November 2008 Newsletter

From the Directors desk

"This is always a very exciting but also sad time of the year. The second semester is the period during which our parents and multidisciplinary team consolidate the progression process to ensure most suitable facilities are identified for our children to move onto. We have been reflecting on the progress children have made over the years and surely have to salute the teamwork between our parents and our Early Intervention staff. We are going to miss our 'Graduates' but wish them and their families lots of luck for the future.

We have been actively involved for months in the planning and organizing of the Welfare Summit to be held at the end of October. A special thank you to our Executive Consultant - Maria Longley who has been working tirelessly with the Welfare Forum and we are looking forward to the Welfare Summit."

Melinda Cupido
Director

The Sunshine Centre Association has received funding from the Jim Joel Education and Training Fund to pilot a project with 8 Inner City Creches.

Staff of the creches were trained in the Sunshine Centre Association ECD Inclusion Model. A partnership was formed with (Active Learning Libraries of South Africa) ALLSA as a training partner ensuring the creches being trained in the value of play and Toy Library usage. Each project has been provided with age appropriate toys and the lending process has begun. We are delighted that Tshepang, a special needs child, has been enrolled at the Tiny Tots Inner City Creche. He is photographed here with his teacher and the principal of the school, the equipment issued to him for class and home use (2 wheelchairs, 2 therapy balls and adapted feeding equipment), surrounded by his classmates and friends.

Early Childhood Stimulation and Development together with constructive play and access to suitable toys is recognized as crucial to the development of children and inclusion of children with special needs as is illustrated in the pictures.

Soweto Arbor Day

During Arbor Week, 1 - 7 September, City Parks donated 22 trees to our Soweto Early Intervention project. Soweto youth and the Girl Guides of Soweto were invited to participate in the planting of the trees. The youth were split into groups of six and were tasked with digging holes, planting and watering the trees.

When all the physical activities were complete, the youth had to take a pledge to take care of the trees they planted and all the trees in their environment.
The group then moved onto Thokoza Park where Mr Nelson Mandela planted a tree in the park and continued the celebration of his 90th birthday. A plaque in honour of Mr. Mandela was unveiled, and refreshments served.

A great day was had by all and especially in the presence of Madiba.

Training and Community Development by Dr. Gill Lloyd

I am presently working with 5 of the 22 pre-schools associated with the Lonmin Development Trust. They are located in the squatter camps situated around the big platinum mines in that area. They rely on fees paid by some of the parents (others are unemployed) for their existence and upkeep. Several of them insist on feeding the children two meals a day in order to prevent malnutrition. As you can imagine, this means considerable self sacrifice. One teacher makes the toys her learners play with and most of the equipment used in her little school. She is desperately poor and started her school in the single, dark room . She then borrowed money from her mother and took all her own savings and bought the property across the road. This has a small, corrugated iron shack on it but little else! She has covered the walls with the children's work and is slowly obtaining tables and chairs for it. The local head master recently called her in and asked how it was that the children from her school were so well prepared. She was so proud, she could have burst!

Another of the pre-schools has 58 children in one large shack, with one teacher and a voluntary assistant. These children make use of wooden benches made in the community as there aren't enough tables and chairs for all of them. Jane, the teacher has adopted a child who was orphaned at the age of one month and has brought her from being a sickly, difficult baby to be a healthy, inquiring two year old. This is despite the fact that she had to run the school and her own home!

One of the other teachers, (a gutsy little woman, 72 years of age) had the trauma of having her precious shack burnt down in January. She lost all her teaching materials, toys and equipment that had been lovingly gathered over the years. Despite this, she is picking up the pieces and starting all over again.

I firmly believe in the value of early intervention yet in many of our communities, health care is so superficial that mothers are not warned when their babies are born and present with symptoms of disability or are delayed. The next stage at which interventions can be made to minimize problems is in the pre-school. This places a huge responsibility on the pre-school teachers who very often see the children more than their parents do.

So I have been teaching them how to recognize warning signals of delay and how to cope with disability. (In every case, they know absolutely nothing about the subject as in many communities, children with disability are looked on as being a curse and hidden away. They learn how to use appropriate activities to stimulate development and enrich the learning environment. Amazing things have happened in the course of this work and I've been lucky to meet some truly incredible people.

Dr Gill Lloyd

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