Fund Life-Changing Education for 201 African Kids

Dear Supporter,

There is always something happening here in Ikhayalethem.

Our snack programme provides a healthy snack each morning for the children.  While our volunteers prepare the snack, it frees up the carers for other tasks. It’s recommended that snack comprises two food groups so we provide a good balance for the children. Bananas, boiled eggs  and yoghurt are among the children’s favourites. 

Some of the children from Ikhayalethemba also started school.  They are all really enjoying it and the ground work with reading and writing that our volunteers have been able to provide, since the children were very young, has particularly given them a head start with the English curriculum. We have been able to support the purchase of the children’s stationery and uniforms thanks to kind donations.

Class time continues with the younger children.  They love learning the alphabet letters and our volunteers have some great ideas for reinforcing the concepts that the children learn.  We try to make learning as hands-on, stimulating and varied as possible.  We want the children to express their creative side.

One of the big expenses for Ikhayalethemba is nappies.  All of the children with special needs rely on wearing nappies and as you can imagine this is a huge expense for the centre, especially as some of the children require adult sizes now they are growing up.  We have been able to support the centre with funding the nappies and we are helping Mama and the team develop ways of managing this expense in the future.

Our work with the children with Special Needs continues. Unfortunately the Special Needs Sensory Room was affected by a leaking roof, leaving it too wet to work in and some damage to the equipment.  We have been pleased to be able to support the centre to have the roof repaired using local workers.  We also helped fund repairs to the children’s bedroom roof. Very heavy rains earlier this week showed that the work has been successful so we are well and truly back on track with working with the children in the Sensory Room to provide a stimulation and therapy programme.

Volunteers have been very busy painting the Ikhayalethemba Houses and giving them a bit of a colour lift. It’s certainly made a big difference..

On the 16^th June we celebrated Youth Day here in South Africa.  Youth Day is celebrated in order to recognise the role of youth in the liberation of South Africa from the apartheid regime.  The children made chains of children to acknowledge the day.  Lots of creative work to be seen!

Thank you so much for your continued support.

Links:

• The Charitable Trust