Lifeskills 2,743 vulnerable children South Africa

I hope you are doing well and that life is treating you kindly?

This month I have just completed an Annual Report to one of our institutional donors and I thought you might like to read a small portion of the impact of the work we have done in the lives of the families we serve.

Journey of Life (JoL) is a training we provide and it is a wonderful tool which enables adults to reconnect with what it was like for them growing up as children, what were the obstructions and the difficulties along the road to adulthood, but what were the positives and who helped them to overcome the obstructions or problems they faced. Often times we hear parents lament “my God, I am doing to my child what was done to me!”

 Through the JoL, we address children’s rights, child participation, discipline in the home and a number of other issues. Here is a graph which was scored by the children after their parents attended training.

See the Document below for the graph that wont upload here.

Changes in Parental Behaviour after JoL Training according to the Children. 

The children post JoL training that their parents attended were being more involved in decision making however parents were still very guarded about including the children in major decisions or involving them in family matters, perhaps because of cultural norms and values, and the absence of older or other key family members in the JoL training. There was a 25% net improvement

“My parents are interested in hearing about my day”, prior to JoL 17% of the children felt their parents were not interested in their day, after JoL 19% of Children expressed that their parent was more interested in their day. A 36% net improvement experienced by the children. This one change the children identified as being critical to improving relationships between parents and children. A majority of parents agreed with this statement by the children. Once we understood that being listened to by their parents was critical, we then qualified that response further using spider tool, this revealed that 90% of the respondents felt listened to, their parents did not interrupt them while speaking, support and love was shown through this one action.

Through the District Events the children whose Parents had attended JoL training reported the following:

• We really glad that KTD196 is giving us a voice in the family.
• We feel listened to by our parents that is a big change.
• Our parents are still making most of the decisions in the family but it is changing, I can now make a few decisions.
• 90% of the children whose parents attended JoL stated their parents now sit down with the children and guide them in a nice manner (their words).
• Children whose parents had not yet attended the training were insisting their parents be next.

The feedback is much more positive however changing culture is a process and we are moving in the right direction.

It is so exciting to see the relationships between parents and children improve, discipline is becoming much more resolution based than punitive and physical. This project is supported by an institutional donor however your support supplements those areas that are not fully funded and enables us to run the children’s program effectively and efficiently.

Thank you, I hope you are able to see the difference you are making to the lives of the children we serve. God bless you for all that you do. To those who send encouraging messages to our kids through our website, please continue to do so, the children love hearing from you!

Blessings

Louise

Links:

• Please leave a message of encouragement! We all need it!
• Facebook is a great way to keep up to date!

• JoL Report including Graph (DOCX)