Christmas is coming in Munsieville

What an exciting week! We had the Christmas Festival and Health Fair Saturday, as you all know, and hopefully you have had a chance to go to The Thoughtful Path Facebook page to see all the videos and pictures of the day.
Also this week I learned that we will be getting the 5812 Christmas wrapped books and 850 stuffed animals and toys shipped from Arizona to South Africa!! I am so excited. Gail and Gail have worked tirelessly along with our new friends, Joanne and Randy who learned about us through the news segment on the TV and proceeded to help us try and get the books here. I truly can’t thank everyone enough for all their support on this endeavour. It means so much to me and will mean even more to the orphans and vulnerable children of Munsieville. A very special thanks to our donor and to Allison Evans who helped us to get a very large contribution to help make this possible and to DHL and Courier IT who also have stepped up to the plate to work with us. As I said, it is amazing to see how a simple project turned into a phenomenal success. I can’t wait for AZ Family to do a follow-up story. I would love to see a few of the people involved be able to come out and hand out the books.
Well I will be leaving soon for a visit with my family on the East Coast and then back again in the New Year. I can’t believe that when I get back it will be only a little over 2 months of my assignment left. The time has flown by and there is so much more I want to see get done. We will be having a Charity Fundraiser in March, along with a Fun Run at the end of January and hopefully a 'Munsieville’s Got Talent' contest.
The Young Ambassadors programme that we have initiated is a priority for us to work on as soon as the children get back from school break. It will help the young people become the future leaders of Munsieville and will run alongside The Thoughtful Path as a Children’s Board, so that their voice is heard on what is important to them and their community to ensure that the programme meets their needs.
Check back early in 2011 for the latest news from Munsieville - meanwhile, have a Happy Christmas!
Michelle, GSK Pulse volunteer with Project HOPE UK.

Tshepo Christmas Festival and Health Fair

On Saturday 11th December, as part of the 10 year Thoughtful Path project, the first ever Tshepo Children’s Festival and Health Fair was held in the Munsieville township. Tshepo means hope in the local language, Setswana.
This festival was about celebrating children, Christmas, and better health for all. This was the second event organized under the Thoughtful Path following the successful Children’s International Cup in June, a replica of the FIFA world cup for the children of Munsieville, many of whom are orphans or other vulnerable children.
Most of these children and their families do not get a chance to celebrate Christmas, but this year the Tshepo festival has changed that. The festival was put together by volunteers from Munsieville, who, with the support of Project HOPE UK, organized and ran the whole event. As Munsieville is a township divided into informal and formalised settlements, one of the ambitions of the project was to bring children from all parts of the community together, no matter what their background.
To create cohesion in the community, the festival started in the morning in the informal settlement of Mayibuye, opened by drum majorettes and a marching band, with face painting, dancing and drama. It then continued as a parade, marching through all three wards in Munsieville, collecting children to bring them to Munsieville stadium. Here, the festival featured stage shows, Father Christmas, sports activities, clowns, balloons, face-painting, film shows, bouncy castles and a Craft and Health Fair, including child registration and HIV testing.

It was kindly supported by the Mogale City municipality, through the presence of the Home Affairs mobile unit, and Emergency Services and Traffic police, who allowed the children to interact with their officers. Children from the UK also participated by decorating and sending Stars of HOPE for their counterparts in Munsieville, each containing a special personal message of hope, joy and love.
Executive Director of Project HOPE UK Paul Brooks said: “This festival is about celebrating Christmas, children and better health for all, involving the whole community. Thousands of children have turned up a special day of activity, involving face-painting, Father Christmas, singing, dancing and food. A great celebration here in the African sunshine!”
Outside companies sponsored the event, included Aquafresh, Tiger Brands, PnA and Supersport, who through 'Let’s Play' televised the day and ran a sports skills activity, allowing children to improve their skills in soccer, netball and cricket, and try out rugby for the very first time.
As you can see from the photos, there were smiles all round!

Countdown to the Tshepo festival begins

The last few days before the Tshepo festival are full of excitement and anticipation, but also lots of frantic activity as everyone pulls together to make sure all is in place for December 11.

Following the clean-up day last week, Munsieville is neat and tidy in readiness for the festival, and all the behind-the-scenes organisation this week will ensure that the community enjoys a day to remember.

Stars decorated by schoolchildren in the UK are on their way to South Africa to be hung on the Christmas tree, kindly donated by the Parks Department. Tubs of facepaint donated by PnA will mean that the children of Munsieville can be decorated too!

The members of the Thoughtful Path hubs have been meeting to plan all the events for the Tshepo festival, so that it is a successful day that also has a lasting impact on the community. The 'Right to Care' organisation will be providing HIV testing and counselling, and there are several other health and sports activities planned.

It's not too late to make a donation towards the festival at http://www.projecthopeuk.org/ - and check back next week for news and photos from the big day!

Thank you for your support.

Munsieville Community Clean Up Day a great success!

The Community Clean Up Day was a campaign to bring pride and more sanitary conditions to Munsieville. We hoped to involve the entire community so that they realise that every piece of trash that they throw down has to be picked up by someone at sometime. We worked with the different levels of government to get this project off the ground. One of the real problems is they do not have anywhere to throw their rubbish, particularly in the informal settlement. Thus I am working to see if trash cans can be placed around the township on street corners and large refuse bins be brought in to put in strategic places around the township so that they have a place for overflow.
There is a lot more to do but it was a start to help them understand about littering and dumping. There are so many areas where people dump their rubbish that it is just unhealthy, unsafe, and plain disgusting! The worst has to be right next to the medical clinic. These people are already sick and then they have to pass this dumping area. I am going to try and speak with the mayor of the District about it since he is working hard on a 'green' campaign. It is one step at a time…
We are a week away from the Christmas Festival and Health Fair, a week which is going to be our biggest test yet, with all our strength needed to pull everything together for the festival. If you haven't had chance yet - please send the children of Munsieville a little hope by donating through our Star of HOPE appeal at www.projecthopeuk.org.

It's been great to see so many of you doing so - thank you for your support!

Michelle Webb & Neil Davidson, GSK Pulse volunteers at Project HOPE UK