Amazing women

After meeting with the Family Facilitators of Eshane yesterday I was once again humbled by their dedication to the children they visit and the community from which they come. These women face many challenges in their work and home lives and often we just jump into work mode not stopping to listen to their challenges and difficulties. As these women shared their troubles with us and one another they emphatically stated that despite these challenges they love their work and would not want to change that for anything. It left me amazed at their resilience but also wondering how we can better support them and honour them for their dedication to other people, prefering others above themselves!

Developing people

One of our core philosophies at LETCEE is to ensure that we are constantly assisting those we come in contact with to develop to their full potential be they children, caregivers, learners or staff members. It is exciting to watch people grow as they realize just how much they can do and achieve.

In the past week however I have once again had to reflect that growing people often means that they move on from LETCEE and the vital roles that they fulfilled here. This is truly bittersweet! On the one hand we get behind them, cheering them on and on the other we are very sad to see them go. This is the case with one of our committee members from Siyabathanda Abantwana who left last week to go and study nursing in Pietermaritzberg. We are so glad that her dreams are being fulfilled but we are aware of the huge gap she leaves behind. I guess her moving on opens up the opportunity for someone else to begin to reach for their dreams...

Positive feedback

Another group of LETCEE Level 4 students have completed their modules of training and will soon hand in their portfolios of evidence for final assessment.
The feedback in the reflections after training were incredibly positive, here are exerts from 2 learners...

"This course teach me how to handle and develop a child. It also help me to get more knowledge how to plan my activities. Now I do not have any problem to stand in front of the children because I know what I'm going to do with my children. I know how to work and communicate with children and the parents and how important it is to involve the parents in the ECD Site. I will encourage the other practitioners in my site to come and get what I got in Level 4, and I'm going to implement my knowledge in my site." - Nompumelelo

"When I started Level 4, I was willing to go extra miles, gain more knowledge about this course and to know better about Early Childhood Development. Look at where I am today: I have knowledge about a lots of things I have not known before, I know about teamwork, how to be a good ECD teacher and to to apply my knowledge and better understanding to the learners. And this is not the end for my carrer, I still want to get more knowledge. This course has changed a lot of things in my life." -Hlengiwe

Something to smile about

Yesterday I was at a meeting in Pietermaritzberg where the topic for discussion was "Supporting the Elderly Caregiver." Unbeknown to me a former LETCEE student (who graduated at the end of 2009) would be sharing about how she was working with and empowering Gogo's in her community. She explained that the creche's do not have toys and so she took it upon herself to show the Gogo's of the children in the creche how to make toys from waste. She had learnt this skill whilst studying at LETCEE. She also shared how the Gogo's have taught other Gogo's in the community as well as practitioners at other creches. It made me smile as I began to realize that we often do not even begin to understand the impact of what we do!

Buddies, here's what some other people had to say...

I was amazed at the impression the the Buddies had on the leaders who ran the camp 2 weeks ago and thought i would share some of what they said, as it has been a huge encouragement for me.

"As these kids overcame every obstacle we put in their way, as they saw and took opportunities that never seemed, even to me, to be possible, and did it all in record timing, we strove to make everything harder. We blindfolded key players, tied kids feet together and used any other method we could think of to handy-cap these amazing young people.
All of them were friendly, polite, respectful, good listeners, and I was blown away at how obedient they all were, both boys and girls. If given the choice, I would rather this group on a camp then any other group of similarly aged people that I know." Jess Goodall

"They gave the impression that it doesn't matter what you throw at them, they will overcome it. They rose to every challenge. The leadership capabilities of many of the kids were easily seen. It was a really special bunch of kids that came through as intelligent, persevering and strong kids." Jason Tame

"For me as an immensely proud South African, it gave me great joy and even tears to see this generation that is more interested in the well being of the community than in personal gain or hate....For me as an Afrikaner it was also great sharing a bit of my culture, and experiencing theirs and it was on the talent night that I realised what Madiba was talking about when he said 'The Rainbow Nation.' Something like that is only possible through friendship and contact, and I believe that these kids have been primed to be that contact!They are truly starting to shake off the bonds of racism and prejudice and with constant mentorship as is provided through LETCEE, these ghosts of the past could disappear altogether." Rudi Ackerman

We took the Buddies on camp so they could learn and grow but i think they can be very proud of what they taught and gave to those leading the camp. Well done!!