Governance

The management committee of the organization consist of:

Name	Position	Background
Melanie Prinsloo	Chairperson	Founder Lambano Sanctuary for HIV babies in Jhb 2001 Co-founder & CEO of Mukhanyo Community Development Centre in KwaMhlanga (2003 - 2008) Foster mother for 2 children living with HIV/AIDS
Phillip Mashiya	Vice Chairperson	Local Teacher
Elsie Thoko Kokela-Ntuli	Executive Officer	Certificate: Tourism Sales: 2 yrs Accounting Afmin 1 year Project Manager of Ubuhle – 1 year
Sinah Lelaka	Secretary	Management – Dept of Water Affairs Pretoria
Dorothy Mdlovu	Vice Secretary	Interpreter Bronkhorstspruit Court – Children Section
Thys Louwrens	Treasurer	Owner of local furniture factory
Lindiwe Mphaga	Member	Medical Practitioner in local township

Progress to date

June 08 : Needs assessment conducted by visiting homes, social development and other stakeholders

July 09 : Home-Based Care Program commences

Many PLWHA assisted by networking with Sizanani

Nov/Dec 08 : Venue becomes available for Early Learning Centre

Basic renovations of the building

Jan – Dec 09 : Skeleton equipment purchased for early learning centre

Alarm system installed

12 local farmworker volunteers secured who worked the whole year for no payment

28 toddlers started pre-school

25 children attending after-school

10 adults attending night literacy school

Youth Club training course – 8 staff Members training

Afterschoolers attend Easter Camp

Children received bicycles

100 families visited

65 ID’s and 21 Birth certificates secured

Pre-school training received by all volunteers

Training a group of pre-school teachers from another rural area

Project Objectives

Objective 1: To render home-based care services to 200 families by December 2010.

Home-based Care & Development activities include:

ü Identifying OVC’s / PLWHA

ü Assistance in obtaining birth certificates, death certificates and ID’s

ü Food parcels for desperate situations in consultation with Social Services

ü Following up with social services on behalf of OVC’s for child/foster grants and PLWHA for disability grants.

ü Providing of school clothes, donated blankets and other items

ü Ensuring school attendance in consultation with schools

ü HIV/AIDS education

ü Educating and monitoring the adherence of TB/ARV medication

ü Counseling

ü Encouraging VCT

ü Caregiver workshops

ü Support Groups

Early Learning Centre

Toddlers (ages 2-6)

Objective 2: To render child-care and pre-school services to 30 children aged 0-6 by December 2010.

Activities includes:

ü 2 Meals

ü Transport to and from the centre because some of the homes are 5km from tar road

ü Medical Support

ü Pre-school skills development including:

1. Gross motor skills

2. Fine motor skills

3. Visual perception

4. Auditory perception

5. Music & Time

6. Mathematical Concepts

7. Structured Play and Free Play

Primary and High Shool Children (ages 7-18)

Objective 3: To render afterschool services to 30 schoolgoing children by December 2010.

Activities includes:

ü Meal after school

ü Help with homework

ü HIV/AIDS education

ü Counseling

ü Bible Clubs

ü Recreational/Sport activities

ü Vegetable Garden

ü Medical Support

ü Career Guidance

Adult Literacy

Objective 4: Run an literacy program (ABET) for 20 adults by December 2010

Income generation

Objective 5: To ensure that the project and beneficiaries become more self sustainable through:

ü Expanding the pre-school services to include children attending for a fee during 2010.

ü Establishing a private school (including a class for slow learners- not at all available in the area) by January 2011

ü Offering training to other rural pre-school teachers in the district be January 2011.

Foster Care

Objective 6: Establish a 6-bed place of safety/foster care home for abandoned children focusing on children living with HIV/AIDS by January 2011.

Project Background

Elsie Kokela-Ntuli grew up on Vlakfontein Farm in Bronkhorstpruit. Melanie Prinsloo also resides on the Vlakfontein Farm and has been involved in various community development projects over the past 10 years.

Melanie and Elsie started assisting Orphan and Vulnerable Children and their extended families in June 2008 with securing ID documents for caregivers and birth certificates for the children. While visiting the families the neglect of the children touched their hearts and the vision of an early learning centre was born.

10 years ago the Department of Education built a small farm school (50 children) on Vlakfontein farm, but decided to close the Khonzinkosi School at the end of 2008., which then provided a perfect venue for the Early Development Centre.

Profile of Metsweding Area

PROFILE OF THE METSWEDING AREA

1 Economic Profile

Source: Metsweding District Municipality Report

The Metsweding area has a very small economy contributing only 2.5% to the GDP of the Gauteng Province. Very little production occurs in this area.

Agriculture is the main activity, but face the following contraints

ü Drought and scarcity of water throughout the region

ü Lack of financial and supporting services for the intensive and subsistance farmers

ü Lack of suporting services for farmers in the area

ü High input prices of commodoties such as maize

ü No efficient representation of farmer’s interests

ü The threat of HIV/AIDS

Metsweding has a very small maunfacturing base when compared with the rest of the Gauteng Province. Approximately 100 – 150 industrial companies are located in the area including furniture manufacturers, plastic, rubber and chemical manufacturing, publishing and printing as well as food and beverages.

Manufacturing contraints includes:

ü Small industrial base

ü Lack of industrial development incentives

ü Competitice spatial disadvantage (with Johannesburg and Pretoria)

ü Leakage of buying power

ü Many new jobs going to non-local people

The Metsweding tourism sector is regarded as small, but developing.

2 Labour force

Source: Metsweding District Municipality Report

Composition of the labour force in Metwseding is as follows:

Employed: 51%

Not Economically active: 31%

Unemployed (strict): 18%

The education profile of the labour force is as follows:

Level of Education	Percentage
None	20%
Some Primary	16%
Completed Primary	6%
Some Secondary	26%
Grade 12	20%
Higher	12%
Total	100%

3 Socio Economic Profile

Source: Metsweding District Municipality Report

StatsSA recorded that 162 000 people living in the Metsweding District. Population growth is around 3%. HIV Prevalence is around 13%.

Composition of the population in Metwseding is as follows:

Younger than 20 : 20%

20 – 55 : 25%

56 and older : 55%

Income amongst the employed is presented below.

Less than R800 per month : 40%

R 801 – R3000 per month : 36%

R3000 – 6000 per month : 9%

More than R6000 per month : 25%

(R/Euro = 11)

4 Farming communities and informal settlements

The farming communities and informal settlements in the Metsweding District face the following challenges:

ü Poverty abounds

ü High unemployment

ü Lack of transport from farms and informal settlements to economic centres

ü Lack of basic services like sanitation, water and electricity

ü Lack of proper nutrition

ü Large numbers of children have no birth certificates and adults do not have idenfication documents

ü Many orphans and vulnerable children

ü Lack of knowledge and stigmatization of HIV/AIDS

ü Primary caregivers do not have skills to provide psychosocial and emotional support to children.

ü Many children with disabilities

ü Children are not attending school

ü Children attending school cannot read and are not progressing well.

ü No places for children in crisis to go to

ü Low adult literay levels