By Louise Batty | Managing Director
Dear All,
WELCOME to the KTD196 Community!
Welcome also all our new partners and thank you to everyone who has supported KTD196 as we continue to serve thousands of children every week throughout Limpopo.
This week I want to talk about Child Protection and what we do to mitigate the risk to our children.
Did you know that the 12th of May is International Children's Day?
All around the world people will be celebrating this special day and recognising how special children are!
What I find sad is that this struggles to translate into real action on behalf of children.
Keep The Dream196 is raising awareness with the parents of the children we serve in order to keep them safe! We also work with the children and give them the knowledge of how to stay safe and what to do if they feel vulnerable.
We have been funded to run 20 trainings this year for 20 parents, a total of 400families will be taught how to keep their children safe and those of their extended families especially since the statistics show that 93% of the abuse is within the extended family. This combined with the Child Protection activities we do with the Induna's (headmen) that trickle down to their communities plus with the children themselves we are working to ameliorate sexual abuse all together.
Below is a story of one such girl who has had to endure a life of abuse. Every time a child or woman is raped they have to also face the real probability of becoming HIV infected or any other sexually transmitted disease plus the added burden of becoming pregnant and then the very real dilemma of having the child, aborting or adopting this unplanned child. The ramifications are horrific.
You are supporting these activities. You are helping us to mitigate this abuse. Thank you doesn't come close to the impact we are achieving through your support.
Louise
My name is M, I am 20yrs old.
From the age of 7 and 12 years I had different dreams, different from most young people my age. My life was filled with darkness and the only dreams that I had was to escape the sexual and emotional abuse I was enduring at the hands of my uncle and others. At that age I did not have anyone to share my pain with and I was too scared to tell my mum and I don't have a dad.
The notion of being a kid, with hopeful dreams of a bright future never was introduced to me…until I was introduced to Keep The Dream196 when I turned 15yrs. When I finally escaped one painful situation, I was raped by a member of the community where I live at 16yrs, that resulted in an unwanted pregnancy which I gave up for adoption.
Keep the Dream196 literally saved my life.
Your support of this life transforming organization, sowing into the lives of those with too much childhood pain to dream for a brighter tomorrow, is deeply appreciated more than words can convey. The only reason I have survived and held on to my dreams is because of the support, counselling, friendship and amazing giving of Keep The Dream196.
They provided clothing and nappies when I gave birth because my family is very poor. My granny works on a farm and earns R2,500/month (approximately $175US/month) that goes to support my granny, my mum, 2 sisters, my little brother and me. Out of these impoverished conditions that no one asks for, Keep The Dream196 is showing thousands of people like me that my current situation does not have to reflect my dreams for the future.
This organization has provided a place for me to learn how to communicate, face my fears, overcome the shame of my past and build for a brighter future. These are not just dreams that have no chance of being realized. In fact, I am committed to doing more than my mother was able to do so that my sisters and others in my community can also have more. Your gifts are not just financial; it impacts each of us who are a part of this organization in a very real way.
God has carried me through all of this by sending KTD196 into my life. I just wanted to tell you, I am not the only one, but I am the only one brave enough to talk out.
Thank you for helping me by helping Keep The Dream196
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