Monday, November 23, 2009

On the road again...






The 9th of November saw me once again on the road and out of Greytown promoting LETCEE's work far and wide. I had the opportunity of attending the 4th International African ECD Conference in Dakar, Senegal from the 10th to 14th of November. Together with two of the researchers commissioned by UNICEF to study both LETCEE and Lesedi's models I presented a poster on the research at the conference. What amazed me is how many people from various countries in Africa are attempting to implement strategies with a similar ethos to LETCEE and Lesedi but again in each community the interventions play out in their own unique way. People were very keen to engage with us to see how we implement our approach because even though most people see working with community leaders as essential many had given up as they had encountered so many difficulties along the way. Personally, we had the awesome opportunity of visiting Goree Island situated just off the coast of Senegal. This island was one of the hubs of the slave trade in Africa and it was sobering to stand there and ponder what had gone on in that place. It confirmed for me that whatever we do in life and whatever programmes we attempt,it must be from a human rights approach where all people's rights are upheld and where one individuals rights do not infringe on the rights of others.




Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A dream for the children in Mbuba...

We plan to create a toy library for the children in Mbuba. The project is listed on SASIX! Lets hold thumbs our dreams come true!
http://www.sasix.co.za/projects/view/VP-KZN-AUG09-0002/

A wonderful story

A wonderful story of our work, written by Yvonne Duncan from Unicef
UNICEF: Child-tochild learning in rural South Africa safeguards the right to play

Friday, November 6, 2009

A long walk home

This photo was taken by one of our visitors from UNICEF whilst visiting our projects in Matimatolo.

This picture really touched me... to imagine this little girl and her daily journey home after school up the very steep hill. It tells so much about commitment and eagerness to learn regardless of the tough circumstances.
For 5 years the school bus drove past the turn-off to this rural village to take me to school , and I didn't know what was beyond that point- that a mere few kilometres away there was such poverty. On many days we complained that our school bus was old and slow, and that we didn't feel like going to school, never did I consider that trip on the bus to be a priveledge - how much we took for granted!