Lifeskills for 2,587 Children in South Africa

Dear Friends and Partners of Keep The Dream196,

What an wonderful week we have had, so many things are coming together for KTD196 because of your support we are moving forward.

The children are engaged in their programs in the communities and they are gearing up to go to camp during the June/July school holidays. Camp is a place where they can come and be kids, no longer worrying about mugged or stabbed while going to the local shops for bread or kidnapped for initiation school ceremonies. The kids come to us, especially during the winter season.

Some are self-funding and have been earning money through storkvels (informal savings clubs), by doing jobs for cash, through small income generation activities such as buying R50 ($4US) worth of sweets and re-selling the sweets for twice as much, then returning again with R100 and so on. Such is lure of camping.

You see with camping the children are able to progress through the advancement system and earn more badges. As they earn more badges their self-esteem and self-confidence rises. The younger kids look on the older ones with many badges with awe. It inspires them to do more, to persevere and to dream that one day they too could have many badges, not realising that the badges are just a small part of the process. They are just an affirmation of certain skill levels achieved, what we embrace, encourage and require is behaviour change and we see that.

We identify behaviour change as early as 3months in the program. For example, we had a very difficult boy of around 13yrs who would bully, embarrass and ridicule other kids (you know the sort) for their school uniform not being new, or clean (some of our kids parents don't even have money for soap to scrub their children's clothes!). So this bully would came to scouts and within 3months he received a hiding from his mother for giving away his brand new school shoes to a child who didn’t have any shoes. Ok, we had to do some work with the mother but the young man had the change of heart we want to see, that of caring for others, not bullying or abusing others.

All of this is possible because of your sponsorship. Yes the kids do their part however, because of your continued support we are able to pay for the other necessary evils such as venue hire, food, tent repairs and replacements, insurance etc etc. You should see the look on these kids’ faces when they come to camp for the first time, absolutely priceless. In the beginning a lot of the children had never been away from home over night and to be in the bush (not really bush for us), TENTING is such an experience that it’s the subject amongst their friends for months to come. The adventures boys and girls dream of!

Thank you from a very grateful Manager who has the privilige to see first hand the excitement on the childrens faces as they come to the camping ground

Louise

Before I came to Scouts I was stealing my parents property, I was sleeping around I was not listening to my parents. They were always fighting with me for the bad things I was doing. I was not attending school regularly. Sometimes I would hide on the school bus or go visiting my friends during school hours. I  thank Scouts because of all the things I was doing and I am no longer doing. I am a good child who is no longer sleeping around, I  also now listen to my parents.  I was failing every year of school but last year for the first time since I started Scouts I passed.                                                                                                   

Phinah 16yrs  (For privacy reasons I have not included a photo of Phinah)

Links:

• Our Facebook Page
• Our Website

Dear Friends and Partners of Keep The Dream196,

I am excited about where we are going for the second half of 2018. I am reaching out to you because on Wednesday 16^th May 2018 we had a visit from a potential donor. It is so exciting that we are starting to attract funders and supporters who can see the depth of our program and the impact we are making.

 What was very interesting was how they asked us to define our program.

 We are so excited that we do so much more than just one program such as the after school program. There are so many things that we do in our after school program however we do so much more! We touch lives, we change lives while they are with us and when they leave.

 It is so difficult to define all of the work that we do. These are just some of the programs we do:

1. Food For Life permaculture project
2. Leadership training
3. Sex and sexuality training

How do I define what we do? It’s so diverse; my head is like one of those super balls we had as kids that had so much kinetic energy bouncing around my poor brain. However, you all help define our program. YOU HELP US! We are changing lives!

Your support helps to define what services we are able to provide and that impacts not just the children we serve but the families and communities that we serve. Your support enables us to provide food for impoverished families. Your support reduces teenage pregnancy.

How would you define us? How do we define all that we do?

Thanks for reading my musings please go to our website or facebook to check the variety and depth of the work we do.

Take care, blessings

Louise

My name is Louis, I joined scouts in 2004, I am very proud because I was the first boy to join scouts in Keep The Dream196 and I have stayed in Scouts now for 10yrs. When I was 12yrs old my parents divorced, it was a difficult time for me because of circumstances I lived on my own for 4years, my dad only came home on the weekends. Scouts became my family especially Akela Zabe. I was very naughty and aggressive towards my sisters during this time when they came to visit me but when I joined scouts my attitudes changed and I became loving and helpful. Also before I joined scouts I was very shy, I could not talk in front of people but through scouts I have gained confidence to speak to other people even if I don’t know them.

KTD196 has taught me many things such as: leadership skills, working with people, reading a map and compass, hiking, camping but the biggest skill I am proud of is living with confidence.   Through KTD196 we have been given opportunities to go hiking and camping and developing our camp craft skills and increasing our experiences in new environments. Every time we go to camp we are entrusted to come back and share the information with those who didn’t go. I have to stand up and talk and train others, this has helped my self-confidence and self-esteem.

All of my friends that I have grown up with, in Shiluvane village, are involved in drugs and alcohol and doing bad things in the community for example stealing. KTD196 helped me stay away from drugs and alcohol. I have chosen to live the life of a scout and be honest, clean in word thought and deed. My aim is to become a good leader to the young ones in my community. To that end I am now an Assistant Troop Scouter for 1^st Shiluvane. Being a part of KTD196 I have learnt you must be honest and be able to responsible for working towards your own future and not wait for someone to do it for you, this is empowering. I feel I have been mentored in a family of people who care about me and want me to succeed.

When I was 16yrs I went to Initiation school and realised that this tradition does not make me a man but undermines the values of family, community and scouting. Scouting and KTD196 has shown me what it means to be a real man. So many young men go to Initiation School and come back twisted believing they are men at aged 13 and can do what they want, drink alcohol, smoke, take drugs and have unprotected sex and make babies. This is not a true man that is why KTD196 work and Scouts are so important.

What I like about KTD196 is that they take all children, no one is refused. We all learn to work together and now I am a leader and a role model and that makes me feel proud of who I am today.

Links:

• Our Facebook Page
• Our Website