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THE CAVERN AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITYNORTHERN DRAKENSBERG KHANYISELA PROJECT BUILDING STRONG BEGINNINGS FOR A BETTER FUTURE
1. OUR AIM The Khanisela project was born out of an awareness that the Northern Drakensberg tourism industry cannot exist without the upliftment of our rural neighbours. We believe that the long-term prosperity of our area and our country is linked to the prosperity of the people, and that upliftment is linked to education. Our future is closely linked to the future of the Amazizi community surrounding us. We must therefore do everything in our power to contribute to the upliftment and prosperity of this rural area. The aim of the programme is to assist in the creation of a network of educational facilities that are in keeping with national and international standards. We hope to give learners a solid foundation for life-long learning, ultimately creating a community with a sense of self-respect and empowerment. 2. OUR TEAM We work as a dedicated team in the Northern Drakensberg and have a small committee:
3. WHAT ARE WE DOING AT THE MOMENT? At present we are assisting 9 PRE-SCHOOL facilities in the following ways: Bread and Peanut Butter: Every Monday each pre-school receives a bread delivery. This ensures that each child will receive one sandwich per day. We feed over 350 children a day and this costs approximately R750 per week.
Maintenance and Repairs: Each year we assess the pre-schools and do our utmost to assist with maintenance and repairs where necessary. Maintenance is vital as it can avoid much larger costs in the future. Cleaning Equipment: Each month the pre-schools receive a 25 day supply of Biocide-D which is a sterilizing surface cleaner. Teacher Training: Ladies from these pre-schools have been attending Early Childhood Development courses in Ladysmith. Seven ladies are due to complete the Level 4 Course in June 2009. We transport the ladies to the centre and provide their food for each workshop. Course fees of R2800 per student have been paid. We hope to begin the Level 5 course with some teachers soon and will be looking at beginning another Level 1 course with a new set of assistants next year.
The training of teachers is one of the most important aspects of this programme. Monthly Stipend: We have started paying a small stipend to the teacher and her helpers at Sivuleleni Pre-School and Hlelokuhle Pre-School. This is in the region of R1000 per month per school and we would ideally like to extend this to the other pre-schools in the area in the future. Book and Equipment Donations: We receive donations of various items from time to time and these are distributed to the pre-schools. Existing PRIMARY SCHOOLS in our area are also assisted. At the beginning of each year we issue Back-to-School stationery packs for the primary school children. This consists of pencils, pens, a rubber, ruler and an exam pad. We have also had library books donated for both primary and secondary schools in the area. A trailer load of books was distributed to Insukangihlale Primary and to KwaMiya Primary School. Books have also been donated to Bangani Secondary School in the past. Refurbishment of classrooms, additional teaching materials and teacher training will benefit all the children attending these schools and help raise the level of education received. At the entrance to The Cavern there stood a sad and roofless sandstone barn. Built with blocks hewn from the surrounding hills, this lovely old building had stood empty for many a year. It has now emerged from its chrysalis and burst upon our valley as our beautiful new primary school – The Royal Drakensberg Primary School. Standing proud and glowing in the sun, this double-story thatched building looks out over the valley it hopes to serve.
We believe that there is a great need for holistic education of a world class standard in our area. Conditions in these rural areas are poor and the teachers lack resources and infrastructure. We feel that an established private school, which is properly staffed and managed, will go a long way to giving children the necessary grounding to reach their maximum potential.
To this end we opened our little school in January 2007 and in this, our third year, we have enrolled 25 children. Eleven of these children, some of which are close relatives of our own staff, have their fees, transport and packed lunches sponsored by various generous individuals to the tune of around R190,000. We are hoping to find sponsorship for more children from disadvantaged homes who have academic potential which would otherwise not be realised. Providing these children with a good primary school education will help them to gain access to good secondary schools in Pietermaritzburg and so give them a chance to excel in life. Hopefully they will then be able and willing to give back in some way to the community in which they grew up. At present we have a pre-primary group of 17 children and a junior primary group of 8 children. We have grown to grade 3 and next year will begin grade 4. We plan to grow each year and establish a primary school that will take the children up to Grade 7 (12-13 years of age). In time we will need to move the present school down the road so that it is more accessible to others in the community. We have started it here where we can keep the costs as low as possible. Our motto is “With privilege comes responsibility, with responsibility comes sacrifice” and we hope to instill these values into all our pupils. 4. WHAT WE WOULD LIKE ASSISTANCE WITH Resort guests, friends, businesses and donors, both in South Africa and overseas are essential to the continuation and improvement of our programme. Contributions, monetary or in kind are welcomed to support the sustainability of this initiative. Our aim is to maintain and expand this programme and for this, we require your assistance, and are sure that by supporting our endeavours you will feel rewarded by the positive change you are helping to make to young South African lives. We require assistance with the following: PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING AND RE – EDUCATION. As mentioned above we feel that the training of the teachers is of paramount importance. Therefore we require money to send the teachers for further training in early childhood development. STIPEND FOR VOLUNTEER TEACHERS AT THE PRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS. In the majority of the pre-primary schools the teachers and helpers work purely on a voluntary basis and receive no remuneration. We wish to extend the monthly stipend to all of these schools to cover basic costs. BUILDING PRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS. At present there is a pre-primary school group who have no building. They have been given access to a piece of land where they can erect a school building. We need R200 000 to build a new school. SPONSOR STATIONERY BULK PACKS FOR THE PRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS. These consist of crayons, chalk, glue, gummed paper squares, work books etc. SPONSOR A CHILD TO GO TO THE ROYAL DRAKENSBERG PRIMARY SCHOOL. This private primary school is close to Amazizi and some local children are sponsored to attend. There is room at the school for more children who would require sponsorship. 5. HOW YOU CAN ASSIST RAISING AWARENESS Actively raise awareness of the project and encourage donations of school equipment, stationery and maintenance materials. GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL PLEDGES Providing financial support as an individual or a group, no matter how small, on a monthly basis and thus help to ensure the sustainability and expansion of this project. Ideally we would like groups or individuals to commit to a monthly pledge of R500. Our goal is for 100 pledges. Arrange sporting or musical events, jumble sales, raffles, business, club or school functions in an effort to raise money for the programme or a specific project within the programme. 6. ADMINISTRATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE We have a large support network of family and friends and we endeavour to keep the administration costs down by doing the ground work ourselves. All donations received go straight to the cause where they are most needed.
HoH provide a contact between Khanyisela and donors in order to ensure that funds donated will be used for the purposes for which they are given. HoH have based their corporate governance on the fundamental principles of fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency as outlined by the South African King 2 report on corporate governance. Monitoring and evaluating is an important aspect of all projects and is an essential aspect of assessing the impact of the programmes that we implement. The details of Hearts of Hope are: 7. HOW TO MAKE DONATIONS Donations can be made to Hearts of Hope or contact Dave or Daphne { or Tel: (+27) 36 438 6270} for a credit card authorisation form if you would like to support this wonderful community. If you require a tax certificate please indicate this and it will be forwarded to you from Hearts of Hope. If you are donating from the UK please advise us, as you can donate through the Retford Rotary Club and receive a tax certificate. Please feel free to contact Dave or Daphne Thurlwell should you wish to receive more detail on specific projects that you would like to consider making contributions to. Dave and Daphne Thurlwell – Administration and fund raising. By educating our children we are helping to build our nation and ensure a better tomorrow for all. KHANYISELA PROJECT - DECEMBER UPDATE Hi All, It is already the second week of December with Christmas fast approaching and time for another update on our progress with the Khanyisela Project. Below we highlight some of the projects that we have been working on over the last three months. Teacher Training Level 1 – The level 1 learners have just completed their course and are being a big help in the various crèche/pre-schools where they teach. We consider the training of the teachers to be one of the most important aspects of the Khanyisela project. Without competent teachers the young children cannot progress. It is therefore very important that we continue sending the teachers and assistants on Early Childhood Development (ECD) courses. The D G Murray Trust allocated us R100 000.00 this year for the above courses and we have approached them for additional funding for further ECD Level 1, 4 and 5 courses in 2011. Our Step 1 Application was successful and they invited us to submit the final Step 2 application which was submitted on the 13th December. (Incidentally Daphne and my 35th wedding anniversary) Please cross your fingers that our application is successful. On Saturday the 3rd December we held a Christmas lunch for all the teachers and assistants at Montusi Mountain Lodge. We were fortunate to have had prizes donated by the Bergville Spa (4 x R100 gift vouchers) and the Cavern (Cavern Bags). We bought some fruit trees and plastic roller boxes as additional prizes. Prizes were awarded for the cleanest school, Samokelokuhle, and most improved school, Gugulethu. The four gift vouchers were given as lucky dip prizes and all the schools also received a prize.
Our thanks go to the Bergville Spa for the vouchers, The Cavern for the bags and the deserts and to Montusi for hosting the lunch and for the delicious food.
Over and above the above training we hold half day workshops for all the teachers and their assistants at the Cavern. Over the last two months two workshops were held. The first was on the subject of health and safety. Stephen Richert from the Royal Drakensberg National Park kindly presented a very informative and useful presentation. Upon completion of the presentation we issued small first aid kits to each of the crèche/pre-schools. The second workshop was presented by Dr Glenda Hicks and focused on self esteem and how the teachers could recognize problems in the development of the children. We were fortunate that Dr Glenda Hicks could stay for two weeks when she visited many of the schools and gave us a report on the progress of the teachers. This was a positive report and Dr Hicks feels that the training the teachers are receiving is being put into practice. Emseni Pre-School We have started to build the new classroom, kitchen and storeroom, but this was not without problems. Upon completion of the foundation slab our builder, NET Projects, was approached by an Induna who gave them a letter telling them to stop work as the land was his. Teresa, the head of the Emseni School, has, a “Permission to Occupy” (PTO) letter for the land and was very upset. She went to Pietermaritzburg to get confirmation of her letter and then spent a day waiting to see the local Chief who originally gave permission. He confirmed that the land was allocated to the Emseni School. Meetings were held between the school committee and the Induna and we were given permission to continue building which now has the roof trusses and sheeting erected. However we had then lost two weeks and the building could not be completed before the builders Christmas shutdown. We are hoping that it will be completed for the new school term beginning on the 17th January.
The Ten Hope Group – Ntokozweni Creche Paula Ten Hope, the daughter of family friends who have a house at Montusi, visited us a few months ago and said she would like to get a group of school friends to come to clean up and paint the Ntokozweni crèche. This she did and 10 girls arrived after their school, Kingsmead, closed on the 3rd December. Some of the walls were bare plaster and some painted dark blue, but the girls gave the walls (and themselves) a couple of coats of paint and then finished the transformation by painting the sun, trees, flowers, bees, numbers etcetera on the walls. We then put a carpet and some shelving in one of the rooms. When I say transformation, the word does not adequately describe the difference they have made to this small school and the teachers are absolutely delighted. The girls also cleaned their plastic chairs. Our thanks go to Paula and her team.
This school has very little furniture so we have bought them some small plastic tables and chairs which we will give to them at the beginning of the new school term. Presidents Award Young Ladies – Zamokuhle Creche Last December some Rhoedean girls came and assisted us in painting the Hlelokuhle crèche as part of their Presidents Award programme. This year 7 more young ladies came and painted the Zamokuhle Creche. The pictures that they painted both inside and outside are fantastic. The Ten Hope group came for a morning and helped by painting the outside walls.
The Zamokuhle teachers have had some of their land ploughed and they are going to plant mealies. The Ten Hope girls brought some seeds for the crèches and decided to give them to these teachers to plant. Rainwater Gutters and Tanks We continue installing rainwater tanks and gutters at most of the schools. At the end of November we received a greatly appreciated donation of R28000.00 from Hamon SA, a Johannesburg based company, specifically earmarked for the installation of gutters and water tanks. The Rotary Club of Retford is hoping to send us another R22000.00 towards water tanks. We will now be able to install two tanks at each of the schools (including the new Emseni school), which will hold enough water to see them through the dry winter months.
Feeding Programme With the continued assistance of the Rotary Club of Retford we are able to continue supplying fortified porridge to all the schools. Each of the 350 plus children will benefit from a meal of this porridge each school day. It is so important that the children get this meal to help with their health and concentration. They cannot learn on an empty stomach. St Mellons Golf Club Cardiff Maggie Pierce has completed her duties as the Lady Captain of St. Mellons Golf Club in Cardiff. She has organized several social events during her tenure and assisted the mens section with one event. The money raised over her year in office was R 16748.87. (Incidentally, how much money did the swear box in the bar raise?) We have decided to use the money at the new Emseni Creche and will put it towards buying them some desks, chairs and kitchen furniture and to put up a veranda roof and fence. Thank you very much Maggie for all your hard work. We look forward to you visiting us so that you can see where the money was spent. Overall Project Funding The Cavern’s, “win a 2 night stay” competition is getting quite a good response from quests. The October Draw was won by David Morris from Durban. Our next draw takes place on the 30th February. To enter all you need to do is donate R100 to the project either through Hearts of Hope or through the Cavern. (Contact us for details.) Why not set up a monthly donation. As this is a time for giving, why not consider assisting the Khanyisela Project on a monthly basis? We are looking for individuals or a group who can commit to a monthly pledge of R 100.00 (or more). You will also go into the Cavern “win a 2 night stay” competition. Email us for details. Once again our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has kindly donated funds, jumble, books, toys etcetera and for your continued help and encouragement. Dave & Daphne Thurlwell Hi All, How quickly time flies. It only seems like yesterday that I wrote the December update and it is already the fourth week in March with Easter fast approaching and time for another update on our progress and the good news about the Khanyisela Project. Firstly the good news and there is quite a lot of it. The D G Murray Trust informed us on the 8th March (a lovely birthday present for Daphne) that they have approved our application for R130000.00 towards this year’s teacher training. We are extremely grateful to these donors, as with their donations covering the main needs of the project for this year, we are able to spend our other donations on the day to day needs of the project as well as on some improvements to the schools. Emseni Pre-School The building of the new classroom, kitchen and storeroom has been completed and the teachers and children moved into the school towards the end of January. Both teachers and children are extremely happy with their new premises and our thanks go to the following for their help in making the Principal, Teresa Ndawo's dream come true:
Maggie Pierce, whilst Lady Captain of St. Mellons Golf Club in Cardiff, collected R16748.87 for the Khanyisela Project. This money will be used towards a paved area and a veranda roof at the school. We hope to install these in the next month or so. Thanks again Maggie. Teacher Training With the funds approved by D G Murray Trust we can now continue with the Teacher Training. Well trained, qualified teachers are vital for the future of the children and the upliftment of the pre-schools in the area. Workshops Over and above the above training we hold half day workshops for all the teachers and their assistants at the Cavern. In January Brenda Locke brought Zulu books for the schools and held a Saturday morning workshop at which she issued the books to the pre-school teachers and explained how best to use the books. Thank you Brenda for the kind donation of the books and your time spent at the workshop. Rainwater Gutters and Tanks Thanks to the donations from the Rotary Club of Retford and Hamon SA we have bought 6 additional 5000 litre water tanks and we are in the process of building additional tank bases. Once complete we will install the tanks and 6 of our schools will then have a 10 000 litre water capacity, which should be adequate to see them through the dry winter months. We are always very pleased to see the difference these tanks have made by alleviating the need for the staff having to fetch their water from pumps, which are often over 200 meters away. Unfortunately some of our schools are still in buildings where gutters cannot be erected and therefore we cannot install rainwater tanks. Feeding Programme
With the continued assistance of the Rotary Club of Retford we are able to continue supplying fortified porridge to all the schools. R20000.00 of the R50000.00 donated by Industrial Water Cooling (IWC) will be added to the Rotary Club of Retfords donation ensuring that each of our 350 plus children will benefit from a meal of this porridge each school day. This is the second year that IWC have given us a donation towards the feeding programme. It is so important that the children get this meal to help with their health and concentration. They cannot learn on an empty stomach. Recently we took a number of people who had visited the crèches before, but had not been for a while. on our 'porridge run' and we are pleased to report that all of them stated that they thought the children looked much healthier. Fruit Trees Most of the crèche/pre-schools had no trees in their grounds so we decided that they need trees for shade and to improve the outlook of the schools. It was decided that we should plant fruit trees which would achieve our objective and also provide some food. Apple, plum and peach trees have been planted in several of the school grounds and are growing well. We are also very pleased to report that two of the schools have also started their own vegetable gardens. We wish more of the schools and homesteads in the area would start vegetable gardens.
Jumble Sales We are in need of jumble for our next sale. If coming to visit over the school holidays or Easter get into those cupboards and if you have not used it for two years, put it into a bag and bring it to us. We do not make the items expensive that we sell but it benefits both our project and many of the people living in the area. Jungle Gyms We would like to supply steel tubular jungle gyms to some of the pre-schools. We have funding to buy them, but, as they are quite large (over 2.0m square); transport costs from Durban (Queensborough) are prohibitive. If anyone can assist us in transporting one or more jungle gyms from Durban we would appreciate your help. Royal Drakensberg Primary School – Mountain Bike Weekend We are holding the third annual Royal Drakensberg Primary (RDP) MTB race weekend from the 13th to 15th May. The event is a fund raiser for the RDP School and all monies raised go towards scholarships for previously disadvantaged children from the local Amazizi village to attend the school. Participants wishing to assist with fund raising for Royal Drakensberg Primary may obtain sponsorship forms from Loretta Mecklenborg or Megan Bedingham. See www.royal-drakensberg.org.za for more information. Why not “adopt” one of our pre-schools by raising funds to supply the stationery requirements of a school. This can be from as little as R600.00 per term. (See attached document for details.) Maybe your children’s school or your sports club or business would like to assist us. Please try and help us in this regard. Overall Project Funding The Cavern’s, “win a 2 night stay” February draw was won by Mr/s R B Mills. We look forward to welcoming them here at the Cavern.
Thanks to our major and smaller private donations (and jumble for our regular sales – please keep it coming), we are well on our way to our goal that all the existing crèche buildings be re-painted, have water available from their own tanks and have adequate storage facilities and equipment. All of the above will go a long way to ensure that our schools are healthy, safe and efficient places of early childhood development. As always our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who has kindly donated funds, jumble, books, toys etcetera and for your continued help and encouragement. You are helping us to help make a better future for the children of this beautiful area and in our small way for all South Africans. Regards. Dave & Daphne Thurlwell |
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