1st June 2005

Dear Friends and Supporters

It is three months since I last wrote and a lot has happened in that time. Welcome to our first newsletter
with pictures. Text Box: UPGRADING OF CRECHES: The Department of Social Services (as part of Premier Rasool's delivery campaign) has made available resources for the upgrading of 138 creches in the Western Cape by August, in order for them to become registered and then subsidised. Three of `our' creches (Babalwa, Noncedo and Zamukhanyo) have been selected for this upgrade which is wonderful.

 

Text Box: WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS During April we had the help of two great volunteers Steve Lockie (a carpenter at J. van der Marel in Amsterdam) and Maruschka Boomsma (a social worker). They brought with them donations from Christel Ketelaar and Lenny van Hamersveld (and their families and friends in Holland) for materials and tools, and spent April fixing holes in the roofs and making the electric wiring safer at Qhamani, Nonzame, Babalwa and  Zamukhanyo. Two visitors from England, Elle Holgate and Ben assisted with the renovations as well as doing activities with the children.  

 

 


 

 

 

 Text Box:   In April we had a visit from a group of Rhodes Scholars from Oxford. Two of them, qualified doctors, spent a number of days at the creches checking the children for untreated ailments and referring them to the local clinic. Thank you to all of you.

 

Joshua van der Rede has again taken on the mammoth task of auditing the books for 9 of the creches, a task which is not only essential, in order for the creches to demonstrate accountability to funders and the authorities, but also saves them a great deal of money. Thank you Joshua! Other volunteers have been working at home or collecting donations for us etc. Special thanks to June Fourie, Gill Thompson, Maureen Carney and the ladies at Bergvliet Methodist Church and elsewhere for taking on the enormous challenge of sewing, crocheting and knitting blankets and mattress covers for over 800 children. Dr Keen from Hermanus donated R500 towards material for the covers. Thanks to you all, the children can rest every afternoon under warm blanket s on clean mattresses.  

Text Box: DONATIONS of FOOD: Jo Maxwell and the Red Hat Renegades have continued to supply the creches with nutritious ePap to the value of R2000 every month. Last year they were joined by the Union of Jewish Women who contribute R300pm to ePap at Babalwa. Then JDI started donating a regular R700 towards Noncedo's ePap. Most recently SA Breweries has taken on the full supply of ePap to the two biggest creches, Nonzame and Zamukhanyo, for 4 months, and Indigo Cosmetics has adopted Noluthando Educare for a whole year.  

Text Box: Excitement at Qhamani over the arrival of the Rotary pasta donation, as well as the ePap.

 

 

 Text Box: Another wonderful donation has come from Rotary in the form of boxes and boxes of pasta for the children - which they love! The Greyladies Association has continued to contribute towards food costs at the creches which are not yet subsidised. Thank you all!  

 

DONATION OF COMPUTERS: Thanks to the generosity of Alexander Forbes, we now have 6 second hand computers in good condition for the creches. Many might wonder why they want or need computers, when there are so many other seemingly more pressing needs. The fact is that the principals and teachers are very eager to upgrade their skills and to be able to act as good role models to the children in their pre-schools, who they know will have to compete in a world of computers. Access to computers and computer skills will make them more self sufficient, and less reliant on help from others. The computers have been set up temporarily at the SAEP office for training, and it has been exciting to see the progress staff are making. We will shortly be able to move them all to Philippi where each of the 10 creches will have easy access to them. Thank you to Belinda Burger at Alexander Forbes in particular, for her ongoing support and assistance.Text Box: OTHER DONATIONS: There have been more donations than we can possibly list here. Thank you to all of you! However, we can mention a few of the highlights: Yabonga has been a wonderful resource. and has donated much needed equipment to the four most deprived creches. Lee Anne de la Hunt has recently given a very generous donation which will be used for a variety of needs in the creches. Last year's TV appearance by Nokhaya Manxiwa-Nqeza of Qhamani, prompted Rize Blom of Gauteng to give her monthly tithe to Qhamani. This support has been much appreciated.  

 

 

Text Box: Rustenburg Girls High School donated a large amount of fencing which went to Ruth First, Mary Solomon of UJW gave a cot to Babalwa, and Yvonne Banning gave two bakkie loads of furniture and kitchen cupboards to a number of creches.  Medical students from Groote Schuur Hospital painted the outside of Nonzame.   

 

 

Text Box: Joanne Mooney, visiting from Ireland for a week, bought wonderful toys for the children and got them singing and dancing within minutes of meeting them. Emel and Robyn donated money which Chris and Hiske Boomsma used to buy wonderful musical instruments for Nonzame when they visited earlier this year. Qhamani has been enjoying buying new kitchen equipment and cots, funded by the Lottery, and now has a beautifully equipped baby room.  

  

TOY LIBRARY: We are planning to start a toy library for the creches so that they can all benefit from the good toys that we get donated. It is going to be based at Qhamani for the moment, until a larger venue can be found (anyone have a small shipping container or Wendy House we can use?). We already have boxes of toys and books which have been numbered, and are looking for other suitable sturdy items for the library. Ros Emanuel has continued to provide ongoing support and assistance to the creches will be organising the toy library with help from Barbara Diehl, a volunteer from Switzerland who recently joined us. Barbara will also be spending an afternoon a week at Nonzame playing with the children.

 

                                      

TRAINING: We encourage all staff to go for training through the organisations offering courses in baby and child care, and Grade R teaching. Zamukhanyo was the lucky educare centre selected by Yabonga for a long term weekly programme of on the job training. Sally Britton and her team work along side the staff demonstrating educational activities with the children and acting as wonderful role models.

MID YEAR EVALUATION: We will be having a mid-year evaluation of the Safety Unity Creche Forum later this month, to assess progress and to model the importance of planning and evaluation for the creches.

APPLICATIONS TO LOTTERY: We are about to apply to the Lotteries Board again this year for all the creches, and trust that we will be more successful than last year- does anyone have time on their hands and willing to assist?

Text Box: ON GOING NEEDS: We continue to need donations of toys, equipment, time, skills and money. If you think you can help in any way please get in touch - either by email janekeen@worldonline.co.za or 685.3431. We would love to hear from you. Best wishes, Jane Keen                       South African Education and Environment Project   

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