Library:
On 12 July we had some books donated from UBS – thank you UBS!
- Novel: 44
- Non- fiction: 61
- Internet books: 51
- Total : 156
UBS brought refreshments when they delivered the books as they were interacting with 16 learners and even played monopoly games.
We went to schools around Alexandra and introduced our programmes in order to recruit some more children, most children were interested and now our numbers have increased.
Since our introductions to Spelling Bee, there is a big improvement in spelling and grammar skills.
Life skills:
Children returned from school holidays and the programmes returned to normal. In Life Skills we had a discussion concerning Mandela Day 18 July. During the session we discussed the importance of this day and why it should be celebrated globally. We also assigned the children to work in groups and discuss how they will spend their 67 minutes in order to make a difference in their community.
We had a discussion about Women’s Day, the purpose of this discussion was to evaluate if the youth knew what happened on 9 august 1956. During the discussion it was observed that most of the children did not have information regarding day. They were then assigned to conduct a research and they will present their findings in a bigger group.
One of the beneficiaries, Thabang Mathibe has been absent from the programme for three weeks due to his well-being. He got burnt at home while he was trying to help his mother with the dishes and the pot of boiling water spilled on him accidentally. The Facilitator visited him at his parents’ house to check up on his condition. He is now back and participating in the programme again. The group members were empathising with him and were happy to see him back.
Arts and culture:
A consultant for drumming comes once a month; however he has equipped trainers with skills and even during his absence the group members practice weekly. The Arts and Culture Group performed during the NACCW Conference in July. They presented drumming, singing and poetry.
We had a Youth Day celebration on 6 July with a local church. We had some scripture reading, singing and dancing. The church donated some clothing and some groceries.
We have been preparing for Heritage Day, whereby children bring information of their different cultures.
In Arts and Culture our team master indigenous games, morabara, diketo, skipping and skop die ball.
Sports:
On Friday 12 July we had a Netball tournament against the people who visited our Centre to donate books and clothes for our children. We won two matches and the games were very entertaining and we realised that our Netball team is ready for Annual Sports Day!
We have been having mini tournaments with children who are playing soccer. We divided them into groups – each group with 7 players. We let them play against each other up until a selection of the two teams that played finals. Our soccer team is almost there with their football skills and we hope that they will make us proud and win on our Annual Sports Day because they now know to trap n pass, and they know how to play according to the ball positions.
Understanding:
On 31July we attended a workshop hosted by SAMAG and Soul City which was about relationships and skills on how to overcome problems in life.
Multimedia graduations:
We had a Graduation Ceremony in the sports hall and handed out certificates to twenty six graduates who completed their three month course.
There is a boy who attends a computer programme, whom the facilitator had been observing for quite a while. His school uniform was very old and torn. The facilitator referred the boy to Family Support Services department for help. Of late we had been observing him putting on a new school uniform and shoes, showing that once again our interventions really do matter.
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