Project HOPE UK awarded Big Lottery Fund grant

Project HOPE UK’s flagship programme, The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville, has been awarded a grant by the Big Lottery Fund (a grant-making body of the UK National Lottery) to support important new components of the ten-year strategy to create a world-class model of excellence in sustainable, community-based care of orphans and other vulnerable children.
The entire project is focussed on local community mobilisation through which the people of Munsieville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, introduce far-reaching changes to their lifestyle and to the structures of their community in a bid to make it the best possible environment in which vulnerable children can be raised, reversing the low life-expectancy and attainment that is endemic within Africa’s slum settlements. The award from the Big Lottery Fund will cover the costs of a new Health Promotion Unit – a team of professionals who will assist the programme’s seven “Hubs” (action groups) to develop and deliver health strategies impacting every phase of child development from birth to adulthood.
The grant will also see the launch of a 24 hour emergency response service in the township accessible by any child who feels vulnerable, threatened or in need of support. Project HOPE UK will also be able to double the number of places on its Early Childhood Development training programme – in partnership with Safe & Sound Learning Association – to equip community members to give the very best support to pre-school children across Munsieville.
Executive Director, Paul Brooks, said, “This grant is as a tremendous breakthrough for this project, and a major endorsement for Project HOPE UK’s sustainability strategy. This programme is about empowering the community to do things for itself, so the benefits continue long after we have withdrawn. Every penny of this grant will be used in that process – training, equipping, mentoring, and leaving a strong community that is an example and inspiration to others”.

Brunel University project to help House of Young Ambassadors' development

Fauzia Rehman, a student from Brunel University has just started an assignment with Project HOPE UK, as part of her Masters degree in Children, Youth and International Development. She will help to develop a position paper and operational guidelines to encourage the participation of the children in Munsieville in the planning of the services provided for them. Her assignment will focus on the work of The House of Young Ambassadors, based at the Children's Embassy in Munsieville.
Fauzia's project will look at how the core beliefs of Project HOPE UK in the role of children in driving change in their community can be embedded in the work of The Thoughtful Path. She will also develop guidelines on the ways to track changes in The Young Ambassadors themselves and evaluate their effectiveness in inspiring change amongst their peers.
Project HOPE UK welcomes Faustia and looks forward to her report and recommendations in April.

Toys donated to Project Hope UK in Munsieville

Boxes and boxes full of toys were donated by one charity to another, when Help a Child in Need decided to support Project Hope UK on 19 January.
Help a Child in Need is a charity organisation that helps children with medical conditions who have a grim prognosis. The organisation mainly assists financially, but does not give the money directly to the child or his or her parents, but rather pays the medical expenses of the child directly to the hospital or caregiver.
Wynand Pretorius of Help a Child in Need said, "We received boxes and boxes full of toys from ToysRus in Fourways last year and we decided to donate them to Project Hope UK as they need them more than we do."
Project Hope UK volunteer, Alyson Krucher said, "We are very grateful for this very generous donation. The toys will be used in the creches in Munsieville and the Children's Embassy to help entertain and educate the children, giving them a better start in life."

Health and safety training for creche teachers in Munsieville

On Thursday 19th January the teachers of the crèches who are in the training programme of Project Hope UK in partnership with Safe and Sound Learning Association, gathered at the Embassy for a meeting with Safe and Sound Learning Association, Betty Nkoana and Carola Michielsen of Project Hope UK and the Teddy Bear Clinic. The purpose of the meeting was to share the report with recommendations of the GlaxoSmithKline Health & Safety volunteers that assessed crèche facilities at the end of last year and to discuss what the teachers could change to make their facilities a healthier and safer place for children. For Safe and Sound Learning Association this was a great opportunity to see whether the teachers had already implemented what they have learned during the training and to reinforce the recommendations. The Teddy Bear Clinic was invited by Project Hope UK to tell the teachers something about their organisation and to give a first short training session about how to recognise whether a child has been sexually abused by observing odd behaviour. This was highly appreciated by the teachers since this subject has been touched upon in their training but they indicated they would like to have more in-depth training. Teddy Bear Clinic indicated that they are willing to organise a full day training of the teachers around this subject.
We discussed all findings and agreed on things to improve the coming weeks. All teachers will place the emergency contact numbers on the walls of their crèches, all teachers received posters on hand washing and other hygiene advice to display in the crèches as well as the poster of the Paraffin Safety Organisation. They will set up a communication network to share best practices and learn from each other. In March of this year Project Hope UK, Safe and Sound Learning Association and partners will organise a training day to practice Fire Evacuation Strategy and First Aid procedures with all the teachers. The teachers of the crèches that were assessed by the GSK team all received their individual report in order to see what they can improve in the coming weeks in their crèches, to help provide the best possible start in life for the young children of Munsieville.

2012 will be a great year for Munsieville

Pual Brooks, Project HOPE UK's Executive Director, looks back over the achievements of The Thoughtful Path: Munsieville in 2011, and the outlook for 2012:
"As I look back over 2011, there is so much that I want to thank you for, because you have been so important in helping to make this a breakthrough year for the people of Munsieville! I have the privilege of daily exposure to the momentum that is being built in the township as together we move closer to the dream of seeing thousands of children given the opportunity to turn their back on poor health, low life expectancy, poverty, abuse and lack of opportunity, so I want to send you a strong message from those children to assure you of their gratitude and recognition of the vital part you have played in planting hope in their hearts – a hope that inspires action.
Over the past year, children have been rescued from serious abuse and others mobilised in the battle to eradicate abuse that hides under a cloak of cultural acceptance; hundreds of children have learned how to adopt simple habits to make them healthier; shack homes where children live are being made safer; health services are being made more accessible, especially to children marginalised by stigma and prejudice; pre-school workers have received professional training in Early Childhood Development and are transforming the lives of hundreds of children; caregivers are turning waste ground into vegetable gardens; women have started a cooperative to make the bricks to rebuild their community; scores of community members have come forward to deliver better services to children; young people have found a voice through our Journalism Academy; emerging leaders have enrolled in the Thoughtful Path: Munsieville Leadership Academy; and, last month, the Children’s Embassy – a place of safety to champion the cause of children in Munsieville – was officially opened by our new House of Young Ambassadors.
2012 will be even more significant! Launch of a 24-hour service for children in crisis; creation of a full-time health promotion unit; creative new after-school care clubs; expansion of enterprise initiatives to inspire others to create the incomes needed to care for vulnerable children; child health services offered by the Children’s Embassy …. A year of ‘M&Ms’ – Mass Mobilisation, Measurement, Monitoring and Momentum!
Thank you for your steadfast support, encouragement and commitment – you are part of a Miracle in Munsieville."
Happy New Year!
Paul

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.