Hands of Love sent pupils to School.Photo:HALO

Creative Consulting & Development Works has been promoting the great work of Hands of Love Outreach (HALO) since we first heard about them in 2010. Based in Mthatha, this amazing organization aims to reach out and improve lives of people living in resource deprived communities.

Recently, the organization expanded its mission beyond providing for the immediate needs of their clientele (like food and warm clothing) by opening a residential shelter onCallaway Streetin Mthatha which caters to their long term needs.  Recently, they went as far as adopting an entire extended family group that consists of approximately 38 members in Ngangelizwe near Mthatha.

A member of HALO, Sinethemba Dywili, says 13 of the kids from the family were sent to different schools around their community. The Grade 9 pupil is attending classes at Zimele School, the grade 11 is at Ngangelizwe High School and the rest are enrolled at Nxeko Mtirara Primary School.

“The organization would like to get financial assistance to fulfill their dream of sending half, if not all of the children living there to school next year,” Dywili said.

We encourage all of our readers to help Hands of Love Outreach (HALO).  To find out more and to donate please click here.

Staff from Creative Consulting & Development Works will be attending a book event hosted by Book Lounge on Monday, May 16th.

Taking place at 6pm, the event, entitled ‘No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way‘ brings members and residents of Symphony Way discuss their Anti-Eviction Campaign, which pushes the government to provide residents with suitable permanent housing.

Find all the details HERE.

We hope to see you there!

Some of the report’s troubling findings include:

• 64%, or 11.9million, of the country’s 18.6million children live in poverty. Many of them are Aids orphans – about 5.5million people have HIV/Aids in South Africa, more than in any other country

• Only 54% of the HIV-positive children who should be on antiretroviral treatment are receiving it;

• More than 270 babies and their mothers die after birth on average a day, mainly due to HIV/Aids, and the maternal mortality rate has increased by 80% since 1990;

• 582000 children who should be attending high school are not – 28% don’t have the money for fees and 15% because “education is useless”;

• Of 56500 children who were victims of violent crime in 2009-2010, 27417 were raped or molested. Of those, 29% were aged between 0 and 10.

Read the full article below:

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The Times: Young,hungry,helpless

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article986417.ece/Young-hungry-helpless

UN,USA

Children need to be loved and protected from violence to stop them from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

South Africa was recently shocked by the gang-rape of a school girl by three of her fellow pupils. The girl was drugged and raped while other pupils watched and filmed it on their cellphones. Why are some children in South Africa so violent and what can be done about it?

Some people have spoken about a “culture of violence” in South Africa, but implying that violence is inherently South African is not helpful. The cause of the problem needs to be found and addressed.

South Africa is not the only country that struggles with violent and dysfunctional youth. Safe Families Safe Children, an international group of renowned child rights organisations, including ACER Brasil, The International Children’s Trust, JUCONI Ecuador, JUCONI Mexico, New Life (South Africa) and Railway Children (UK, India and East Africa) “promote access for highly excluded children from violent homes around the world to the support and services they require to recover from their traumatic life experiences and gain sustainable access to their rights”.

In this organisation’s “Manifesto of Change” they site the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study which “found a clear link between the adverse experiences in childhood (including physical, emotional or sexual abuse and living in households with domestic violence) and a range of physical, emotional and social problems, including: heart disease, obesity, depression, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, rape and poor job performance”.

Children who experience violence in their families feel neglected and excluded from their community. They often end up on the street. Photo: Phil @ Delfryn Design via Flickr

The Manifesto also states that a study in the UK had found that 72% of children who have killed or committed serious, usually violent, crimes, have experienced abuse.

These children do not take active part in their community as they feel neglected or not part of that community. They often end up on the streets as they experience violence, rather than love, from their families.

Safe Families Safe Children believes that action must be taken on three levels to break the cycle of violence.

In the field the internal and external needs of the most excluded children from violent homes should be met. Not only must the violence be stopped and youths be given access to education and health care, but the youths need to be helped to emotionally recover from the trauma of abuse.

Secondly, community stakeholders must be able to recognise and work with the most excluded children from violent homes in the communities.

Thirdly, policies and guidelines should be drawn up that prioritise and address the experiences and emotional needs of these children in government and funding agencies.

New Life believes in working not only with the children, but also their families. However, this is a difficult process. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

The aim is to ensures that vulnerable children are recognised and participate in society and can fulfill their goals in life.

New Life, the South African partner of Safe Families Safe Children,  does not only work with street children, but also tries to engage their families, taking a holistic approach. According to their website, their vision is “to empower out of school/street (most excluded) children and their families, living in violent and poor communities, to combat the problems of poverty, lack of schooling, family violence, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS”.

This is a difficult process as children cannot go back to dysfunctional families without the families first undergoing serious change. Not all families are open to this process. But often institutionalisation does not work for children either and they end up on the streets. How do you think the issue of most excluded children from violent homes should be addressed? Please leave your comment below.

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Panelists discuss challenges facing youth at NGO Week. Photo: Development Works

Young people are facing many challenges in today’s society. In some cases, especially where unemployment is concerned, these challenges are so great that they cannot take active part in and contribute to their families and the community at large.

More than 30 people, from various organisations, gathered at Salt River Community Hall on 22 September, during the South African National NGO Coalition‘s NGO Week, to find innovative solutions to issues concerning youth.

Among the panelists was Gerald Jacobs from Mamelani Projects, Sifiso Jezile from My Life Foundation, Paul Hooper from Western Cape Street Children’s Forum, Nokwanda Luthuli from the Western Cape Department of Labour and Alicia Mlokoti from the National Youth Development Agency. Many organisations working with children and other interested parties made up the audience. The discussion was open to all to participate and was facilitated by Mamelani Projects

The aim of the discussion was to share experiences, raise awareness and identify lessons learnt from successful interventions that are being implemented by local organisations.

Issues raised

A young woman tests water quality at Alrode Brewery. Youth need the proper skills and support to find such employment. Photo: Chris Kirchhoff via Media Club South Africa

The panelists gave an overview of the challenges facing today’s youth, especially unemployment. They focused specifically on youth coming from children’s homes and the criminal justice system. They introduced their organisations, shared their challenges and how they overcame these.

Jacobs said that youth do not have support through business training. Even the practical process of getting a job is a challenge on its own. Youth do not have money to copy and fax their CVs or for transport to go to their interviews. According to Jacobs, mentoring needs to be made available to youth.

Hooper said that street children are a “society thrown away”. They know what they want, but they do not know how to even begin to achieve it. They need proper support and care.

A member of the audience, Rachel Khatlane from Feet of Mercy, said that an inter-connectedness is needed between different organisations dealing with the same issues: “Resources are not accessible to communities, the youth is losing hope and structural support, such as therapy, is needed,” she said.

It was agreed that youth coming out of the criminal justice system need someone to empower them, skills development and education.

Project Lungisela

Mamelani Projects try to help youth to find employment. Photo: Hannelie Coetzee via Media Club South Africa

Mamelani Projects runs a programme called Project Lungisela that supports youth in children’s homes, who have to leave these institutions when they reach the age of eighteen. These youth have often missed a lot of schooling, because they lived on the streets for some time. When they leave the home, their chances of finding a job is thus limited.

Project Lungisela aims to equip these individuals to face the challenges of leaving institutional care. Mamelani works with the youth for a two year period before they leave the home and continue to support them thereafter. The programme consists of weekly lifeskills workshops geared at personal development. The youth are assisted to obtain the necessary skills to find employment in their area of interest and they are given work experience through internships. Mamelani also helps them to find safe and secure living arrangements after leaving the home.

Our Support

Creative Consulting & Development Works worked with this inspirational organisation when we facilitated a strategic planning workshop for them in 2007. We hope to go on supporting them as we did at their fundraising breakfast that we blogged about at the end of last year.

Many other interesting discussions and workshops took place during SANGOCO’s NGO week, covering topics such as education, xenophobia, health, media, violence and much more. Creative Consulting & Development Works found the ones that we attended very interesting and informative.

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