAPE's programmes, and especially for your continued help during this very challenging year. ORT SA CAPE has been able to adapt the way it delivered its education programmes since the lockdown began. It also started a food programme, as the increased levels of poverty meant there was a greater need for help with food. We are so grateful to each person who has supported these projects, through CHW's page on GlobalGiving.

Bev from ORT SA CAPE has shared the following report and photos:

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"The pandemic has highlighted so many inequalities and ORT SA CAPE endeavored to address these challenges by implementing a food relief initiative to our most vulnerable beneficiaries as well as distributing LEGO educational resources to parents and caregivers during school closures. The food relief initiative provides a lifeline and return of dignity to the families we support.

The LEGO parent initiative addresses the importance of parent/ caregiver involvement in the education of young children. These two initiatives will continue as the need continues to grow.

ORT SA CAPE distributes food parcels to families every 2 weeks. During October we also provided food to Rooikappie, an ECD [Early Childhood Development] centre that was introduced to us by CHW.

The last distribution for 2020 took place on 2 December to 140 families in Manenberg, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. We increased the amount of food per family to assist them over the holiday period. This festive season will be a challenging one for most South Africans, as we battle a second wave of the Coronavirus and job losses continue.

Here is a quote from Dawn, the Project Coordinator in Manenberg: “Arriving at people’s doors and just seeing the look on their faces, filled with gratitude and total awe at the size of the food parcels was exceptional. You have truly touched many hearts and you are leaving an imprint in the lives of these people. One lady, Karen, could not stop crying and was standing in disbelief when we told her it was all her food’’

Those running ECD centres have also expressed their appreciation in the following messages:

"Good afternoon, we got home safely after collecting the food parcels. Thank you, my school and my students survived this pandemic time with your support. We are so grateful.’’ - Wodwa, Founders Educare Centre, Khayelitsha.

"Wow, ORT SA CAPE sponsors and donors thank you so very much.... The tears of joy were flowing here today. God bless you all.’’ - Sheila, Little Steps Educare, Mitchells Plain.

Some funds were also allocated to LEGO Playbox training that took place on 19th November with 20 teachers. This was our first LEGO face to face training, now that South Africa’s lockdown regulations have been slightly eased. The teachers were so enthusiastic and cannot wait to use the resources in their classrooms.

Penny, from the Western Cape Education Department said the following about the Lego resources that were donated, following the workshop: "The donation was welcomed with great joy and appreciation by the Principal and teachers at the Centre. I can vouch for this as I was present at the opening of the boxes and the demonstration of how the contents can be used in so many wonderful ways for early learning. The teachers expressed their appreciation throughout the workshop through enthusiastic participation, pertinent questions and bursts of applause. I am sure the evaluation forms completed by the teachers will confirm their appreciation’’.

Thank you to CHW for their continued support of the work that we do. Your assistance over this challenging year has helped us reach so many more beneficiaries. We are looking forward to another successful year “changing lives through education”."

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We are so grateful to each person who has made it possible to support ORT SA CAPE's programmes during the pandemic!

If you would like to know more about ORT SA CAPE's impact this year, Bev has shared the following information:

ORT SA CAPE 2020 at glance

725 teachers trained through short courses

Due to the challenges in our education system, we focus our training on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and foundational learning skills in young children.
Courses include Literacy development, Perceptual Skills development, and Learning through Play. We also offer pre-service training for unemployed youth to study towards a qualification in ECD.

63 Level 4 ECD teachers trained

Our Level 4 Early Childhood Development teacher training course is fully/SETA (Sector Education and Training Authority) accredited. Students attend lectures once a week for 18 months and are required to do practical training in ECD centres.

4 webinars were presented during lockdown and 300 people attended.

180 youth placed on ECD internships

This initiative addresses South Africa’s high unemployment rate by recruiting, training, and placing young men and women in schools as teaching assistants for one year. This allows for interns to develop a love for education and potentially continue in this field in the future.

25,375 children impacted

By training and educating teachers we are investing in better educated children. Our vision is a future where all teachers receive quality training and all children have access to quality education.

190 learners attended Robotic workshops

Access to Robotics and coding during weekly sessions allows children to develop 21st century skills by developing innovative solutions to challenging problems.

577 LEGO playboxes distributed to schools and ECD centres & 15,000 sets of LEGO Six Bricks provided to teachers and parents
Together with the LEGO Foundation, ORT SA CAPE distributes LEGO resources and offers training on the use of these resources to schools and ECD centres in disadvantaged communities across the Western Cape. The importance of purposeful play is also shared with parents for them to implement at home.

35,000 meals provided to 140 families every month since April 2020

In response to the devastating effects of COVID, and through the generosity of donors, we have initiated a feeding programme for families in disadvantaged communities in which ORT SA CAPE works. By drawing on our network, we are assisting the most needy - including child-headed families, grandparent-headed families, and those with little or no income.

Food donations to Founders Educare Centre

Food donations to Rooikappie Educare

Food donation for Karen and her family

LEGO Playbox training session for teachers

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Sep 1, 2020
Good work continues in Cape Town despite hard times

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

A family in Manenberg receiving food

Thank you so much to each person who has continued to support ORT SA CAPE in South Africa, through Children's Helpers Worldwide's page on GlobalGiving. Your help is making a difference during very challenging times. ORT SA CAPE focusses on education and on training teachers, as well as holding workshops for children. During the lockdown in South Africa, ORT SA CAPE adapted, so that it could bring its educational resources online, and support its beneficiaries (including pupils and interns) to continue learning. ORT SA CAPE also started a food programme in response to the increase in poverty caused by the lockdown.

Bev from ORT SA CAPE has shared photos from the programmes and has written the report below, giving the latest news on how your support has made a difference.

The interns mentioned in the report are part of the YES programme. This is a South African scheme aimed at helping unemployed young people. Organisations can take on interns for a year and give them training, and these are paid internships.

Report from ORT SA CAPE:

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ORT SA CAPE is an education nonprofit organisation focusing on training and supporting teachers in disadvantaged communities. During 2019, ORT SA CAPE trained over 1,700 teachers indirectly reaching approximately 51 000 pupils.

With the onset of the Covid-19 global pandemic and the subsequent national lockdown on the 27 March in South Africa, we have been unable to train face to face. We have rallied our resources to help our beneficiaries in other ways. We have adapted our approach and are incredibly excited to be able to blend onsite and online learning. Presently course materials are shared via WhatsApp which allows for learning to continue. We are in the process of developing an ORT online platform which will allow for better online and blended learning opportunities. Our first full on-line training offering, Perceptual Skills Development, will be rolled out from the end of August 2020.

Due to our continued work in communities and our regular contact with our interns, learnership students and beneficiaries during lockdown, their need for food parcels as well as the growing need within their communities has come to our attention. We are acutely aware of the deepening food crisis in these areas. Many live in child-headed or grandparent-headed homes, or have been working with children who live in such homes. Others are living in homes where there is now little or no income. Due to this, we began redirecting some of our funding, where possible, in order to help. We were also fortunate to receive donations specifically for food relief.

Although this is not our core activity, we decided to assist families in Manenberg, Khayelitsha and Du Noon, where we have an extensive network and many of our interns are based. Since the end of April, we have endeavoured to feed families in these communities on a bi-weekly basis. Most families have an average of six members per household but they often also help to feed extended family as well.

Manenberg:

Our food relief initiative started in Manenberg at the end of April, when we became aware of the urgent need there via one of our staff members who lives in the area. We are currently providing 4,200 meals a week in Manenberg. ORT SA CAPE|YES interns who are assigned to the schools in Manenberg are assisting us in the packing and distribution of these parcels.

One of the households helped in Manenberg has nine family members, living in a small two bedroomed house. Manenberg is a community that is dealing with gangsterism and drug abuse and this family has been affected by the latter. The food parcels they have been receiving go a long way in helping their family during this difficult time, especially as most of their family members have lost their income.

"Today was an exceptional day in my life, and in the lives of the people who assisted in this feeding scheme but most importantly in the lives of those we have supported with the food parcels. It is because of your generous contribution that it was a major success.’’ – Dawn, ORT SA CAPE's Manenberg Project Manager.

Khayelitsha:

Founder Educare in Khayelitsha has children from 50 families who attend their school. They provide the children with two meals a day. Since closure, these children have had to go without their daily meals from the Educare Centre. ORT SA CAPE has been assisting them in providing food parcels for these 50 families as well as educational resources for their learners to use at home.

Du Noon:

Our food relief distribution in Du Noon is also via day care and educare principals who continue to assist their learners and staff during the forced closure of their centres.

Some donations given through the GlobalGiving page before the lockdown started had been assigned to LEGO Playbox training. As we are unable to train face to face, we have postponed this training until schools re-open at the end of August. In the meantime, we have donated LEGO resources to families from schools that are still closed, along with an instruction booklet for parents on how to use the resources to educate and entertain children at home. In this way children’s learning can continue despite their schools being closed.

Other donations given through the GlobalGiving page [especially during the previous Little By Little campaign] has been allocated to our feeding scheme (information above). This initiative currently assists 140 family monthly by supplying food parcels to these families every 2 weeks. We estimate that we are providing at least 35,000 meals a month. We recently added families from Hangberg, a fishing community in Hout Bay, Cape Town to the feeding initiative. We are currently supporting 20 families from this community.

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Everyone at CHW is extremely grateful to each person who has made it possible to continue to support the communities served by ORT SA CAPE at this very challenging time.

Whilst lockdown restrictions have been eased somewhat since March in South Africa, there are still prohibitions (there are currently "level 2" restrictions in place). The impact of the lockdown on poverty levels has been high and there is a continuing need for assistance with food. GlobalGiving will be running a second Little By Little challenge in mid-September, and we will be looking to support the food programme specifically during that challenge. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like any further details.

Thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of children, young people and families from disadvantaged parts of Cape Town. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Food programme in Manenberg

Food programme in Khayelitsha

Food programme in Du Noon

Lego donated for learning activities at home

Food being prepared for distribution

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