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.