Lifeskills 2,743 vulnerable children South Africa

It is with mixed feelings that I give you this update.

As many of you may, or may not know, on the 27^th Sept, I was called to immediately come home to Australia.  My mother had taken ill and the doctors had decided to discontinue active treatment. She was dying.  

They gave her possibly 3days.  

Well the doctors underestimated the power of prayer and the strength of my mother.  I am happy to report we have experienced a miracle. On the 20^th of November, my mother, with the support of the physiotherapists, stood for the first time in 3months (she had been ill and in hospital prior to the doctors withdrawing medical support). My mother stood for 2seconds……………..it is a start of a long road to recovery but I want to thank all of KTD196’s supporters who have enquired about my family.  I am humbled by your support and care, thank you.

As for Keep The Dream196, due to the way we operate and the succession planning in place all activities and programs are continuing and the children are receiving all the services as if I was still there. My board and staff have enabled me to come home and be the daughter my parents need me to be at this stage in their lives. I am so proud of my staff, we are a team of people and together we are impacting children and families lives exponentially.

Now that the emergency with my mum is over, it is time to return to my other love, KTD196. I plan to return back to Tzaneen, South Africa on the 18^th December.  However, as some of you know, the best laid plans may need to be changed at a moments notice.

One of the things that I am excited about is being there for the start of the new year and deciding how best to implement the extra resources from Global Givings Giving Tuesday appeal. We have a new program called Meerkats for children aged between 5-7yrs that we would love to start. We also want to strategically plan expansion to our current program and impact more children than ever before.

This #GivingTuesday @GlobalGiving is dividing $150,000 in matching funds among its nonprofit community members. How much we get depends on how much you give! Help us win big. The day starts Tuesday, November 27th @0000 EST which becomes @07000 Pretoria in South Africa and @1530 in Adelaide South Australia.

Thank you all so much once again for the concern

Blessings

Louise

The causes of crime are complex. Most people today accept that poverty, parental neglect, low self-esteem, alcohol and drug abuse are all connected in explaining why people commit crimes. Some people are simply at greater risk of becoming offenders because of the circumstances into which they are born. For example: 40% of sexual offences occur in the home; 33% of assaults happen in the home; single black women experience high levels of abuse and murder by youth aged 15-35yrs of age.

We understand that Criminality is learnt through exposure at home, school and in social environments which should be the sources of safety, nurturing and support, unfortunately this is where criminal behaviour is

internalised. 70% of the 20million (or 14Million) South African youth are more likely to be victims and perpetrators of assault, robbery, rape and murder than adults. 50.2% of surveyed children in one research said they had knowingly committed a criminal offence by the time they were 15yrs of age.

It costs between R45,625 to R133,805 to incarcerate one prisoner.

In 16years, with over 12,000 children who have come through the program Keep The Dream196 has had one child criminally involved with the police and because of his age deemed incompetent to understand the seriousness of his crime.

Keep The Dream196 is impacting youth in such a profound way that even though our kids are living in poverty, struggle with parental neglect (which we also address through workshops with the parents) and exposure to alcohol and drug abuse, our children have such self esteem that they look past these challenges and look forward to their dreams becoming a reality.

This is only possible through your support. Join us. Together we will change families, communities and my dream, the nation of South Africa.

From Ronny

Before I joined the Childrens Program from Keep The Dream196  I was somehow like a terrible young man.

I was the kind of person who like swearing at other people. I was a person who liked going out to the streets with my friends during the night and we’d mock everyone who passed by and laugh at them regardless of their gender or age.

Lying was always on the tip of my tongue. If I did anything wrong at home and my parents would try to rectify my mistakes I would get angry with everyone and go away and come back when they are sleeping (I was very short tempered and not very friendly to other people).

I and my friends had taken to beating other children as a very fashionable style and we would beat them up for no good reason. The worst thing about me is I was a great gambling animal. I would steal any of my parent’s cents and rob out their change when they would send me to stores or shops so I could gamble with the money. I would play dice with older people.

The older people who were my friends would force me to drink alcohol and have many girl friends, so I did because I wanted to be with them because they gave me money to gamble with if I didn't have any.

So Keep The Dream196 childrens program has changed my life completely as I am away from these hectic things I was doing in the past. I’m no longer fooling around with my old friends, Scouts has made me have good friends. I am glad I’m away from those bad things because the only thing that was left was for me was to start smoking and start dying from AID’s as I was already drinking. My future looked very bad, if I continued I would probably end up in Jail for theft, mugging people or dead from choosing some one who was armed when I tried to rob them.

I spoke to Ronny recently, he is the IT support manager for a Old Mutual a large insurance company in Johannesburg. Ronny has also started his own Non Proift Organization to support children in Alexandria a dangerous township in JHB.

Links:

• Our Facebook Page for daily updates of activities
• Our new look website

Dear Friends and Partners of Keep The Dream196,

For 16years we have been working with the children of Greater Tzaneen and their caregivers. In that time, through the work we have implemented, we have prevented over 1,800 teenage pregnancies and unwanted children through our morals and values based program. We have assisted over 12,000 children to build their own future through active thinking and not just passively going along in life and doing what they see their peers doing ie drugs, alcohol or crime. (read their stories on our website under VOICE OF THE CHILD).

The impact I have shared with you previously remains the same:

• Teenage pregnancy in our program has declined from 13% provincially to 0.07%
• Teenage crime from 70%of youth are victims or perpetrators to 1 child in over 12,000 through 16yrs of operation
• 90% matriculation pass rate increased from 62% through government schools (which all our children attend)
• Successful suicide rate of 12.7% nationally where our suicide rate is 0.

These outcomes are phenomenal and it is because you, and people like you, enabling us to continue to do the work. Our successes are your successes. Together we have literally saved lives, we have stopped families from imploding, we, together!

We are forever grateful for your support of the work that we are able to do in changing lives, communities and generations.  It is sometimes hard to believe that we have been doing this work for over 16 years!!

Did you know $4 or R40 will keep one child in our program for 1month! For the price of a cup of coffee (in Australia), you can save a child from hopelessness, despair, suicide, poverty, teenage pregnancy and give them the support and skills they need to become active vital members of society with the abilities to become leaders of the future. Would you consider joining an elite group of individuals that supports us on a regular monthly basis.

The ease and benefits of being a monthly donor include: automated payments that you set and forget; you will be featured on our honor roll if you so choose; that the donation you make goes directly to services for the 2,000 plus children we see on a weekly basis; and every month you will know you are supporting an organization which isn't just talking about making a difference but actually is changing lives.

Together, hand in hand we are making futures available to thousands of desperate, directionless, hurting children! We cannot do any of these activities without your ongoing sustained support. For those who are already supporting us on a monthly basis,

THANK YOU! Words are not sufficient to be able to tell you the impact you are having on the lives of the children we serve.

We need regular monthly support. At one stage you recognised the value of our program by giving to the work we do.

We are only as successful as the funding we receive, without your support, in an ongoing manner; we are not able to reach the children as effectively or as many. We have identified new areas that are in desperate need of hope, help us be the answer for these children as well.

The decision is in your hands!

Sincerely

Louise

Links:

• Our Facebook Page for daily updates of activities
• Our new look website