Supporting Children living in poverty in South Africa

I spent 4 years living in South Africa and have been back many times to visit the charities I worked 
with when we lived there.

There are numerous charities in South Africa supporting children living in poverty in many different ways.

The Viva Foundation who supply affordable education and support the local community with a 
variety of projects. Including camping in a township, taking part in an arts project.

Dignity Dreams providing women with washable and reusable sanitary products. I reviewed them.

Santa Shoebox Project collect and distribute 110,000 Christmas gifts throughout the country each 
year. My Santa Shoebox journey.

Kungwini Welfare Organisation provide residential care for adults and children with learning 
difficulties, as well as providing education in their local community. I first started making scarves 
with them in 2014 raising funds for supplies for the workshop

I'm back in South Africa in September 2018. I've funded my own trip and will be staying with friends as I've done previously, since we relocated to Dubai.

What I'll be doing as well as visiting and supporting Kungwini and Santa Shoebox is to visit the 
children in the townships that I've met through these organisations over the years and bring a little  
extra happiness into their lives.

This could be through painting a classroom, holding a birthday party, donating toiletries and or 
educational supplies and I'd like you to help me succeed by donating £5 in exchange for a handmade scarf. That's it, that's all you have to do, just visit my PayPal account and donate.

In exchange for your £5, I'll select a scarf at random that I've made and post it to you. I'll tweet out a 
thank you, post the total amount raised, provide invoices and post photos online (with permission) of 
the children who have received your donation. Every penny raised will be spent directly on children 
living in poverty.

Visit my Paypal account, donate and then message me with your address on:

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Supporting people with disabilities in South Africa

I'm cheating a bit with this post by adding to a blog thats had over 3,500 hits since I posted it in October last year. The reason for doing this is because I've sold the original bags and I've made some more. If you want to buy a bag click here for more info.

So what happens to your money when you buy a bag?
How does buying a bag help people with disabilities in South Africa?

I don’t work, I volunteer and volunteering costs me money. But where can I get the money from to assist with my volunteer work and just what exactly do I buy with the money raised by selling bags?

To start off with there are NO personal expenses, No fuel allowance. I give my time and transport costs willingly.

Volunteering gets me out, it starves off the depression, it allows me to integrate, learn the culture, the language, make friends, explore new places.

I ‘m a volunteer with Santa Shoebox. I am the sub coordinator for Pretoria and this is my 3^rd year with them.  I don’t fundraise for them, just help with promotion, collection and distribution of boxes at Christmas time. Every Celebration day I attend, I bake cup cakes for each child at the facilities and if I identify a need I can meet and resources are available then I assist. But I do this outside of Santa Shoebox, as in I’m not representing them when I bake my cakes or meet their needs.

Through Santa Shoebox I have become involved with 2 organisations that I volunteer with independently.

I volunteer at Kungwini Welfare Organisation. I am involved with their adult home for people with disabilities, there is little government funding available and they rely on donations, both financial and in goods, goodwill and volunteers. I am also involved with the Children’s home. Their biggest fundraiser is their Nickel Xmas Market.

I’ve also recently become involved with The Viva Foundation in Mamelodi at the Alaskan Informal settlement. Where I spent a weekend with my son painting shacks as part of their Art Festival and I hope to become more involved with them.

At Kungwini I assist in the workshop, I help thread machines, I talk with people, I paint pots, I check quality control, I assist with orders, I identify needs and I try to meet them.

I do this by buying needles, threads, light bulbs for the machines, cottons, glue, paint, brushes, hand held devices for attaching press studs. I rinse out tin cans and plastic bottles from home to use to make crafts. I collect donations from friends, clothing, shoes etc. In the children’s home I provide them with toothbrushes and paste. I teach them how to clean their teeth and what will happen if they don’t, I challenge inappropriate language and comments. I talk about the world, share experiences, go horse riding, help tidy bedrooms, creating a feeling of ownership. I take and print photos, creating a record for these children to take with them through life.

By buying a bag you can help support me with this.

I want to be able to fund this year’s cake baking,  Last year I baked 2000 cup cakes, this year alone I’ve baked 350.

I want to print photos of every activity I’m involved with in the children’s home and help create memories.

I want to buy paint and brushes for Viva Foundation for their next Arts Festival.

I want to be able to buy items needed for the Workshop, to help them grow and develop their crafts to enable them to raise more funds from their Nickel Xmas Market.

I want to be able to have my own stall at a Market selling their crafts and my bags.

I want to be able to buy printing ink to advertise and spread the word about these organisations.

 

But I’m NOT asking you just for your money. I’m asking you to get involved with helping me, by buying a bag, as a gift, for personal use, telling your family and friends about where it came from and where the money goes and how it helps support people with disabilities in South Africa.

I will blog, tweet, post photos. I’m happy to discuss sponsorship requests from Media and PR companies to aid my work.

In October I am climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I need to find a reputable organisation to go with, source the equipment and clothing needed. Set up fundraising pages (need to get donations from other countries here). I will be using some of the money I raise from selling bags to fund this. I will be paying for my flights, accommodation and the trip myself, unless I can get a sponsor for this. All funds raised from the climb will go to Kungwini to help meet some of their many needs.

 

ORIGINAL POST
I will be in the UK the end of this week and I'm bringing with me an assortment of goodies made at KWO by adults with physical and learning difficulties. I've been learning the trade along the way, so there are a few hand made gifts by me. The workshop at Kungwini Welfare Organisation

Hand bags - Colour and sizes vary (approx 40cm x 30cm) fully lined £10.00

Bag logo

Lining

Beaded Hearts - Colours will vary £2.00

Necklaces - Colours will vary £3.00

Broaches to liven up your winter coat or bag - Colours vary £2.00

Key rings - Colour and styles vary £2.00

Postage and packing extra. Stocks are limited on this trip. Contact me via twitter @chickenruby or through my blog to order

Do labels help? Children with difficulties.

This morning someone I tweet with introduced me in a tweet to a lovely lady who has a child with SWAN.

SWAN means Syndrome Without A Name. It means that any person without a known disability involving a chromosone defect is called SWAN, lumped together into one category. We don't know what is wrong so we will diagnose you as SWAN.

But what does it mean? How does it help?

I have a problem with SWAN and it is something I've experienced. In fact I don't just have an issue with the label SWAN I have an issue with the label Learning Difficulties also.

My step daughter has been labelled SWAN, she has learning difficulties, as does my youngest child who isn't SWAN.

My son is dyslexic, my step daughter has a chromosone defect, she is unable to toilet, communicate (verbally, PECS, sign language, make eye contact) she requires 24hr supervision, she is a danger to herself and to others, has no awareness of something being sharp or hot, she will react if she touches the hob, but she will do it again next time as she does not recognise that it will be hot and it will burn. She is unable to tell you if her tummy hurts, if she is happy or sad, she will cry or laugh for both situations, she is agressive but it is not intentional. She has no long term health problems.

So what is the benefit of her being diagnosed as SWAN? None as far as I see. My sons diagnosis of dyslexia means he will get appropriate support at school, dispensation during exams and if we lived in the UK, funding for his needs in school.

My step daughters learning difficulties are obvious, her funding is secure, she's unable to do anything, she does not require support, she needs it doing for her. This was pointed out after a funding review, where the carers were PC and said 'she needs support chosing what she wants to eat' she will eat what is put in front of her and everyone elses on the table, she will grab a lemon, bread, a raw potato and eat that, she cannot open a cupboard to grab a bag of crisps, in fact if you give her a bag of crisps, they make a lovely sensory noise until the bag bursts over the floor.

We have many friends with children with learning difficulties similar to the level of care my step daughter has and similar to my son in regards to the level of support required and the costs involved.

My back ground has been teaching and support with adults and children with learning difficulties to main stream adults and children with additonal support required for their learning and with people who want to train to work with people with learning difficulties.

I have been told by a few people that as I'm not the birth mother, I don't know what it is like feel so isolated from everyone else having such a profoundly disabled child, it was easy for me to pack her off aged 12 into residential care. And they are right, NO I DO NOT KNOW HOW IT FEELS. HOW COULD I?

But I do know this and I can share it with you. Having a child with any kind of difficulty is hard, having a child without a difficulty is just as hard.

I have been at both ends of the stick,

'Do you think it was any easier to pack a disabled child off to residential school, as the wife of her father, as mother to all our children?' Which school? funding? dealing with other peoples attitudes?

'Do you think it is easy to get a diagnosis for a child with dyslexia, navigating your way through a sytem that wants to throw you out at every step?'

'Do you think it was easy to move to South Africa and leave my 18yo son behind in the UK, he'd only left home 4 days before we were asked to move here?'

'Do you think it is easy on the other siblings to spend their lives being told, we can't go on holiday/to the theme park/have friends round/have a party for new year? as it's not fair on your sister, she'll not sleep/will pull someones hair/will take food off people's plates in the restaurant.'

Many of our friends haven't sent their children away, they've not judged us, they've just said they can't do it. Many have and regretted it, many have waited till their child was older and regretted not doing it earlier.

I've been involved in placements for children with difficulties, I've supported parents through the process, I've prepared children for the move, with visits and flash cards and journals made together. I've worked in family support, as a foster carer providing respite for families, I am a mum.

The one thing I can tell you is that giving a child a label makes little difference, few people without any knowledge of learning difficulties won't understand and even if you do have a child that falls into this category, it makes very little difference to how people respond to you.

I don't believe in giving labels because every child/adult I've ever met is different, they have different needs, they have different family backgrounds. We have 5 kids, they lived with us. I gave up work to look after my step daughter, it didn't help. She went into care, it was not a decision made lightly. We all benefitted.

She can sleep though noise now. So we had friends with their kids over when she was at home on the weekends. We had New Year Eves parties that she was part of. We took her on holiday because she could now sit in a car on longer journeys without trying to get out of her seat belt and crawl into the front. We could go out for meals as she stopped grabbing food off other peoples plates. We enjoy every second of the time spent with her and are sad when she goes home.

Being labelled as SWAN has made no difference to her life or to ours. What made a difference was just accepting her as she is, the limits on ours and her life. Accepting that so called friends who found it difficult being around her were not worthy of being our friends. Acceptance that aged 24 she wouldn't be living at home any more and we'd have had a whole different set of issues like each one of our 4 boys has provided us with. Acceptance that she is our only child who's future we don't have to worry about. Who doesn't miss or need us since moving to South Africa, but is pleased to see us when we go home to visit her, 4 times a year. (We see the other two children 5 times a year and tha's only because they are capable of flying out to visit us).

Every person is an individual, every family is unique. Each situation is affected differently. There is no 'severe' difficulty there is just how each difficulty impacts on the individual, the family, society to various degrees and how you you and everyone around cope with it.