Lifeskills 2,743 vulnerable children South Africa

Thank you and WELCOME to all our new partners as well as everyone who has supported us over the years! You are awesome and your impact lives on, in the lives of the children we serve, whether they have gone on in life or are still with us.

For those that are new to us, I want to share about how we started forming our program and how it was shaped. When we (Elizabeth and I) first started the bones of Keep The Dream196 in 2003, we identified that the lack of parenting skills was a large factor in the high risk behaviours we were seeing amongst the children. We started working with approximately 25% of orphans and 75% who were vulnerable due to poverty, neglect, abuse, apathy or a strong sense of inadequacy and lack of knowledge.

The adult training portion of our program has four core purposes:

1. To educate adults and caregivers to become better parents.
2. To create volunteers who will be able to assist with the implementation of our children’s project.
3. To create links in the community between Induna’s (Village Headmen) and the children and to put children and their issues on the agenda of leaders in the communities in which we operate.
4. To give adults the skills to improve their food security and to eat healthily despite being impoverished.

In 11yrs we have trained in excess of 1,509 parents and caregivers in Journey of Life. So in essence we have touched over 1,500 families and had multiple generation impact. This training takes an adult on the journey through their own past, to look at road blocks from their own experiences, what or who helped them and then to apply this learning to their own children or adopted children. It is a powerful tool that has created sustained positive change within the family members that attended.

Once the parents/caregivers of the children have been trained in Journey of Life we also train the parents in Children’s Rights which predominantly have been miscommunicated by teachers to the students. The children are very informed about their rights but not about their responsibilities and, by and large, were using their “Rights” to brow beat their parents into allowing them to do whatever they wanted. So, we would have 13year olds telling their parents they had rights to go out late at night, be with their friends, go to the shabeens or taverns and basically the parents did not feel they could stop them.

We taught parents/caregivers about rights and responsibilities plus their roles as duty bearers to protect their children.

I have learned that a child can live in great difficulty and I may not realize that I am the cause and making life very difficult for my children. I am going to apologize to my children for the way I was treating them and hope I can stop treating them the way I was.

Beauty's parent.

“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 would be rude to my children and I never realized the importance of listening. I am going to ask for forgiveness from my children.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing this information it is truly is a blessing” Nelly's mum.

We know this training works and that changed behaviour is sustained because we take the children of the parents to a focus group six months and 18months later and we ask them if their parents have changed and if it is sustained. 99% of the time the children report huge positive shifts in attitudes by their parents towards them and that life at home has dramatically improved.

This is how we utilize some of the donations we receive. This is how we build families and communities with your support.

Thank you all so much for seeing the value in our children and wanting the best for them as do we.

Gratefully yours

Louise

My name is S, I come from Motupa, I am 17yrs old.

I have always been quiet and shy, I was always told by my mum that I was stupid and dumb. When I started with Keep The Dream196 program I was 12yrs old and I had no self-confidence or courage. After a year, my mum went to Journey of Life training and I’m not sure what happened but she is totally different. She came home after the first day and said sorry to me for all the mean, rude things she said to me.

I was a bit scared. I didn’t know what was happening. I also didn't know if the change would last. I am happy to say the change lasted and got even better. Now we talk about everything, when I have any worries I go to my mum. She treats me with respect.

I want to be an engineer, my mum promised to help me financially to get to my dreams. None of that would be possible without Keep The Dream196. They have made such a difference in me and in my family. Now my mum also tells other people how to treat their kids because of what she has learnt. She even tells her first born brother how to treat his kids.

I want to see more parents attend this training; it has made such a big change in my mum and in my family. By supporting Keep The Dream196 you are supporting me. You are supporting kids like me. Thank you S

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