More facilities for Munsieville creches

This story was written by Palesa Morakile, one of students at The Thoughtful Path's Young Journalists Academy, who looks set for a career in news reporting!
Glaxosmithkline health and safety group in collaboration with the Project Hope UK visits the Mayibuye crèches in Munsieville area, several assessments were conducted to check the safety conditions and health precautions that are followed in the pre-schools, Gladness Kgwadibe a teacher from Mpumelelo day care centre states “ the crèche has thirty kids and I take care of all them, my boss owns the crèche and she’s the one who does most of the things like attending different workshops and then she comes back to inform me about what should happen basically she trains me from what she learns in the workshops”. The pre-school has been operating for over five years and it is well established up to this far, the group discovered that although it is well established there’s still a very limited space for the kids and there are not enough facilities and study materials. It still isn’t a set back because they have a well fixed healthy routine for their daily meals and the kids are well taught. The size stretches up to two classes to fit the thirty kids, there’s also a kitchen with only one cooker Cindy Mathonsi “ I manage the cooking and I have a written out menu for the daily meals, I make sure the kids wash their hands every often” she mentions.
Two blocks away from the crèches there’s another day care centre which the group also paid a visit to it has a number of approximately twenty two children, Tswelopele Day care centre caters for children from the age of 1 year up to the age of six years with a number of three staff members who help out. Ms Maselele the owner of the Tswelopele day care says “ It’s unfortunate that my staff members are not qualified but I’m encouraging them to get the proper qualification so that they can become much better I believe so much in them”. She unveiled that the crèche receives health inspection from the government twice a year. It’s a well thought out construction which has signage boards everywhere for the kids to recognize their way around the centre. A daily activity programme to guide them throughout the day which includes toilet routine, washing hands regularly and rest times those are preplanned routine activities that seem to work out for the staff members from Tswelopele. The Glaxosmithkline team together with The Thoughtful Path hope to assist each other through a newly built children’s embassy which is a centre that has a huge interest in the kids of Munsieville who are vulnerable, disadvantaged, active and eager to learn to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others through the guidance from UK support group and members of the community.
Thanks for reading!

Forces for good at work in Munsieville

'Forces for Good' is a book that talks about the practices of high-impact nonprofits. Nurturing nonprofit networks and collaborating with other NGOs on common interests maximises resources and increases efficiency. Uncovering the interests of corporates instead of just accepting a grant and communicating with the local government on what their goals and initiatives are for their municipalities and how they link with those objectives of the nonprofit are strategic measures to ensure success. Here are some of our own examples of partnerships at Project HOPE UK on its Thoughtful Path programme in Munsieville:
Project HOPE UK supported Human Youth Coordinators of Humana in a Sports Day in Munsieville while GSK South Africa Consumer Division contributed Lucozade for the event. The children of Munsieville enjoyed a day of competitive soccer games and received recycling messages to help keep Munsieville clean.
The Children's Tshepo Festival held on December 2nd had support from GlaxoSmithKline South Africa Consumer Division. The Mobile Dental Clinic was present to instruct children on oral care and lots of Aquafresh was given away.
The Sterkfontein Heritage Lodge supplied 1000 hot dogs that community members such as Ivy, and Walter, a waiter at Heritage Lodge, as well as some US and UK GSK employees cooked and distributed to all the children at the festival. Whether you are an employee of a nonprofit organisation, a philanthropist, business executive, movie star or sports figure, board member, small business owner, government official, or volunteer, working together towards common goals for the good of a community eliminates duplication and ensures success in arriving at a goal faster and in a more sustainable way.
Through these wonderful partnerships, hopefully lasting, the most important thing that Project HOPE UK will never lose sight of, is that these efforts are for the children of Munsieville; to ensure they have a healthy and safe environment to flourish into confident, self-sustaining, contributing adults.

Health and safety messages for Munsieville

Tim and Candy from GSK shifted this week from being part of the crèche/shack safety team to the assigned objective of focus on the health and safety of the staff and stakeholders of The Thoughtful Path. First, we spent time observing and listening to understand key issues and challenges. Next, we met with Paul Brooks, Director of The Thoughtful Path, and Betty Nkoana, Project Manager, to discuss feedback about our key observations. We summarised recommendations for impacting the health of the TTP team and Tim delivered a coaching session to increase awareness of sustainable good health and resilience practices. Alyson Krucher, GSK Pulse Volunteer, held a leadership training workshop attended by Leadership Academy candidates, House of Young Ambassadors and other TTP stakeholders. We prepared a presentation and delivered this as part of the leadership training agenda. We asked the leaders to be aware of their health practices as they influence the community. We’ll be working tomorrow with a large crèche on fire drill training. Barbara and Mary went to The Victim & Empowerment Center this morning, which is housed in the Police Office. This is a community resource for children and adults who have suffered abuse. Barbara and Mary shared immediate feedback and observations with the staff and reinforced the connection with the Children’s Embassy, which will function as a safe environment where children can come for support for any issues. We all came back from the day's activities to a big storm of lightning and rain which took out the power (and internet access for Thurs night and Friday morning), so we ended the day with a candlelight dinner with the great team of people who run the Sterkfontein Heritage Lodge where we are staying.

Paraffin safety in Munsieville homes

Last week, the GSK Health and Safety Team spent the day visiting the section of Munsieville referred to as "The Shacks", an area of immense poverty. The team focused on Health and Safety issues, particularly around the use of paraffin. At least 90% of the shack housing in South Africa uses paraffin for energy/cooking and its misuse causes over 2,500 deaths each year. Many of the mothers that we spoke to said they had experienced shack fires due to paraffin. In addition several had children who had suffered paraffin poisoning through ingestion, as the plastic bottles containing paraffin are stored on the ground where they can be reached by toddlers.
During the visits the Team provided on advice on fire safety and first aid, as many had a real lack of awareness of the hazards of paraffin. The aim is that this will help mitigate the alarming number of children that are harmed every year by ingesting paraffin and also those who sustain burns through accidents.
We have developed a poster outlining key paraffin safety and first aid messages. These posters will be available to all the creches and homes in Munsieville, through the Children's Embassy. We have also drafted a paraffin safety education leaflet for use by the key stakeholders (The Thoughtful Path's local volunteers) who will be sustaining this initiative when we depart, with input from Joe from the Paraffin Safety Association. The plan is that in the medium term Joe will liaise with The Thoughtful Path and external bodies to source bottles with proper safety caps that can be used solely for the purchase and storage of paraffin.
Check back soon for further updates from The Thoughtful Path's work in Munsieville!

GSK Health & Safety team in action at Munsieville clinic

Today the clinical members of the GSK team had a very productive day, when we each had the opportunity to spend the morning with a nurse in the clinic in Munsieville. The clinic was very crowded and we estimate about 200 patients are seen per day. Between 9:00 and 12:30 we saw 30-40 patients in each area - child immunisations, TB/HIV/family planning, primary care and chronic disease management. The clinic opens around 8:00 and the patients begin lining up outside to be seen around 6:30 am. There is no doctor present on Wednesdays and the professional nurses (who have 4 years training) function in a very similar way to nurse practitioners in the UK. They take a detailed history, do a focused exam, diagnose, and dispense medications according to national guidelines. We were very impressed by their knowledge, dedication, and abilities. There is clearly a lack of space and resources. They have little time to spend with each patient, but do a great job with what they have. We identified some areas for improvement, for example in efficient use of administrative staff and nursing assistants, infection control, and health promotion/patient education. We are excited about the relationships we formed today and look forward to learning from the nurses we met, as well as hopefully making some useful suggestions.
Check back soon for more updates from our visit to South Africa.

Meet our youngest donor: Casey Jones

Casey Jones is an exceptional little 4 year-old with a huge amount of compassion for others and a very real knowledge of the world that surrounds us. He decided to do something special to help other children after seeing charity appeals on television which clearly upset him.
Casey chose his charity all by himself and the Star of Hope appeal run by Project Hope UK was the perfect project for him. He plucked up all his courage to ask his Headmaster and the head of his school's charity committee if they would let him sell his stars and help him get the idea to the older children. He explained how he would like to sell his stars and that the money he raised would help children without a mummy and a daddy to have a better Christmas.
Casey ensured that all the children at his relatively small school (less than 50 children) decorated a star. The stars were put in the children’s bags and brought back to school the following week. He also sold stars to some of the parents at Credit Suisse, the employer of his mum, and even convinced a few of her colleagues without children to decorate a star when they were not in a meeting.
Explaining to people, especially strangers, was no easy task for Casey who suffers from autism and finds it a bit more difficult than others to socialise and communicate. He did however manage to put his point across and raised £265! He loved every minute of it and is already planning his next "mission" as he calls it, to raise more money for the children in Munsieville.
We at Project Hope UK would like to thank this entrepreneurial little boy for his efforts. We admire his determination and courage to step over his own fears to help the children in Munsieville! Casey, well done and we are proud of you!!

Brick-making machines to help build the future in Munsieville

Two brick-making machines were donated recently to the The Thoughtful Path, Munsieville by a company called Eriger. The machines will be used by a group of women to make bricks, in order to build three créches in Munsieville.
Betty Nkoana from Project Hope UK said, "There is a need for créches because the children in this community have not, up to this stage, received proper early childhood education. Project Hope UK has sent some of the women for training in childcare and development, and they will then operate from the créches that are going to be built."
On 3 October, five of the woman from Munsieville went to visit Wilkinson in Eikenhof, which produces brick-making machines. The visit’s primary purpose was to teach the women how to operate the machines. Back in Munsieville, the women signed a proposal to the councillor, to request a piece of land in Maybuye for their activities, including brick making.Councillor Paul Molapo told the women at a meeting held at the site on 12 October, that their request has been pre-approved by council. "The municipality encourages residents to use their own initiative, and supports those who do so. Once this business is registered and the quality of the bricks are approved as per the national standard, the government can use these bricks in the building of Extension 5, which is the new extension of Munsieville," said Paul.
Anna Nkunou, one of the woman involved in the project, says, "We are so happy to hear this news. We were looking for an opportunity to empower ourselves and our children, but we didn’t know what to do."
Betty said, "These women are full of ideas and energy and are determined to reach their goal. Project Hope UK is supporting them in this regard and is convinced that these women will develop a flourishing business in Munsieville."
This initiative is part of the Community Strengthening Hub of The Thoughtful Path, helping to improve the environment in which the children are growing up and empowering the community to build a better future.

Peace and possibility - our patron's 80th birthday party

Project HOPE UK's volunteers Alyson Krucher and Carola Michielsen had the honour to be invited to the 80th birthday celebrations for Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Read Alyson's account of this amazing day:
"What an awe-inspiring weekend of peace and possibility! When Archbishop Desmond Tutu enters a room, you can feel the warmth, love, and genuineness he exudes and you just want to run up to him and give him a big hug. We were in his presence this weekend to celebrate his 80th birthday, as he is patron of Project HOPE UK's The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville (where Desmond Tutu grew up). As we waited for the Mass to begin in St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, Tutu soon entered the room. The media cameras all pointed to him as he moved from pew to pew greeting everyone, but it wasn't for show. It was genuine as if he was the host of his own party and wanted to say hello to everyone. After the Mass, Archbishop Tutu took the podium to thank many people. He asked for all his overseas friends to stand, he thanked us, and the congregation applauded and cheered with such respect, admiration and thanks. Then we were all bused to Stellenbosch (wine country) to Waterford Estate where we celebrated the amazing life of this 80 year old man with his family, friends, and other organisations that he supports. It was a beautiful day: blue skies, no clouds, warm with no humidity and a slight cool breeze, all over looking the Helderberg Mountains.
Attending the first Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture was another milestone. The interaction between 'The Arch' and His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama is very special to witness. It is playful, sincere, peppered with mutual respect and admiration. The theme of leadership was threaded within this moderated question and answer session. During my time in South Africa, I have spoken to Ward Councillors, Department of Education employees, government officials, teachers, Afrikaans people, business owners, staff of leadership academies and young adults. They all say that what this country needs is leadership. It is vital to train the youth of South Africa to become informed, productive, honest and motivating leaders of tomorrow's Africa.
The importance of leadership resonated throughout this weekend of celebration. The thread of peace and the prayers of possibility of a stronger Africa rid of poverty were palpable in the gathering of people from different nations and cultures all coming together to celebrate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
It was a truly wonderful, unforgettable experience!"

Update from Munsieville's young journalists

Our GSK PULSE volunteer Carola Michielsen caught up with the Youth Voice Journalism Academy students last week - here is an update from her meeting:
Last week I spent some time with some of the journalists of the Youth Voice Journalism Academy (YVJA), a year-long course that trains the young people with journalism skills, in order to develop literacy, accountability, self-confidence and leadership, whilst engaging the young adults in constructive activity. The YVJA aims to inspire the whole community by writing articles about relevant news or topics that concern the community or by the video diaries that the participants make which tell about their lives in Munsieville.
One year ago 20 young adults from Munsieville started this training. Some of them got jobs, moved or just dropped out so that by mid-October 2011, 10 of them will complete their curriculum. I met some very ambitious and talented participants (see picture). They are willing to make the best out of the course and are searching for ways to create more awareness in the community. They showed me their portfolio and I was really impressed by the quality of their work. Palesa was even asked by Caxton magazines to write an article for their magazine. She wrote an article on the origin of the word “kaffer”, which nowadays is used frequently by young children as a curse word but they have no idea where this word originates from. With the article, Palesa is trying to make the children aware so that they can rethink when they use this word. The students also made a HipHop magazine "Element" that looks very professional and trendy and is over 40 pages long!! They are eager to have this printed and have plans to discuss it with Caxton magazines, one of the companies they visited during their monthly site visits. This company has no magazine yet for young adults and this could be their first one and more importantly this could be the first magazine coming from Munsieville.
The students told me that they find it very difficult to create awareness about their work in the community and I challenged them to think about it - they came up with great ideas for creating a monthly newsletter and organising an exhibition of their work for the community! I think that the journalists I met last week do have talent and do believe that they can improve life for the young people in their community. With the right encouragement and support Project Hope UK will be able to help these young ambitious journalists achieve their goals and make their vision come true!!
Thanks for reading!

The power of connections in the Munsieville community

Alyson Krucher and Carola Michielsen, our two GSK PULSE volunteers, spent the day in Munsieville on Tuesday, meeting some of the local community. Here is Alyson's report from the visit:
"The day started with a meeting with Vuyani (the man in the white zip-up jacket), who is a youth coordinator volunteer for Humana and a resident of Munsieville. He and I share a strong desire to have a more structured and consistent sports programme in the schools of Munsieville as well as the community. Vuyani has a vision of building a sports complex in Mayibuye, the more established part of Munsieville. On our way to see the field, we ran into the women I like to call, "The Entrepreneur Women of Mayibuye". We were greeted with the same excitement and love we always get when they see us. Elizabeth and the rest of the women updated us with their progress in writing to the Councillor to ask for land to put their soup kitchen and brick-making facility. The letter was already drafted and on its way - another display of urgency on the part of these business ladies!
Vuyani needs the support of the adults in this community if his sports programme is to be sustainable. Mayibuye is the area of Munsieville that has the most young inhabitants but organised sports are nonexistent here because the parents do not see the benefit. Vuyani and I discussed the need to address the parents and emphasise the importance of sports to the overall well-being of their children. His interaction with the ladies today will help Vuyani establish rapport and these women will be able to spread the word to other adults in Mayibuye about sports. In return, Vuyani asked the ladies about what they are doing and Elizabeth explained about her bubble soap-making business, the bricks, candles, gardens, and home-based care.
Since my time is short here in Munsieville, I realise early on that it is important for me to facilitate connections between volunteers, community members and government officials and gently nudge these engaged people in a direction of productivity, trusting relationships, and results!"
Another step along The Thoughtful Path as the community of Munsieville moves towards a better future!

Holiday activities give Munsieville children a healthy start

Megan Quinn and Twanda Wadlington from East Tennessee University recently spent several months working on The Thoughtful Path in Munsieville. Here is another of their stories showing how changes are already happening to transform the lives of the children there:
The Thoughtful Path partnered with Legae La Bana (The Home of the Children) to create a two week health promotion programme during the recent winter holiday break. Sessions covered health, essential skills like reading and writing, arts and sports. Staff of Legae La Bana were present during all the sessions and were trained in all topic areas so that they can now develop an after-school programme with health-related themes.
The children of Munsieville were provided with a safe, productive way to spend their holiday break, and in return The Thoughtful Path gained knowledge on health-related issues in the community as seen through the eyes of the children. In addition, several strong, smart, outgoing children were identified to assist The Thoughtful Path with future projects such as The House of Young Ambassadors.
The activities organised for the children helped to foster positive growth and build confidence and self-esteem. The programme at Legae La Bana laid the foundation for this group of children to lead healthy, productive lives and they will now be able to serve their community by educating other children on basic health issues. The activities organised for the children also helped to foster positive growth and build confidence and self-esteem.
Check back soon for more stories of success as Munsieville takes further steps along the path to a better future for the whole community.

Vegetable gardens put the 'heart' back into the community

The people of Munsieville are resilient, welcoming, and ready for change, but have to face the daily struggles of poverty, crime, and substance and child abuse. In an effort to end hunger, malnutrition, and poverty a community garden scheme has recently been started by The Thoughtful Path. By going back to the land and planting homestead gardens, the scheme engages the elderly women of the community to create a sustainable way to provide healthy, nourishing meals for themselves and their families.
Seventy four women from the Muyibuye area of Munseieville gathered to develop and implement the gardening project. Group members helped each other to build gardens at their own houses and to train other community members on building gardens. The “keyhole” garden method was used as it is proven to work in small spaces, various weather conditions, and uses recycled materials readily found in the community. This method utilises a series of layers and an inner compost circle to provide nutrients and proper irrigation to the seedlings. People collected materials from around the community for the layers of their gardens (bricks, cans, straw, ash, and soil). Seedlings and compost were provided via donations from the United States. A variety of crops were planted, including beetroot, parsley, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and spring onion.
The women involved in this project immediately made it their own, developing their own garden shape and creating strategies to feed the orphaned and vulnerable children with the vegetables from their gardens. The women observed that the “keyhole” shape looked similar to a heart and began creating distinctly heart-shaped gardens. One woman even remarked that the gardens would put the “heart” back into the community! Lastly, the women want to open a soup kitchen to feed the orphaned and vulnerable children in the area. The vegetables from their gardens will help make this an affordable and successful project. Ten gardens were built up to August 6, 2011, with plans for additional gardens as donations are received for seedlings. The owners of the gardens were empowered, gained confidence, and now have a sense of accomplishment as they are growing food for their families. The garden project shows that the Thoughtful Path: Munsieville is successful as it engaged community members, provided new skills, and created a greater sense of community among some of the most deserving residents. Gardens were built by people helping each other and used recycled materials readily found in the environment. The individuals involved in this project were immediately motivated and served as an inspiration to other community members and volunteers from abroad.
Check back soon for more success stories from Munsieville!

Two new GSK volunteers join Project HOPE UK

Project HOPE UK welcomes two new volunteers from the GlaxoSmithKline PULSE corporate social responsibility programme who will be working on The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville for the next six months. Carola Michielsen will be developing our communications strategy and Alyson Krucher will be building new corporate partnerships to widen the support for The Thoughtful Path. Their work will be helping to empower the community of Munsieville to change the way it cares for its orphans and other vulnerable children forever:
Carola is from the Netherlands and has worked for GSK since 1999. She says "before coming to GSK I studied biology and did my PhD at the Veterinary Faculty in the Netherlands. In 1999 I started at the medical department of GSK as a medical advisor. In 2004 I became a brand manager and then in 2006 I started working as Head of Marketing for paediatric and travel vaccines. In September 2009 I was appointed Head of Marketing for respiratory and urology products, leading a large team of 12 people being brand managers, project managers and marketing assistants. In August 2011 I started my Pulse assignment with Project Hope UK, working for The Thoughtful Path Munsieville. This opportunity allows me to do really more for society and I am very happy to be part of the Project Hope UK organisation! I like doing and watching sports, hiking and travelling. One of my first trips to Africa was to Madagascar and since that time I have been impressed by the beauty of Africa’s nature and the colourful African people!"
Alyson has been with GlaxoSmithKline for 17 years, first as a sales representative in Southern Connecticut, USA. She says "I remained in the sales division through two mergers, and became a Sales Manager in December 2003. Currently, I am an area sales manager in the New York area. I will be working with Project Hope UK in Munsieville where my role is to partner with South African and international corporations and government officials to link their resources with those needs of the township. I am tasked with fostering confidence and the sharing of best practices within the community so that the resources from the corporations are leveraged by the Munsieville community and solutions are generated by the people themselves. I have always had a passion for helping people and this PULSE assigment is a great fit for me to immerse myself in another culture, uncover opportunities to help, and make a sustainable change in a community while at the same time fostering skill sets that will make me a more productive and valuable employee of GSK."
Check back soon for more news from Carola and Alyson as they start to make a difference in Munsieville.

Munsieville students visit Caxton Magazines

Students from The Thoughtful Path’s 'Youth Voice Journalism Academy' in Munsieville spent a day at Caxton Magazines recently at the start of their latest assignment.
The team of journalists at 'Your Family' magazine gave the students some first-hand experience in magazine editing and production, including tips on how to create a professional layout. After a day of presentations and in-depth discussions with the journalists, the students went away put their own draft magazine together.
Women's magazine, men’s magazine, Sports, Beauty, Entertainment... which title would they choose to work on and put to print? The students went back to Caxton Magazines a couple of weeks later to have their work edited, and got some really positive feedback from the Your Family team.
Well done to the students for their efforts – look forward to the next good news story from Munsieville!

Green shoots of hope in Munsieville

This week saw another community clean-up in the area of Munsieville known as 'Little Mshengoville', a collection of shacks clinging to a steep hillside. Until recently, the community rubbish dump, surrounded by the shacks in which children are living, was overflowing with stinking garbage. Not only was this unpleasant to look at and to smell, it was also a threat to the solitary water stand pipe serving the whole area, home to several hundred people. Now, thanks to the efforts of the community and the local council, the area has been cleaned up and the community will be able to enjoy a safe, clean water supply.

In another way to improve the environment and tackle hunger and poverty, The Thoughtful Path has recently shown the first group of community leaders how to build keyhole vegetable gardens. These will help to' green' up Munsieville and more importantly to provide food for children and an income for families if surplus produce can be sold locally. More training sessions are planned for the coming weeks to spread the word and provide the community with a way to feed and support themselves.

Young people of Munsieville addressed at launch of “one job per needy household” programme

The Gauteng National Youth Development Agency (Nyda) chairman, Simon Molefe, recently took young people to task at the Munsieville Sports Complex for engaging in improper activities as a way to overcome their problems. In a strongly-worded speech aimed at curtailing young people’s immoral acts, Molefe did not mince his words as he stated that young people cannot be actively involved in the National Youth Services (NYS) programme if they continue to produce babies.

Molefe was addressing young people at the launch of the “one job per needy household” programme, which is part of the Gauteng government’s effort aimed at mitigating poverty, unemployment and joblessness caused by economic depression.

He urged young people to take their education seriously and for those who are working as interns in government departments to make use of the Internet to empower themselves with necessary skills. Molefe said the Nyda will strive to make sure that young people become entrepreneurs and not “tenderpreneurs”. It is aimed at enhancing the participation of young people in the economy, through targeted and integrated programmes, among others.

Waste management plan for Gauteng launched

Gauteng province, which includes Munsieville, is an economic hub and produces 42 per cent of South Africa’s waste! Over the years, the province has experienced various challenges relating to waste management and waste volumes, hence a waste minimisation plan and standards have been developed to ensure that the waste produced in Gauteng is dealt with appropriately.
On 13 June the launch of the waste management standards, held in Munsieville in Mogale City, introduced three documents to address the following areas:
• The Gauteng Waste Minimisation Plan
• The Gauteng Hazardous Waste Management Plan
• The Gauteng Waste Collection Standards.
The 45 existing operational landfills are under pressure from waste generated in the province. Constraints include competing needs for land, as well as opposition by residents to developing disposal sites close to their residential areas. However, proper disposal sites will create job opportunities through recycling, helping to alleviate poverty. The project aims to introduce basic standards that are uniform in all Gauteng municipalities and tackle issues such as limited refuse removal services in poor areas like Munsieville, which cause health hazards.

Raising awareness of child protection in Munsieville

Candice Wallace is currently working with Project HOPE UK as part of her Masters degree studies at Brunel University, and last week she was in Munsieville to run a series of workshops for The Thoughtful Path's child protection programme.
The workshops covered children’s rights, the issues surrounding child sexual abuse and how to raise awareness of this problem in the community.
Participants included members of the Child Protection Unit from the Thoughtful Path, who are responsible for developing abuse prevention programmes for the community. Other key players were children who have been victims of child sexual abuse themselves, as well as police officers, Social Welfare officers, teachers and nurses.
Candice used presentations, interactive sessions, role playing and videos to encourage the children to talk about their experiences and to highlight the legal, psychological and community aspects of child sexual abuse.
Project HOPE UK sees these workshops as an integral part of building effective networking in the community and for developing a sustainable community response to this widespread problem.
See our Web site for more information about the Thoughtful Path programme and find out how you can support our work in Munsieville.

Dr John Howe, CEO of Project HOPE, visits Munsieville

Dr John Howe, CEO and President of Project HOPE US, visited Munsieville recently. Here is his report from his trip, where he saw the difference that Project HOPE UK's Thoughtful Path programme is already making to the lives of the children there.

"...we shall be as a city upon a hill -- the eyes of the people are upon us."

President-elect John F. Kennedy, January 8, 1961

I was reminded of these words, as we drove west from Johannesburg. My destination of Munsieville, a city of 39,000, sits high on a hill, overlooking the plains of the Rand District. The health of Munsieville is at risk both economically and medically. The nearby gold mines have shut down, resulting in 70% unemployment. 10,000 people live in corrugated tin shacks. Two clinics and two ambulances serve the entire city, without a hospital.

Yet as I visited with community elders I was most impressed with their sense of optimism. This was partly due to a sense of hope created by “The Thoughtful Path” programme, designed and carried out to "give orphans and vulnerable children the opportunity to develop into healthy, productive adults."

The project's early success is related to finding solutions from within the community to needs in early childhood development, after school care, youth support and development, community strengthening, child and youth sports programmes, child rights and protections, as well as partnership capacity building.

Betty Nkoana is the present Project Manager for the "Thoughtful Path" in Munsieville. As we visited two Early Childhood Development Centers (EDCC), one of the clinics and the homes of members of the community, the love the members have for her was clearly evident.

In the future, leadership will be passed to a younger generation, but the city will be well served, as seen in visits with two of its outstanding young people. Ivy started a successful for-profit EDCC from the bottom up, and Bucs began as a journalist intern but is now the city's lead print and electronic writer.

There are plans to create a sports centre and a community resource centre, all consistent with the goal of giving young people the "opportunity to develop into healthy, productive adults."

I left Munsieville with a new image of "a city upon a hill," a modern-day version of what President-elect Kennedy had in mind as he spoke in Boston in 1961.

See The Thoughtful Path Web site for more information on how you can get involved in supporting this innovative programme.

Youth Voice group sees journalism in action

The Youth Voice Journalism group from Munsieville recently had a site visit to the offices of The Sunday Times and The Sowetan, where they met with the Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Times and then took a tour around the printing house. The group are already developing their photography and journalism skills and are hoping to use them in future employment with the local press, where they will also be able to give a voice to the young people of Munsieville.
The Youth Journalism Academy was established as a sustainable project for young people to bridge the gap between high school and employment. An initial pilot was organised to teach a small group how to make short films about their lives and write newsletters, to increase their chances of getting a job. Those materials and learnings were used to launch a full ten-month course for 50 students in February, to secure further funding and external support.
A local business helped with a donation to buy cameras, computers and other equipment, while the project has been fully supported by newspapers, TV and radio stations. They send staff in regularly to run sessions or act as mentors for the students and there are also internship opportunities for the Munsieville participants, giving them a chance to experience the world of work and impress outside partners with their talent. One young person from the pilot has already got a job working on Johannesburg’s leading breakfast radio show, while others are project leads on the new course.
See our Web site for more on the sustainable Thoughtful Path programmes we are creating in Munsieville, which use the energy and resources of the community to change young people's lives forever.

West Rand mayor's 'state of the district' address

Councillor Mpho Nawa, Executive Mayor of the West Rand District Municipality (WDRM - which includes Munsieville) gave a 'state of the district' address recently, discussing some of the key achievements from the last year. His speech covered the delivery of basic community services, health and social development, as well as goals for the future. Some of the main points were:
• Approximately 30 000 permanent housing units have been constructed in the West Rand District since 1994, at an average rate of approximately 2 000 units per year. This number excludes serviced stands with no permanent structure.
• WRDM is currently refurbishing street lights with energy-saving globes and installing high mast lights in townships.
• Provision of four health clinic containers (one per municipality).
• Purchase of medical equipment and linen for all clinics.
• Purchase of 28 immunisation fridges for all clinics that are open five days or more per week.
• The annual target of 196 826 people tested for HIV/ Aids per year is being achieved.
• 117 youths from Zenzele, Zuurbekom, Rietvallei 1, Magaliesburg, Munsieville and Mohlakeng were trained on the course for youth- and child-headed families.
• 7,451 women have been trained on their rights regarding gender violence and child abuse.
For the future, the WRDM highlighted the following objectives in its 'West Rand Manifesto':
• To merge into a single B1 municipality by 2016.
• Work towards becoming a unicity (metropolitan form of government) by 2025.
• Become the greenest district in South Africa.
• Utilise the green economy to grow the GGP of the West Rand.
• Implement increasingly-shared services district-wide.
• Create jobs to combat poverty and dependence.
• Build a united and prosperous non-racial society.
• Commit to training and skilling of our communities.
• Build better neighbourhoods throughout the district, with equitable access to municipal services.
• Ensure effective and accountable councillors.
• Improve the quality of life for all.

Read more about Project HOPE's work in Munsieville here.

TNT helps ship beds for orphanage in South Africa

Eight hospital beds donated by Lewes Victoria Hospital Trust in East Sussex are on their way to an HIV orphanage in South Africa, thanks to TNT, the world-leading provider of express delivery services.
The beds were collected from the hospital by TNT and moved to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport, from where they will be transported by sea to South Africa.
Martin Lowrey, National Operations Manager at TNT, said “We were delighted to help Project HOPE with this collection and were able to use a vehicle which regularly runs between the airport and the Ceva warehouse. Our operations team have first-hand experience of working on overseas programmes with international charities and so really understand the difference that these shipments make to the lives of people in developing countries.”
The beds will provide much-needed furniture in a government-run HIV orphanage in the West Rand province, where the children currently sleep on the floor.
Find out more about Project HOPE UK’s Thoughtful Path programme in South Africa here.
For more information about TNT and its services, visit their Web site.

Take part in the London 10K just before the 2012 Olympics!

Enter for this year's London 10K run on July 10 and we will guarantee your place in the 2012 event, just before the London Olympics kicks off next summer.
Reserve your slot now by registering online - you can run, jog or walk the route on your own or with friends or colleagues in a team of four.
Help up raise funds for The Thoughtful Path programme near Johannesburg, South Africa and change the lives of orphans and other vulnerable children forever!

Run 10km in London and help children in Munsieville

Join the “RUNNING for HOPE” team in the 2011 British 10K London Run and you can have a guaranteed place in the same event in 2012, just days before the opening ceremony of the LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS!
With 25,000 runners, the British 10K London Run is one of the nation’s greatest annual running events. The 2012 event will be heavily oversubscribed, but your opportunity to run through one of the world’s most iconic race routes, festooned with flags in preparation for the “biggest show on earth” is assured by participating in 2011, as part of the 102-strong team supporting Project HOPE UK’s signature programme, The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville.
The 2011 event takes place on Sunday 10 July and you can reserve your place now, to avoid the scramble for places over the next few weeks.
Download the application form here but DON’T WAIT to register – you can also book your place today by emailing your request and contact details to ehiggins@projecthopeuk.org

Thank you for your support.

Michelle's last few weeks in Munsieville

The second of our reports from Munsieville features Michelle Webb, who gives us an insight into her last few weeks as a GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK:
'Even with the Charity Fundraiser postponed, last week was a busy one. We met with the Executive Mayor of West Rand about what we are doing in Munsieville and his Green IQ plan. He is very invested in making the West Rand District more sustainable with potential for solar, more parks and cleaning up the area as it was a huge gold mining area and there are tailings everywhere. They look like mountains with snow on them. We told him about our community clean up projects and he was very interested so we are going to send him our plan. I also mentioned the potential for children to do a play that my daughter Caroline did in 3rd grade called the "Dump Monster" that was all about the environment and make it a contest for children to see which school did the best play and then they could perform throughout the district and potentially the province. It really all starts with the children - it's difficult to influence the 30-50 year olds but the children can be taught not to litter and to take care of their environment. The mayor also wanted to give each child a tree to grow and take care of and then buy that tree from them a year or two later for his Green IQ. This will teach children responsibility to take care of a tree, and also teach them about business since they would be earning money and they would have to decide if they were going to buy another tree to sell or spend the money.'
'After that meeting we had another one with the West Rand District about our community clean up scheduled for March 26th. We asked for more garbage bags, gloves and snacks and water for the children. Along with that we were also trying to get some seedlings for some vegetable gardens for some of the women would like to help out children with a soup kitchen of sorts.'
'On Friday we gave out the letters from America that my friend Gail brought over from Caroline’s school. It was fantastic. They were so excited and we split the letters up so every class got some to write back - see the video of the children singing and thanking Ishikawa again.'
'Project HOPE UK is really getting to be known and that is so exciting. We still have a Community Clean Up left the last Saturday this month, a small fundraiser on Sunday at a local lodge that sponsors a market the last Sunday of the month and invited us to be the sponsored charity. They also allowed us to showcase the children that won at the Munsieville’s Got Talent (MGT) contest. Then on Sunday night there is a Fundraiser at Silverstar Casino that was kind enough to allow our MGT winner to perform since we had to postpone our fundraiser.'
'So there is no rest for the weary or the Project HOPE UK volunteers! Neil and I feel so fortunate to have had a chance to have this experience - if you would like to get involved in The Thoughtful Path, check out our Web site for details of our volunteering scheme.'
Thanks for reading!

Project HOPE UK volunteers final report from Munsieville

Early March sees the end of their six month assignment for Michelle Webb and Neil Davidson, GSK PULSE volunteers with Project HOPE UK. The last few weeks have been very hectic as they tie up loose ends and make sure that all the initiatives started during their time in Munsieville are left in good hands to continue after their departure. Neil shares a few of his thoughts here (and a report from Michelle will follow soon).
'In all my other jobs I've always been fortunate enough to be able to step back a bit before the end so that the handover runs smoothly. Not so in Munsieville! The last few weeks have probably been the busiest and most exciting yet.'
'The Munsieville's Got Talent Final took place on the 18th Feb. It was supposed to start at 4pm but with no judges, no sound system, and no performers in sight, African time was in full force. The event finally got going around 5.30pm and given the tensions in the build-up to the final, all the acts showed up bar one, and performed brilliantly, raising their performances another notch. The winners, BCC, a teenage dance group dressed as geeks, were worthy champions. All in all, despite the hiccoughs, it was a fantastic event, the children enjoyed it thoroughly, and bizarrely may be one of the most significant events yet in terms of cementing Project HOPE UK's place in the community.'
'The students from the Youth Voice Journalism Academy have now started their first assignment in film, and we had the first visit from a professional mentor, who came in to teach them about working in the medium. It's been great to see the enthusiasm and energy from the 50 or so participants, and some great quotes emerged around "I'm going to change my career now based on what I've heard today". It has also been great to see the project leads Zeblon, Paul and Elaine, really blossoming into their leadership roles. Quite a change from the shy and retiring kids I met back in September! My biggest challenge now is letting go but I feel confident that the project's foundation is really strong and can only build from here. Likewise with the Connecting Continents programme, the website is looking really nice now and I am hoping to do a link up between two of the schools this week. Paul, one the journalism leads, is going to take it on as a side project, to make sure that the content is refreshed regularly, with the help of three representatives from each school.'
'As if these projects weren't enough, this weekend was our second Community Clean Up. This was going to be a real test to see if the community can ever run some of the Thoughtful Path events by themselves. Handing over this event to the community meant again letting go of the control, and just making small interventions on the periphery to keep it on track. It was a different event as we teamed up with the Community Works Programme (CWP), which is a paid employment scheme for community members to keep the township clean. The support from all levels of the council is also now in place for the future, and I think this can now be a community event, which can builder larger participation next month.'
'After the clean up, to give five of the journalists a bit of a treat for all the effort and commitment they have put in, I took them ten-pin bowling. For all of them it was their first time in a bowling alley and I was pleased to be able to give the guys a brief moment of respite from the daily challenges of their lives.'
'During all of our work here, both Michelle and I have been really lucky to have had such a welcome from everybody, and now when we drive around it's rare for us not to get a smile and a wave from many of the passers-by. Thanks again for reading over the last few months!
Neil Davidson, GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK

Cleaning up in Munsieville

How hard can it be to say "Keep Munsieville Clean"? Thankfully picking up the rubbish was more straightforward as the Thoughtful Path volunteers and adults and children from Munsieville worked together recently to remove nearly 1400 bags of waste in a single morning. Unlike cities in Western Europe, there is no regular rubbish collection so waste just gets left around the township, leading to large piles of smelly, unhealthy rubbish everywhere.
However, it was songs and high spirits all round as the Thoughtful Path and the Community Works Programme teamed up to tackle the problem of litter and rubbish in the township, to create a clean and safe environment for children. The community are hoping to turn this into a regular event, and encourage everyone to play their part in keeping the streets clean.

Story time in Munsieville - are you sitting comfortably?

Last week, The Thoughtful Path project launched an initiative for grannies in the Munsieville township to read stories to the youngest members of the community, to stimulate the children and help them to develop.
Often pre-school children in Munsieville attend a creche for 10 to 12 hours a day, usually in a tin shack with a dirt floor and few, if any, toys, books or play equipment. The Early Childhood Development service unit of the Thoughtful Path is working to transform pre-school care for these children by training carers and setting up new ECD centres with improved facilities. This new story-telling initiative will use the experiences of the older members of the community to help entertain the children and build links between the generations.
Read more here about the Thoughtful Path and how you can partner with us to establish new ECD centres and change the lives of children in Munsieville forever.

Project HOPE UK's director heads to South Africa

Paul Brooks, Project HOPE UK's executive director, is off to South Africa this weekend to review progress on The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville.
Since its launch last year, The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville has staged several major events such as the Children's World Cup, the Tshepo festival at Christmas and the Munsieville's Got Talent contest, which have all helped to raise awareness of the programme in the community. Behind the scenes, committees for the seven 'hubs' of the Thoughtful Path have been formed, and the site of the Resource Centre has been agreed with the local council. The first group of carers have started their Early Childhood Development training, and the Youth Journalism Academy has been established with support from Silverstar Casino.
During Paul's visit to Munsieville, he will meet with the hub committees and community leaders to plan next steps for the programme, helping to transform the lives of the orphans and other vulnerable children in the township.
Check back next week for updates from his trip.

ECD training gets underway

Five ladies from Munsieville are now in week three of their training to become qualified Early Childhood Development practitioners, enabling them to make radical changes to the pre-school experience of the young children in their care.
The training will lead to internationally recognised qualifications in ECD, and ongoing mentoring and resources will help them to run programmes which will have an enormous beneficial impact on the children and the whole community.
In addition, the first of a number of model ECD centres will be opened soon in Munsieville, to help inspire and train other carers and to provide a safe and stimulating environment for the children.
Find out more about our ECD programme here, and join our CIP to help support this life-changing initiative.
Thanks for reading!

Youth Voice Journalism project launches sister academy

This week has been an exciting one for the young people of Munsieville as The Youth Voice Journalism Project excitingly opened a sister academy in neighbouring township Swanieville, benefitting another group of 20 youngsters alongside Munsieville. The digital camera equipment is also winging its way to South Africa, ready for the launch next week.

I also got a thank you from the staff at Thuto Lefa high school for the Connecting Continents schools exchange programme. The website is in production and all six schools are busy writing their pen-pal letters. We also had a good success this week with the district council, who are helping with trees and seedlings for a greening project in the informal settlement. This will eventually in turn supply a soup kitchen for the orphans and vulnerable children. We are also planning our next clean up day on Feb 26th, building the capacity of the community leaders to know how to run this regular event themselves after we leave.
Thanks for reading,
Neil

New intern joins Project HOPE UK

Candice Wallace, currently studying for an MA in Children, Youth and International Development at Brunel University, has joined Project HOPE UK to help develop the Child Rights and Protection hub of The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville.
She will produce guidelines to promote child rights, address negative attitudes that lead to abusive behaviour and create a greater awareness among service providers of their statutory and moral obligations to children.
Candice was co-founder of the first Hip Hop Dance School in Trinidad and Tobago, a non-profit youth troupe dedicated to cutting-edge entertainment, dance education and outreach to diverse communities. She was also the creator and manager of BLACKOUT - a project targeting teenagers through the power of dance, and founder and president of Revolutionary Initiatives for Social Enrichment (R.I.S.E), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to community and youth development and child rights advocacy.
Candice's experience with these programmes will help Project HOPE UK implement proactive strategies to greatly enhance the protection of children in Munsieville.
Check back soon for more on Candice's work with the Child Rights and Protection hub.

Green light for young journalists

This week has been really exciting. Above and beyond filming some fabulous welly-whacking dancing for our schools exchange programme, the biggest development this week was that the Journalism Academy got its green light for funding from the Silverstar Casino. This means now that the group can go ahead with the necessary equipment: 6 digital cameras, 6 laptops and coursework materials. It’s a great testament to the effort put in by the young people themselves, as it’s their films, newsletters and successful internships that have really shown that this project has merit. With the financial backing, it also means that some of the young people can eventually get a paid stipend for leading the group, after some months of demonstrating their commitment.
The 10-month long course is going to be a joint project between Munsieville and another nearby township Swanieville, catering for about 40 young people in total, giving them a much needed leg-up into finding work.
Even though there is going to be a hectic few weeks ahead of writing the curriculum, training the project leads, and getting media partners onboard, I feel really proud about the accomplishment already. It felt sometimes feels a bit like playing space invaders… as you blast away one obstacle to the project, another one descends in its place. But it’s a great feeling as you get nearer and nearer to the goal. You have to think through all the aspects of the project: rather than increasing the project lead’s cash stipend, I came up with an idea of making a part-time journalism course part of the package. This way we lock in commitment and develop knowledge and skills, which ultimately comes back to benefit the wider group.
The nicest aspect was the reaction from the young people themselves. We met 19 year old Zeblon, a Zulu guy from Swanieville who was part of the pilot journalism project in Munsieville last year , and whom we are giving the chance to develop into one of the project leads. He has no job and can’t get into school. When I told him about the opportunity, he was so excited. I’ve never seen someone try so hard to both contain and express their delight at the same time.
Check out the the Youth Voice Journalism section on our Web site for the first stories from this exciting new project.
Thanks for reading,
Neil

Linking schoolchildren across the world

Our Connecting Continents schools exchange programme is building momentum. This week the high schools came onboard. Betty and I met Mr Mabusa, one of the teachers from the Munsieville high school, Thuto Lefa, who was really excited about the project. My brother-in-law Ronnie has also been doing an excellent job of bringing onboard a partner school Douglas Academy, in Glasgow, Scotland, where he is one of the teachers. Both schools seem fascinated by the prospect of having contact with an as-yet-unknown school and its pupils on the other side of the planet. We are developing a new part of the Project HOPE website for the exchange so that the schools can share their stories with each other and with you too.
Meanwhile, in the same project, I was lucky enough to share the first pen pal letters with 5th grade pupils from Phatudi, one of the Munsieville primary schools. To do this, I attended the weekly assembly at 7.30am on Friday morning. The early start was worth it as it was incredibly uplifting seeing over a thousand pupils belting out songs (complete with dance moves) that they knew by heart. It was certainly more inspiring that the school assemblies I remember from my own childhood, filled with dreary lectures from the head-teacher and miming hymns read from tatty song-books. The letters were written by pupils at Ishikawa, Michelle’s daughter’s school in Arizona. To the best of my knowledge I explained a little about Arizona (hmm, desert, cacti, etc) and then the kids performed a few songs and dances for me to video to share back to their peers in the US. The kids who had written letters on the Phatudi side were absolutely bursting with pride and delight when they received their replies, holding tightly in their small hands, these precious, beautifully-decorated messages of hope and friendship from abroad.
One of the other highlights from this week was the film event we put on in Mayibuye, to showcase some of the films produced by the Youth Voice Journalism crew. Any event in Munsieville is a real test of your resourcefulness, with no budget and next-to-no equipment. I had to beg, borrow and almost steal everything involved. The lop-sided tent was erected on the dirt football pitch, with the guys hammering in the poles with rocks (Mother nature helping out as one guy said). The screen was a bedsheet and power came from the same deathtrap electrical cable from the festival. I had to flag down some pick up trucks to help us move the equipment. Unfortunately, there’s an attitude of nothing comes from free so some serious bartering ensued, to make people understand that these activities are not for me but for their community. The event, despite the usual collection of mishaps, was eventually a great success and hopefully not only inspired pride in the community but generated another fresh set of recruits for the Thoughtful Path.
Check back next week for more on the preparations for our fundraising event at the Silverstar casino in March.
Thanks for reading,
Neil

It's official - Munsieville's got talent!

This week’s focus on showcasing Munsieville’s talent continued with the auditions for our 'Munsieville’s Got Talent' contest. All week we had been spreading the word about the competition, through posters, schools, loud-hailing, and word-of-mouth. Excitement built feverishly about the prospect of winning the prize of performing live at the Silverstar casino at our charity fund-raiser on 3rd March. As usual though, we had no idea of what to expect would happen on the day itself – just what talent was out there waiting to perform?
The day began in bright sunshine around 7am at the Munsieville community hall, our venue for the day. The contest was due to start around 8am but African time prevailed and we didn’t get going til 10am. It transpired that the reason for the late start was one of our judges, a Miss Soweto finalist, was putting extra effort into her hair.
The judges introduced themselves before we began the proceedings. We had Xalani, a hip hop dancer; Samantha, the beauty queen; and Teddy, a stage and TV actor. We’d briefed them to look out for stage persona, originality, appearance, and interaction with fans, and they had big crosses and STOP signs to hold up if an act was terrible and had to stop (used fairly frequently). They did a great job of assessing the performances and giving constructive feedback. Teddy adeptly played the part of Simon Cowell, casually crushing the dreams of a whole series of Munsieville hopefuls.
The performances started slowly, with mostly stage-fright-struck primary school-children screeching hymns or Westlife songs into the microphone. Then, bit by bit, Munsieville’s talent began to reveal itself through some weird and wonderful acts. There was Johannes, who could do bird and animal noises. Neo and his group from Mayibuye (who performed at the Tshepo festival) put together a heart-stopping and foot-pounding display of traditional dancing. Simon, in a wheelchair, performed a blistering set of stunts (with only one tumble). A gospel choir raised the rafters with their harmonies. There were poets, acrobats, models, actors and divas. Perhaps most impressive of all were several groups of young male dancers, who set the stage (and the audience) on fire with their awesome manoeuvres.
Sixty-four acts in total rolled out on the stage over the next five hours. As the day wore on, the crowd swelled, with people poking their heads through windows at the top and back of the building. There were some notable differences from a talent contest back home. There were no pushy mothers shoving their little darling forward. In fact, there weren’t really any parents at all. Imagine if your 4-year old had plucked up the courage to perform in front of 500 people – there would be mum, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles all out to give support. Not so in Munsieville - most of the children just performed for themselves or in front of their friends. It struck me as sad that the adults can’t or don’t want to take time to celebrate their own children’s achievements. I hope in some way the Thoughtful Path project can address this so that children are better cared for and cherished within the community.
Thanks for reading,
Neil Davidson, GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK

Excitement builds for 'Munsieville's Got Talent' contest

This Saturday sees the first 'Munsieville's Got Talent' contest (township-style) and excitement is building as posters and advertising go out around the community.
The winners from this first round will compete in the final on 18 February for the chance to perform at our fundraising gala evening at the Silverstar casino in March. As this is the first time such a competition has been held in Munsieville, it's creating quite a buzz and lots of rehearsals everywhere, so check back next week for the results and photos from the contest.
We're also launching the 'Adopt an ECD' (Early Childhood Development) project, where we are working with the grandmothers of Munsieville so they will volunteer to go into the ECD centres (like our day care centres). They will sing and tell stories to the little ones, as there is only one caregiver in a centre with anywhere between 30 to 70 children. Therefore, the caregiver has no time to work with the children except to change nappies and cook their lunch and feed them, but the grannies can help to stimulate the children and the children will brighten the grannies' day too. We would also like to see it branch out to local corporates to get involved through monetary as well as voluntary ways. Corporations could have employees adopt an ECD centre and come and help refurbish it (most lack toys and may only have a worn out rug on the hard cement floor) and also read and sing with the children. Check out our Project HOPE UK Web site for more on ECDs and how you can help too.
Thanks for reading,
Michelle Webb, GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK

Farmer, Website designer, newshound, event planner – all in a day’s work!

This week started with two successful corporate visits. The first was with Supersport to discuss upcoming sporting projects, and the second with ABI, the South African bottler for Coca Cola. The second meeting was particularly productive: not only because they offered to come onboard with the project, but also because SA Project HOPE manager Betty, after a bit of gentle nudging, stepped up and delivered the presentation. One of Betty’s greatest strengths is that when she has decided to do something, she really goes for it.
Michelle has been doing a fabulous job of advancing the charity fundraiser. Both of us will leave our assignments with a real appreciation of how to do more with less. Queen bargain hunter Michelle has not only convinced the Silverstar casino to more or less host her event for free, they have also designed and printed the invitations, and provided most of the entertainment. Now we are on the hunt for items to sell off at auction: at least we have something already to cater for the morbid: one of the law firms from Krugersdorp offered us a free will and trust writing package. I can only wonder what the private investigators would have donated us if we’d asked!
Part of the preparations for the fundraiser is our Munsieville’s Got Talent contest, where the winner will perform live at the Silverstar event. Auditions are next Saturday and then the final is on the 18th Feb. Alongside we are running a film event to promote the Youth Voice Journalism Academy. On Friday we were lucky enough to go into Primedia, the radio station we visited in November, and see Solomon, one of the young journalists, completing his two week internship. He was a bit embarrassed to see us there – like seeing your mum and dad I guess!! The news team have all been amazed by his talents though and he looks set for a permanent position.
The diversity of our weeks here never ceases to amaze me: back to back with these visits was also bringing in the district council to approve a community farming project. The site visit went extremely well, despite nearly killing the delegate on the steep climb back up from the valley!! Added to this, I’m also setting up our new website appeal, to get longer-term donations for the crèches in Munsieville, through what’s called a Community Investment Partnership. Check out www.projecthopeuk.org for more details.
Some things, as ever, are not always rosy. It’s going to take considerable effort to rebuild and regroup the seven hubs with the right people to get them working on their first projects. Local councillor elections are coming up in April, which is already posing a huge distraction. It threatens the already-lengthy approval process for the Children’s Centre, as lots of departments are giving up and waiting to see who the new bosses will be.
These challenges only serve however to make the road more interesting. The journey continues at pace. See you next week!
Neil Davidson, GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK