Lifeskills 2,743 vulnerable children South Africa

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your ongoing support. I wanted to let you know that the farm is still available and we have raised R500,00 towards the R1.7million required. Please continue to support us and to also pray with us, we are now seeing in excess of 3,000 children on a weekly basis and we need our own office, campsite, space to assist these kids to develop further.

I don’t think I take enough time to share our successes, they get tucked away in the Annual Report and can be easily glanced over so I decided I wanted to share the impact we are having with the children we serve and to expand on the meaning of these successes.

1) Limpopo Province has a reported teenage pregnancy rate of 13% we have reduced that rate to 0.062% for 12yrs. We should be seeing approximately 170 pregnancies a year, multiplied by 12years means a total of 1,453 teenagers who have not become pregnant while in our program. This means we have saved the government R5,266,179 in Child Support Grants in 2014. When a teenager becomes pregnant her body is not mature enough physically, spiritually or emotionally to become pregnant. The child is often born underweight and sickly because the teenager tries to hide the pregnancy and lose weight during the pregnancy. Due to the pregnancy both child and mother can be very sickly post delivery and suffer from complications for the first 5yrs of life. The 1,453 girls have continued on with their studies and are working hard on their futures without the complication of a baby to care for.

2) 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 them
selves from unwanted pregnancies and HIV in the process. This means that the government is not having to
pay for expensive Anti-retroviral therapies for the life of our children OR their children because they have
chosen to abstain. This also means that there are less illness’s relating to HIV which require treatment and
an overall increase in quality of life, life expectancy and decrease in morbidity of this generation.

3) Limpopo Province has one of the worst matriculation rates in the country with an average of 60% for the
last 6yrs. In our program we have an average of 90%. The two years were we had students fail where the
years of the general strike (including teachers) and the failure by Dept of Education to deliver text books to
all the schools in Limpopo. Our children are taught team work, study skills, determination, seeking out support
and help when they don't understand the curriculum or content. Because of these skills the children are
passing matric, in fact for 4years we have had 100% matriculation pass rate. We also assist the matriculants
with career advice and access to bursary applications and university enrolment forms. All of our Scouts who
have gone on to college or university have persevered and been able to graduate. The national average for
graduation for a 4yr degree is only 10%. The Scouts/Rovers tell us it is because they do not succumb to peer
pressure at university because they have learnt to have a goal and be determined and focussed. They provide
support to each other, homework support and moral encouragement.

4) 10% of all natural deaths for children aged between 0-18yrs is suicide related. We have had no suicides in
12yrs. Our children are well adjusted and resilient. They have learnt that pressures are temporary and that
perseverance will produce results. They have developed the necessary holistic skills to live successful and
fruitful lives. They are not afraid of challenges and work hard at supporting each other towards their goals.
There was one attempted suicide in all this time where the child survived and realised that her life
deteriorated significantly when she left Scouts 3years earlier, she no longer had the support of positive
peers and started studying where access to alcohol and drugs were rife. I am happy to report that she has
come back as a Rover and is succeeding in university and due to graduate law next year.

5) None of our children, once they have joined and remain in the program, have been involved with crime, use
alcohol or drugs.

6) We are currently working with over 3,000 Children aged between 5-26yrs in 91 different sites around Greater Tzaneen Municipality and Vembe districts.

As you can see our impact is growing everyday. Please consider giving to us again especially on a monthly basis as this helps us to maintain a regular cash flow and organize our activities more effectively. The next bonus giving day is 16th September 2015 where your donations will be increased by 30%.

Thank you for your previous support please consider assisting us further, no amount is too small.

with much gratitude

Louise Batty

Voice of the Child:

My name is Karabo, I am 17yrs old, in year 11 at high school and I have been a part of Keep The Dream196 since I was 12 yrs of age. KTD196 introduced Scouts to Radoo in 2010. Scouts has changed my life, I didn’t know what to do because I was an ordinary boy, I would just do what everyone else was doing without thinking about my future. After being in scouts I realised anything is
possible. For example, I thought joining the bad boys in the village was the right thing to do. My family and village teens were my role models, drinking, smoking, dropping out of school, stealing, crime, and some of my friends are now in prison, I watched this and thought it was cool but scouts showed me a different future, one I could be proud of.

I thought the village boys would laugh at me and make me a fool to others in my village but I decided to make my own decision, the right decision according to the scout laws. I have a future. Scouts has changed my thought patterns and my behaviours. My best friend joined scouts with me, he thought it was a great thing because of camping and the games we played. But out of all my friends I am the only one left in scouting because obeying the scout laws is very tough. My best friends now hang out at
shabeens all the time drinking, many have dropped out of school, having high risk sex, getting girls pregnant and becoming HIV infected. Given was my best friend when I was 12yrs, we joined scouts together but after 3months Given quit. Given now at 17yrs is repeating grade9 again for the 3rd time, spending all his free time at the shabeens with many girlfriends, involved in high risk sexual activity. Scouts has made me realise there is more to life.

I lost a lot of friends in the beginning because of continuing with Scouts. Others joined scouts
because of me and the positive changes they saw in me. We provide support for each other, we do
activities together such as improving the skills in the younger scouts, we actively recruit younger kids to join. We also do community service for vulnerable people (old people or those on their own who don’t have relatives to care for them) in the community such as cleaning up their yards, we fund raise money and buy food for them, collect water and let them know they are not on their own, that people care for them. We often clean the streets of our village and after the SASSA grant has been given out in my village my troop goes to the visiting point to clean the area afterwards. The community see us as good children and are proud of the work we do. They know we are Scouts.

Scouts has given me the ability to think positively, to be a role model to the other younger children in the village, and to even help children to realise Scouts is a very positive impact in our lives. Because of Keep The Dream196 I now have the following skills: Management, Organizational, Communication and good leadership skills.

The scout laws I took in to my heart and I have changed. I enjoy going to camp and thought that was all scouts was but then I realised Scouts was all over the world and if I decided to live the right way using the scout laws, I could achieve anything. My life could have been useless but now with scouts I have a direction and a purpose.

Once completing matriculation I have a dream to be a dentist. I will take my studies further and attend university. I also will prove to my friends that Scouts was not a waste of time and in fact I chose correctly. Even though I will be a professional I will still be involved with Scouts and Keep The Dream196, KTD196 needs to grow bigger and touch more lives in Limpopo and South Africa. I will be continuing my involvement in Scouts as an adult leader but also assisting financially and resource wise as I know that many development troops start with nothing but passion. They need resources for scouting materials and activities, please consider helping us now so we can move forward with our dream for Scouting.

I feel proud of being in scouts because I care for people, I am a leader, I am role model and I have a future.