Never judge a book by its cover: the beauty of Munsieville

Abi Brooks is an International Development student from Portsmouth University, currently on assignment in Munsieville. Here are her first impressions of life in the township:
"Before my visit to the country I was very aware that I would be exposed to a different way of life and a level of suffering I had never previously encountered. In the weeks prior to my arrival in South Africa I had tried my best to prepare myself for the things I would witness and how it would make me feel. Well, the first very evident lesson I learnt was that there could be no 'preparing myself' for the things I would see and the plethora of emotions I would feel for the township of Munsieville. On my first week I was taken on a tour of the township. As we made our way through I realised the diversity of the place in terms of wealth and living conditions. On the outskirts of Munsieville I was surprised to see some reasonably large and well-kept houses as well as some smaller ones, however as we got deeper into the heart of the township we saw a very different scene indeed.

Tiny one-room shacks made from rusty corrugated iron, often home to whole families; piles upon piles of rubbish at the side of the road; unhygienic and unsafe communal toilets; tiny children running around barefoot without an adult caregiver in sight. At the end of my first week I felt shell-shocked - confused and saddened on a different level than I had felt before. My view of Munsieville was one dimensional - it was a dangerous, depressing, ugly place and no one should have to live there. Well this one dimensional view would soon change when I met the people of the community and heard their stories...
South Africa has some of the most beautiful sights on Earth...vast landscapes, buzzing cities, game parks, amazing rare animals. None of these can be found in Munsieville. To find Munsieville's beauty you have to look much deeper, past the piles of rubbish and rotting corrugated iron. It's the laughter of a child that feels safe and loved at crèche because of the sheer passion that their caregiver has for their well-being. It's the 'Mamas' (or ladies) of the community who, in their later years rather than settling into retirement like most their age, have stood up and taken action because they have faith in a brighter future for their township.

It's the single mother who barely earns enough to feed herself or her children but who welcomes newly-orphaned children into her home and shares everything she has with them, purely out of love. The beauty of Munsieville isn't something you can necessarily see with your eyes, rather it's something you can't help but feel in your heart when you meet the people, hear their stories and experience the love and warmth that this community has to offer."
Check back soon for more insights from Abi's journey on The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville.

Focusing on the children

Here is GSK PULSE volunteer Sarah Hatfield's update from her second week in Munsieville:
"This week was full of so many great experiences. The Youth Leaders facilitated an amazing 5 day Munzie Kid Holiday Club where the children of Munzieville had a place to go while school was out for winter break. The main reason Project Hope was involved was to ensure the kids had a safe place off the streets and would take this opportunity to learn about health.

On Monday the children learned about personal hygiene i.e. washing their hands and brushing their teeth. Tuesday was about Environmental Safety i.e. the effects of littering and ensuring fresh drinking water. Wednesday was a very important topic focusing on messages about zero tolerance to child abuse. These children learned what is appropriate, what is not, how to report, and their rights as children. Thursday was focused on Home Safety i.e. how to plan in case there is a fire. Friday was a day of review and fun which included performances from the children on what they had learned throughout the week.

I will be working with each of the 7 HUBs: Early Child Development, After School Care, Youth Support and Development, Community Strengthening Initiative, Child/Youth Community Sports Program, Child Rights and Protection Unit, Community Based Organization Partner Capacity Building all which breakdown the barriers to health, well-being and personal development of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children. This week I specifically, along with the rest of the Thoughtful Path team, worked on the issues of: ”Poor Physical Health”, “Poor Mental Health”, “Poor Nutrition”, and “Violence”. It felt amazing to see these children play, dance, sing, and laugh while also learning some valuable lessons to keep them healthy and safe."
Thanks for reading!

Hello from Munsieville, South Africa

Daphne Van is a GlaxoSmithKline PULSE volunteer working with us in Munsieville for the next 6 months - read her update from her first week in South Africa:
"I left Canada on the 16th June and was in London for one week of training with Project Hope UK in preparation for the work that we will be doing in Munsieville, South Africa. The week was busy in trying to understand many aspects surrounding what we will be doing in Munsieville and The Thoughtful Path programme. The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville is a ground-breaking initiative from Project HOPE UK that will act as a catalyst for change, by serving as a role model for other disadvantaged communities worldwide.

It will engage an entire community in changing the way 15,000 orphans and other vulnerable children are cared for in Munsieville, an impoverished township near Johannesburg, South Africa. This initiative focuses on the community members and their involvement in making sustainable change. The programme is made up of seven hubs, which are serviced by local people in Community Based Organisations (CBOs) to ensure sustainability. I am partnered here with Sarah Hatfield who is also on Pulse assignment and works from San Francisco as a Senior Regional Sales Manager. Sarah and I have quickly become friends and have already shared a lot of laughs and mini adventures together. We arrived in Munsieville last Monday after an 11 hr flight from London. We were happy to be on the ground and anxious to see the township. The director of the charity, Paul Brooks is here with us for the remainder of this week. The project manager here in Munsieville is Betty Nkoana. Betty is an amazing woman who understands the pulse of the community, leads the Thoughtful Path and ensures that we, as volunteers, have what we need.
We have other volunteers here with us as well: Abi Brooks (Paul’s daughter) who will be here until September and will be focused on early childhood development, and Yi He who is from China and studying epidemiology at the University of Tennessee in the USA.

My assignment is to work with the “shack communities”. These are homes that are built by the people themselves from whatever they can find, mostly metal. My assignment is to focus on health and safety within the these homes. On Friday we had two young women, Connie and Julia, took us on a walking tour of communities within Munsieville. Pictures say more than a thousand words ever could. The problems in these communities exceed the issue of their living space. There is poverty, lack of work, food, shoes, sanitation, electricity. And then there is what you do have: Curiosity, smiles as you walk by, children playing and laughing, mothers happy to say hello. Two families invited us to see the inside of their homes. Shocking to us, yes. But as you look around there are little things that you notice that indicate to me that even though they have very little they make the best with what they have. Pictures, photographs hanging on the walls for decoration and memories. A small space that is well organized. There are hazards in terms of the fuel they use to cook with and heat their homes. I will be working with the leaders in the community to look at real changes we can make now. Changes they would like to make knowing that they can!"

Homeless in Munsieville

This report is from our South African Operations Manager, Betty Nkoana and describes many of the issues faced by the residents of Munsieville - crowded living conditions, extended families, poverty and vulnerable children:
Silently a family is enjoying its sleep on a winter morning at around 12.45 a.m. and suddenly there’s someone screaming in the shack…HELP, HELP THE SHACK IS BURNING!!!. The owner thought he was dreaming, but his wife woke him up aggressively and said, "Help the kids, the shack is burning….." "

The owner thought he was dreaming, but his wife woke him up aggressively and said, "Help the kids, the shack is burning….." And immediately he remembered, that earlier that night someone said to him, "I WILL BURN YOUR SHACK AND WLL KILL YOUR FAMILY…..ALL OF THEM! This family consists of granddad, grandma and the three grandsons. One of the grandsons is an orphan. All these boys lost their clothes, books and everything they had, while the grandparents lost their identity documents, furniture, etc. Their shack was burned to ashes and the council provided them with a tent for temporary shelter. Unfortunately winter has just started here in South Africa and this morning it was 9 ̐с and it was windy. Imagine having three children in such circumstances. I interviewed these boys this afternoon and I couldn’t hold my tears as they were talking on camera pleading for help. Their main request was please somebody, help us to get a shack again and also to get our school uniform and books.

I tried to find out what happened and here's the story from the family: "We accommodated one of our friends because this guy comes from our village back home. He came to Munsieville and he didn’t have a place to stay. This is the fifth month he has been staying with us but now he started to come back home very late at night and drunk. The old man tried several times to ask him not to come late because he is sending a bad message to the boys and also he doesn’t show any respect. He kept on doing it and so today, the old man decided not to open the door for him. He went away, but unfortunately he came back and burned the shack. The police are still looking for him."
The community is now working to support this family and help them to rebuild their home.

Thuli's thoughts on working with The House of Young Ambassadors

My story of being a facilitator for House of Young Ambassadors (Thulisiwe Mpanza): Since I started working for Life line West Rand I‘ve been participating on different activities around the community of Mogale City. Working with Project Hope on the project called HYA (House of Young Ambassadors) gave me a great experience especially because we work with children from different backgrounds. I learned a lot hosting their workshops.

I used to educate elderly people and not children so at first it wasn’t easy to cope but I learned that I must go at their pace. One of the things I realized is that it is important to ask the children questions about their feelings and their lives, especially since not all children tell you everything themselves and by also looking at their non-verbal behavior I could tell a lot about how they feel. I really enjoyed listening to them and learned to be patient and do everything passionately. The children are very different and come from different homes and in the future I will try to spend more time with them, since I can learn a lot from working with them. Unfortunately we had only limited time, but sometimes the kids were so engaged in a topic that they did not want to leave. What surprised me is that a lot of the children, when they are not able to make it to a workshop, are not used to sending their apologies, they don’t even know that this is a good habit!

Karina from Lifeline on The House of Young Ambassadors

My personal story with the House of Young Ambassadors and Project Hope: as seen through the eyes of Karina Swart (Lifeline): Since the end of 2008, I and the LifeLine team worked closely with the community members within Munsieville. Munsieville is like a second home to us all. It was very refreshing to work with the House of Young Ambassadors, since the children are open to change and give one a new perspective on life.

One of the highlights whilst engaging with this group was to see the personal growth that each individual experienced. In the first session, the youngsters were reserved and shy, but as they gained trust in us and the process they participated with ease. It was fun for us and the youngsters to work on the slogan, and I believe this action created a sense of unity amongst the group. I loved to see the creativity of the young people using clay to create a symbol that describes themselves and their qualities as a leader. It was wonderful to see their facial expression whilst sharing their qualities and the pride they felt as being part of representing Munsieville Youth. If I had to think of a funny moment, and to an extent also a bit of sadness; it was the fact that some of them were sent to the Embassy to “go and compile your homework” while others were passing by, and “wondered what was happening at this centre”. Overall I enjoyed working with the young people, and experiencing their “home” and community through their eyes.

New video talks about The Thoughtful Path

The Thoughtful Path is our flagship programme designed to enable whole communities to change the way that orphans and other vulnerable children are cared for in Africa.

Currently running in Munsieville, South Africa, the programme tackles all the elements which affect the lives of these children. By improving their health and total well-being, The Thoughtful Path allows children to break free from the cycle of poverty and lack of opportunities and increases their chances of becoming healthy, productive adults.

Watch this video to hear Project HOPE UK's Paul Brooks talking about The Thoughtful Path and see how it works to transform the communities where these children are living.