Since January we are really struggling to go on: to run a NGO with over 120 members who depend on their stipends and have no other or little other income in a time where month after month the petrol price goes up, electricity goes up by 14 %, food prices go up etc. can be very difficult. Our finance team together with the coordinator had sleepless nights. In March we got the bad news that Soul City, a partner NGO who supported many of our initiatives and through which we could even expand support groups in far away villages, were that the Global Fund will withdraw their support. This has many consequences even for us.
Nevertheless the work of the year has gone off the ground well. In our two preschools we have eighty children, a good number of toddlers who challenge our skills. Until Friday 15.3., when the public schools including our preschools (and After School Programs) closed after the first school term, all were busy to help the new children to adapt to the preschool. According to Maria Montessori the best day is when you see children working on their own and they do not even take notice of you, as if you were not there. I observed a boy who was working with the yellow cylinders. He was so fascinated that he built a tower with them seven times. The noise and distraction of children around him did not stop him to go on.
When the schools reopened in January we could establish four new After school programs. Around 300 children from Grade R – Grade 7 are regularly attending this program from Monday- Thursday. In the middle of February and in the second week of March all children from Grade 2- Grade 7 were writing a Math’s test and a HIV Test.
We have introduced these tests to find out where the children need help and where interventions are necessary. It was rather shocking to see the results. From Grade 1-5 the biggest problem is that basic literacy and basic numeracy are lacking so that they are not able to read and understand the questions which are asked in the tests. Towards the end of the school year another test will be written to see if there is any improvement.
The peer education program is started with 48 Peer Educators teaching at 27 different schools despite the reduction in their incentives due to our reduced finances , the peer educators are enthusiastic to go out and teach more than 5000 children .
We are grateful for all donations are all your prayers towards our project and thank you on behalf of our members as well as the children and patients we serve. May God bless you!
Christel Hermann