Lifeskills for 2,587 Children in South Africa

Dear Friends, welcome to our news update. Firstly let me say thank you for donations and ongoing support. It makes a huge difference. I just want to share some of the wonderful outcomes of the program and your investment in the work we are doing.

Impact

Our program of interventions continue to grow and have wonderful impact for example:

• 192 parents attended training on Journey Of Life and Parent Committee Training. We work with the parents of the children to create positive relationships within the families to promote cohesion: “Before my child joined KTD196 he was always out late at night and being a bully. I always thought he was going to turn out like most youngsters who have given up on their dreams and are wasting their lives away. Since joining KTD196 he no longer drinks and his behavior has also changed. I‘ve also learned to communicate with my child and not yell at him,” explains one parent, Maite Mametja.
• “I have realized that as parents we also have our own problems and we don’t know what to do to help ourselves and end up taking out all our frustrations through our children. I am not a perfect mother and have been treating my children very badly. The training is very good and has been an eye opener for me. I will try and stop shouting and swearing at my children and treat them with respect. I would be very harsh with my children; I never realized the importance of listening. I am going to ask for forgiveness from my children and God. Thank you so much for coming and sharing this information it is truly is a blessing” Nelly Nkambako

Post training Focus Group discussions were held with 19 parents.
“Before Scouts my child used to be very secretive and isolated herself, she didn’t want to do anything which she was asked to do and she had no sympathy for others. Since going to Scouts she now listens to me and is free to tell me anything. We have a good friendship and she now is sympathetic towards others. Since the Journey Of Life training I have learnt to listen to my child and have learnt the importance of showing children love.”

Many parents have not finished primary school and often do not have the skills to discipline their children or even communicate with their children effectively. We have not only been changing the children but also through the parents we are changing families for the better. The parents are so proud to receive a certificate of attendance it is usually their first and only source of encouragement and a treasured possession.

Other impacts include:

1) Limpopo Province is one of the worst for matriculation rates

• In 2008, 100% of matriculants in our program passed their matric.
• In 2009, 100% passed.
• In 2010, 100% passed.
• In 2011, 89% passed and those who didn’t, returned to school to try again.
• In 2012, 54% passed but all have continued on to technical colleges, tertiary education or returned to improve their marks in secondary school.
• In 2013, 77% passed

The decline in our pass rate is accredited to the general decline in the South African Education system and the very poor primary school preparation experienced by the children and change to Outcome Based Education system implemented years ago.

2) 70% of rural university students drop out in their first year. 10% only graduate their 4yr degree. Our first group of graduates graduated in 2012, all are employed in the private or government sector. Limpopo has a youth unemployment rate of 48.8%.

3) Limpopo Province has a teenage pregnancy rate of 13% we have reduced that rate to 0.072% for 11yrs. We should be seeing approximately 170 pregnancies a year.

4) Limpopo also has a HIV rate of 21.5% with the worst affected being females aged between 15-25yrs. With this pregnancy rate the youth are either abstaining (which they assure us they are) or are protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancies and HIV in the process

5) 10% of all natural deaths for children aged between 0-18yrs is suicide related. We have had no suicides in 11yrs

6) Non of our children, once they have joined the program and remain the program have been involved with crime or the police

7) Non of our children, once they have joined the program and remain active in the program use alcohol or drugs

8) We are currently working with 2,000 Children aged between 5-18yrs

9) We have now trained over 30 young adults who grew up in the process who have now decided to return as young adult leaders to be a role model and mentor other children.

10) We work into 86 different sites around Greater Tzaneen Municipality

11) Every child under the age of 18yrs has a birth certificate or Identity Document. This allows them to access free government services ie schooling, health services and also enables them to gain employment for the future.

Voice of the Child

My name is Rivoningo Mboweni, I am a grade 8 learner and I am 14yrs old. Scouts has changed me! Being a scout has had a huge impact because joining scouts has changed me from a bad girl to a good girl. Even keeping me busy as always and it has changed the way I have behaved. The way I look and the way I look at myself. The way I think because since I joined scouts ideas flow in my brain. Being a scout is not about what you do with others scouts but it becomes apart of your life style. Being a scout is a decision that one makes because you want to change in different ways: firstly you gain confidence, secondly you learn how to interact in different ways and with different people and lastly you discover your abilities. JOIN Scouts and you will change FOREVER!

Conclusions

As you can see our reach is vast, our impact solid over the years we have been operating and it is due to the investment of people like your self who have donated and partnered with us over the years. Thank you. All of this is made possible through your contribution to our work.

We are wanting to start a new project and fundraise $200,000 to purchase a farm that can double as an office, self sustaining farm and camping ground so we can take the children away at our convenience (currently we are limited to the one camp ground in the area and we can only really access that ground in winter). The camps are integral, we teach the children leadership skills, democracy, conflict management, negotiation as well as the adventure of going camping which none have had the privilege to do prior to being involved with KTD196. We also want to be less dependant on donors and more self sustaining through the farm. Please consider making a contribution. It IS a huge amount but if we dont have a goal we dont have anything to aim for.

Thank you for your support and ongoing committment to our project.

Warm regards

Louise Batty

Links:

• Our website