Sponsor's update from Nhlangano, Swaziland

Child sponsorship update from the SOS Children's Village Nhlangano, Swaziland from Summer 2008.

Dear Friends and Sponsors,

The Nhlangano Village again takes this opportunity to thank all its friends and sponsors for their valuable contributions and support. A larger part of the country has again been stricken by severe droughts. The start of the summer season looked really wonderful and almost everyone believed that they were going to produce a very good yield this year. It was until the rains soon disappeared and only came back this start of the winter season. The maize which serves as the staple food for the Swazi nation was caught by this severe drought when it was just sprouting. Since a larger area of the Shiselweni Regional in which the Nhlangano Village is situated falls in the middleveld and lowveld, a big number of the families here are highly affected by this drought.

As reported in our last update, the country is about to start its elections for the ninth Parliament. Registration for this year’s parliamentary election has been completed. The coming elections are already run according to the country’s new constitution which came into effect in June 2007.

The Village started the year well with the integration of the youth to the youth facility and the admission of new children into the village. There are presently ninety-eight SOS children in the village and twenty-five youths in the youth facilities. Ten new children were admitted into the village to replace the integrated youth and have now also settled in well. Most of the children’s health is good and those with minor ailments were attended to and they responded well.

Growing up at Nhlangano, Swaziland

Eight SOS Village children attend high school and eighty-three are still in the primary school level. Five are at the nursery school while two are still at home because of their young age. Extra classes for those children who are academically challenged have already started. The Village was lucky to find a special needs primary school teacher who is currently leading these classes together with the Kindergarten teachers. These classes are held from Monday to Wednesday every week. Developmental workshops for both children and staff have continued during the first half of the year. Children and youths were taught on different health related issues, how to make informed choices and life skills development. SOS staff and mothers were also taught about health related issues and how to respond to child abuse

The youths and the village children had the opportunity to visit their biological relatives during the Christmas holidays. This exercise is done with the hope that it will strengthen the interaction and the emotional relations that may have developed in the children’s relationships with their biological families. It was indeed quite pleasing to note that most children were happy to have visited their relatives. Just after Christmas holidays, the three youth siblings have been re-integrated to stay with their elder brother who is now permanently employed. The youth girls moved to the newly SOS youth girls facility which is situated within the village premises and they like it there. On the other hand six girls and four boys were moved from the village to join the youth facilities during February this year. The new youths have now adjusted their life styles well to that of the youth facilities. This year there are twenty four youths in high school. Two village youths had to be re-integrated to their homes after continuous poor and very serious bad behaviour. They are however being monitored to see how they are doing at home and out.

A family for children at Nhlangano, Swaziland

Two youth girls who had problems with their eyes visited an Eye Specialist who discovered that they needed eye glasses. The youth’s chicken projects did not go well this past summer hence fifty chickens were spoiled due to the electricity failure. As already mentioned above, nothing was harvested from the youths’ maize field due to the serious drought that has affected the area. The girls are hoping to start their own garden project in the open space next to their new houses.

The Village staff, SOS youths and children have started a joint Friday sports games which are played on the village grounds. Four SOS village boys and four Village girls participated in the Regional Primary Schools athletics and three SOS youth participated in the high Schools category, unfortunately they did not make it up to the top positions. They have promised to win in the future.

The SOS Mothers are also doing well in terms of health and taking care of the children at their care. They started the year in high spirits because the village was able to buy them their long awaited four washing machines and two dryers. Doing laundry for the children is not going to be that hard anymore.

The SOS Nursery School also started the year well and has registered a total number of one hundred and twenty-two children.

The clinic continued to provide quality health care services to the community, SOS children and staff. The clinic services mentioned above included providing curatives, family planning, Children’s Welfare and Ante-Natal Care services. The Clinic is also planning to start the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of the HIV virus. The Village Nurse visits family houses and encourages eating well and keeping healthy at all times to both the SOS families and staff. The village has ten children who continue taking food supplements for different conditions and visit the hospital frequently for observation by the doctors.

The Nhlangano Village held its mini Fete that took place on Saturday the 19th April 2008 and all SOS Nhlangano Staff and children participated in this event. This was in preparation for the National Fundraising fete that took place in Mbabane on the 26th April 2008. A select team of the Nhlangano Village staff members attended the National Fete.

SOS Children’s Village Nhlangano is very much appreciative of all your support and would like to take this opportunity to thank you all very much. We wish you the best for the remaining year.