Gender Equality South Africa Project #38463

Empowering Girls and Women as Mothers

by Keep The Dream196

Project Report | Aug 14, 2024
SHG Powering on in real terms!

By Louise and the Dream Team | Director

Christina and her new home!

Avuxeni, Minjani? Umfekile Minjane! (Greetings, how are you? I am well!)

Today I thought I would update you concerning the Self Help Groups. I know, some of you are thinking what does this have to do with the kids. Well actually, it has a lot to do with the kids. Imagine, now the families have income to buy good food, not just stomach fillers like bread and pap (a corn maize staple in this area). Food with nourishment and micro nutrients to help with physical development, and brain development. Food that will assist with building muscles, bone strength, immune systems. Not only that but now the 70% of the ladies have small businesses which bring in income and assist the household to purchase school shoes, school uniforms, pay school fees. The lives of the children is improving on a daily basis.

Currently we have 80 groups of ladies between 15-20 ladies in each group. They support in excess of 3,675 children directly through this program. Not only that but each week the ladies are exposed to training regarding various issues they decide on. For example, how to teach your child different skills, how to discipline your child without corporal punishment, how to communicate with your child, how to manage diabetes or hypertension. Each week the ladies are being exposed to information that will help them within their families and they are taking the information into the communities and bringing change.

To date the ladies have saved R1,5million which has cycled out and back in loans repaid to the value of R7m. That is huge! You may ask, why does this program need funding if there is so much money involved. Well, the money is the ladies, KTD196 does not touch one rand. KTD196 pays for the staff to go out and interview the individual ladies prior to starting different groups to see if they qualify. Then the staff go to the group each week and work with the ladies introducing the process, assisting them with the skills required to write a constitution, start saving, keeping the minutes and agenda and savings and loan books accurate and up to date. They also assist in problem solving and empowering the ladies to work individually and as a group. There is a lot of intensive work required in the beginning which usually takes weekly visits for the first 8months and then fortnightly and then by the following year, monthly visits.

It is so exciting to watch the ladies blossom.

Please read Christina’s story below regarding the impact that this program has.

Blessings

Louise

My name is Christina and I am a member of the Khutso Self Help Group. I am married with three children, my husband is unemployed and is dependent on piece jobs. I have 3 children, two are in Johannesburg studying at a college through NSFAS (State support for students who are poor) and one is still in school. I also have 3 other children which I call grandchildren that I am currently taking care of, my brother and his wife passed away and the children had no place to stay, they sat down with her husband and decided to take the children in and take care of them. I am taking care of a family of 6, the children are not receiving foster care grant because one of the relatives from the children’s maternal side already applied for the grant and told the social workers that she is staying with the children which is a lie. I am still fighting with the relative to have the grant changed so it can be used for the children.

I have always known about the SHGA programme. I remember back in 2021, Mhloti, Dikeledi and Nkulu came to our community and introduced the programme to us. I was interested and wanted to join but the women in the community never came to the first meeting. I tried so hard to convince the other women to join but they refused and commented that this programme sounds like a scam. How can a person loan R10-00? How is it going to help them? In 2022 when I heard that there was group opening in Pharare I was the first one to sign up and join because I didn’t want this opportunity to pass me by.

I now thank God that I joined because of the positive changes that I have seen in my life. I have two big achievements that I feel like sharing with everyone. I have opened a small business; I buy and sell pots in the community and have pots that I hire out for people in the community when they have events, and the business is doing very well. I have always wanted to extend my house. I have a 2-bedroom house, with a kitchen and a small lounge. My grandchildren are all sleeping in the other bedroom and when my 2 daughters are back from school or during the festive holidays my house becomes very small to accommodate everyone. Some of the children are forced to sleep in the lounge while others sleep in the bedroom. This has been sad and stressful for me because if I have visitors early in the morning, the children are forced to wake up and go to the bedroom or play outside, sometimes we are forced to have early nights because the children want to sleep.

I have always wanted my children to have a “normal” life like other children, to have bedrooms that they can be proud off because that would be their private space. Today I am a happy woman because my dream is coming true. Through my small business and the loans that I have been taking from SHG I am almost done building a spare bedroom for my children. I am so happy and proud of this achievement. By December this year 2024, the room will be complete, and the children will have their own space. I am looking forward to this year’s Christmas and spending time with my children and grandchildren. I am very happy and content with everything that I am achieving through the help of SHG.

Thank you for supporting this project and for helping me to support my children, God bless you

Christina

Cooking Pots that Christina hires out!

Cooking in Action

End product, YUMMY!

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Aug 7, 2024
Update from Tsundzukani!

By Louise and the Dream Team | Director

Tsundzukani

Avuxeni, Minjani, Umfekile minjane!

Happy August to you! I hope you are doing well and that life is treating you kindly? I want to take this opportunity to really thank you for the support you have provided to KTD196 and the work we do, the families we assist and the communities we are helping. None of what we do would be possible without your support.

We will be heading for camp in September, thank goodness the weather will be warmer. We will be having competitions with the scouts to show off their skills, they will be competing against other scout groups from different areas, meeting new people and taking advantage of the 1weeks holiday from school. We will also be having a cub fun day so that the younger ones can see the skills of the older children and be a part of all the fun.

We continue to have requests from our partners in the province to have Journey of Life training because of the impact and sustained changes it brings in such a short period of time.

I get so excited, I really do! It makes it so worthwhile to see the changes right before our eyes. I am very proud of the work we do and you should be as well. I have included Tsundzu’s testimony below, you have met him before when he completed his Springbok.

Tsundzu has been with us for 14yrs and he is now studying Diploma on Policing with the view of becoming a Forensic Laboratory Technician for the Police Service and during school holidays, he regularly comes back and assists us at camp and imparts his knowledge to other scouts. It is exciting to have young adults return and assist us.

That is the power of the work we do. The giving back! Sure, not everyone does but it is still awesome. Thank you once again for being a part of our success and the success of our kids.

I really appreciate you!

Blessings

Louise

Hello, I'm Tsundzukani from Myakayaka village about 30kms from Tzaneen.

Joining KTD196 Scouts program in 2010 at the age of 5 was a transformative experience that profoundly impacted my life. Prior to Scouts, I struggled with behavioural issues, often exhibiting naughtiness and bullying tendencies at school and home. However, the values and principles instilled through the children’s program particularly the Keep the Dream 196 version of scouts, helped me to turn a new leaf.

Through Scouts, I had the opportunity to travel, develop self-confidence, and hone my leadership skills by teaching and guiding my fellow scouts. This journey has led to significant physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. I have met diverse individuals, formed lasting bonds, and developed a sense of empathy and understanding. I do not see these skills in a majority of my peers who did not attend this program.

Scouts taught me valuable life lessons, including resilience, perseverance, and the importance of hard work. I learned that failure is an inevitable part of growth and that success rarely comes easily. Moreover, I understood the value of obeying orders and following instructions, which has helped me to become a more disciplined and responsible individual.

Today, I am a confident, capable, and compassionate person who is equipped to face life's challenges head-on. I am proud to say that I am a better version of myself, and I attribute this transformation largely to 'Keep the Dream 196' and their Scouts program for inspiring me. I will always be grateful for the experiences, skills, and values that has been instilled in me.

I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Louise, Elizabeth, Nkulu, Catherine (Troop Scouter) and Thabiso for their unwavering support and guidance throughout my journey, especially during my time with the Springbok Award. Your kindness and belief in me have made a significant impact on my life, and I am forever grateful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to you as supporters of this program, I am who I am today because of your support!

Tsundzukani

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Jul 31, 2024
Report back from the FIELD! Part 2

By Louise and the Dream Team | Director

A scene from the Bullying activity! Oscars Please!

Last week I shared about Acornhoek, this week I thought I would share more about our adventure. The second part of the week we went to another site in Rooiboklaagte where we trained more parents. I wanted to share with you the heart-warming comments from the ladies after the training and also share the videos I took of some of the role plays, some of these ladies should receive an “Oscar” for their performances.

The Journey of Life looks at pressure the children are under, the first video although in language you can very definitely hear and sense the bullying that the parents identified as a road block to their child’s development.

The second video is about peer pressure and the pressure that this issue places on the whole family. Finally, the third video is about stealing.

The ladies where very surprised to realise they too had to overcome these issues growing up, and how that affected them in their journey. It is all rather sad.

After the training, when we ask for feedback, one lady was in tears with the realisation of how much she had caused her children pain. One of the exercises the ladies had to do was to collect stones for every negative thing they had given their children, then they had to speak out what the negative was, and place the stone in a plastic bag. Then the bag was given to one of the ladies over her shoulder and she was then instructed to jump up and down and have fun, while carrying this bag. Obviously, she couldn’t, the bag weighed too much. This is how our negativity affects the children. This mum was horrified about the harm she had caused her children, how much hurt and pain she had caused her kids. The good news is, she was determined to make it right!

The ladies were amazed at how forgiving their children were, the parents all went home and practiced active listening with their children, the kids were very sceptical in the beginning but after a short period of time, the kids engaged with their parents and the start of new relationships were formed. This astounded the parents and the children. So much healing was present, each day we could see the parents becoming more engaged, more animated and more excited, their whole countenances were changing. These sorts of lightbulb moments are priceless.

Thank you for assisting us to change lives and families. Needless to say all the parents want to know when the next training is, however, we charged them with talking about what they had learnt to the community members so that the knowledge is shared and more impact is gleaned from the training.

You are such a blessing to the work we do. We are blessed by you; you make such a difference to the work we do.
Thank you

Louise

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