Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Nelspruit, South Africa from Summer 2008
Nelspruit SOS Children’s Village enjoys to be part of Mpumalanga province which is an area of extreme natural beauty, with many areas still in pristine condition. It is one of the fastest growing provinces in the country recently. The province has a population of approximately 3 million with largely SiSwati and isiNdebele speaking communities, although fairly large communities of Xitsonga, Sesotho, isiZulu, Afrikaans and English speaking people still exist.
Our village feels great to be part of Mpumalanga province, meaning “place of the rising sun “, with ideal temperature and humidity for any outdoor games. However now autumn is in the air, the mornings are crisp, the leaves are changing colour and before one knows, it will be chilly. It is now the perfect time for us to start preparing for winter.
To date eighty one children have been admitted in the village, of which thirty nine are boys and forty-two girls. Their ages range between two years and seventeen years. We have just had one girl and a boy admitted in the village, while two brothers moved out of the village to be integrated with their grand parents. Most of our children are settling well and their health has been stable as no one has ever been out of school since January 2008 due to ill-health.
Children's education in South Africa
This time of the year, the children are on school holidays enjoying every moment of their off days from school. In the morning the older ones help the mothers with household chores. In the afternoon they go for the dancing lessons facilitated by the volunteer engaged by the village for administrative work. Our village has been blessed with the volunteer that has passion for the children and goes extra mile to add value to the lives of our little ones. However, the entire country was dealt a blow with the power cuts; this had a negative impact especially on the type of food to be given to our children before attending dancing and singing lessons. Alternative plans have been put in place by families at least to cater for our children’s meals should power cuts occur. New gel stoves have been supplied to the houses to enable families to cook well balanced diet.
Our SOS Nursery School is a comfort zone for little ones. During this time both the teachers and their pupils are on school holidays enjoying their games with big sisters and brothers. Out of thirty-Nine children in SOS Nursery School nine are SOS children. SOS Mothers are already planning for the educational tours to be taken once the school resumes. Our children are so excited to go on these tours to an extent that some are already drawing the type of animals they will be seeing in the zoo.
It is comforting to know that there is someone who cares and wants to make a difference to the lives of the community in general. This is what SOS Family Strengthening Programme is all about. It has made a difference to the lives of the orphans and vulnerable children in the communities around our Village. At present four hundred and thirty-six families consisting of seven hundred and eighty eight children and four hundred and twenty two adults form our beneficiary base. Programme activities include material support, support towards self sufficiency through income generation projects such as bead work projects and vegetable production. The support of alternative caregivers to effectively provide childcare through training, counselling and support groups is also provided in collaboration with the local Non-Governmental Organisations.
Skills to benefit children
South Africa like all developing countries has been trying to retain its skilled personnel but the challenge of brain drain still prevails. Nelspruit Village like other non governmental organizations still loses its personnel to the Public sector and the corporate world offering attractive and competitive remuneration packages. The Nelspruit village managed to fill in the Family Strengthening Coordinator position after a long struggle to replace our former coordinator. The Village Social Worker and the Administrator also resigned for better offers in the corporate sector. We are still struggling to recruit the Village Social Worker however we are proud to report that the position of the Village Administrator has been filled in February 2008.
In Additional to our team there will be recruitment of the Village Secretary and the Child and Youth Development Coordinator which are new positions in our Village. The Village Secretary will also be responsible for the sponsorship issues in the Village. One of the Aunts, who were diagnosed with a terminal disease, is still not back to work, but she is recuperating well and we hope for the speedy recovery as our children and staff miss her a lot in the Village.
As the village has been going through change of leadership, life has not been easy for the female Village Director in an attempt to break the traditional stereo types attached to men as the heads of the families. Many still felt they can not cope under the leadership of the woman but with time and open communication every body is more comfortable in a team. The children are so comfortable in the presence of the Village Director to an extent that one of our mothers nicknamed her Mother Theresa for her endless love. Every body is hoping Mrs Makhaola-Makwela with strong character and passion towards children will take Nelspruit Village to the greater heights.
Once more thank you for your unconditional support, wishing you a wonderful time throughout the year.
Mrs. Mampho Makhaola-Makwela
Village Director.