Stories from the crèche: 4th Quarter 2016

For children to reach their full potential it’s crucial they receive Early Childhood Development, a chance for them to grow mentally, physically and emotionally within a safe learning environment. With that purpose in mind our ECD programme aims to improve the quality of learning and to increase preparation for school readiness for children under the age of seven; a task we’ve taken to heart over the past three and half years.

As we’ve worked alongside 23 crèches in the Amaoti community we’ve watched them grow and gain essential skills to better the lives of pre-grade R children within the community.

During the 2016 year we slowly started phasing out in the crèches in the Amaoti area, testament to the success of the programme. With crèche owners now empowered and equipped with the necessary tools to improve active learning within their ECD centres, they have the opportunity to stand on their own and become self-sufficient, small businesses. We will still continue to feed the children in these crèches.

This year has also been an incredible time of expansion and we’ve assessed a number of crèches in two new areas, opening up opportunities for future involvement. We look to the new year with excitement and anticipation for what it holds, our dream of seeing children reach their full potential continually pushing us forwards.

ECD Effects 4th Quarter 2015

Early Childhood Development 4th Quarter 2015

“Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future.”

These great words from Nelson Mandela inspire the Domino Foundation’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme, an initiative that hopes to empower unequipped and under-resourced ECD centres to build a stronger foundation for young learners.

One of South Africa’s greatest education challenges is access to quality learning from a young age and even those that do go to foundation phase learning are often scared by the social ills of a broken community. The Amaoti area is marked by poverty and child-headed households and the reality is that what’s happening at home affects the school day – making teaching difficult and requiring teachers to double up as counsellors too.

The Domino Foundation’s ECD team walks alongside 16 ECD centre owners, monitoring the crèches weekly. Educational and enterprise assistance is provided to help meet the nutritional, cognitive, social, behavioural and educational needs of children in their formative years.

Even though the programme has been implemented for a few years it has been a joy to see the suggested improvements being cemented in centres’ routine. All the crèches now teach the same themes and work in tandem together, whereas before the teachers worked in silos isolating themselves from peers. Through the guidance of Unlimited Child and the continued support of the Domino Foundation’s crèche mentors, crèche owners and teachers are empowered to not just care for the children but actually teach them too.

The Sibaya Community Trust have generously funded the programme for the past three years and have been so encouraged by the improvements in the crèches that Domino works into that they are extending funding to cover 15 more crèches in the Waterloo area. Crèche assessments have already been well under way as life skills workers rate the Waterloo crèches on their standing on the registration process, their hygiene, teaching methods and infrastructure.

As a thank you for the teachers’ selfless dedication the Domino Foundation threw an awards ceremony for the crèche owners and teachers complete with holidays hampers and gifts to acknowledge them for what they have done.

The ECD team is excited to unroll what they have set up this year; a season they feel is full of promises and miracles. 2015 has been a year of strengthening and laying the foundations to make an even bigger impact on vulnerable children in the Amaoti community in 2016. As God opens doors into government the team prays for the completion of all the crèche registrations, an accomplishment that brings life and security to the creches and a stepping-stone to a brighter future for our children.

The Domino Christmas Story

This Christmas we wanted to spread the festive joy by placing a toy in the hand of as many underprivileged children as possible in the Amaoti community. On the 28th of November we organised an event to gather presents together so that we could make this Christmas a special one for the hundreds of kids who are in a creche on our ECD programme.

The day was an incredible, all-round success with businesses such as Megapile, Donald Insurance Brokers, Nexia International, Platinum Consulting and Vopac coming in to wrap hundreds of presents.

JAM also made a donation that allowed every child to receive a pair of shoes and a facecloth with their toy. An abundance of toys also allowed us to distribute excess to other charities.

1442 presents were individually wrapped and sent out to 1442 smiling faces in Amaoti. Thank you to every person who either donated or wrapped these gifts , your contribution has truly made a difference in the lives of so many.

The Wrapping & Packing:

 

 

The Distribution:

 

Feeding Effect 11/14

The Feeding Programme has had an incredible year overall, from AMAZING donations, community support and thousands fed daily!

 

The Domino Foundation Feeding Programme reaches the needy in communities and fulfils our Christian mandate of feeding the hungry. We support crèches, schools, churches, counselling centres, aftercare programmes, and youth holiday clubs. Our activities include but are not limited to:

• Crèche Feeding Project
• School Sandwich Project
• Food Parcels for families in crisis
• Monitoring and Evaluation

Overall, daily we feed 2264 individuals daily porridge, soup or sandwiches. That’s 2264 children (and some adults) who have the nutrition they need to be productive and empowered for the day.

We’d like to thank and honour all the incredible staff and volunteers who have worked and served in our two kitchens (the sandwich kitchen in Durban North and the soup kitchen in Brookdale.) Their hard work and selflessness has allowed us to feed the hungry in their most desperate time of need and move closer to realising our dream of communities where no child is too hungry to concentrate and learn.

Farewell Sheila!

At our annual Sandwich Kitchen Christmas Tea Party, we bid farewell to the wonderful leader of our sandwich kitchen, Sheila Simpkins. For 2 years, she served in the kitchen, lead the volunteers and managed the way it was so excellently run. We wish her luck on this new season in her life, and thank her for all her amazing work!

The Annual Sandwich Kitchen Christmas Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more from our November Domino Effects Newsletter:

Babies Home Effect

ECD Effect

Life Skills Effect

Literacy Effect

General Overview

 

Literacy Effect 11/14

One of the objectives of the literacy programme we run is “to support educators and work alongside the schools in teaching the children how to read and write in English” by doing this we are able to impact classes upon classes of illiterate children and empower them with the knowledge they need to succeed in life.

Over the past 3 months we’ve looked at the different techniques we use to teach these children and the benefits of these strategies. For the final month we look at:

#3 LITERACY FANS

What are sound fans?

Sound fans are a teaching aid.  Each part of the fan has a sound, blend or digraph printed on it.

How is this done in the classroom?

• the educator says the sound / blend / digraph
• the children repeat
• children find on fan, hold close and on signal show the educator

Why is this done?

Sound fans help the children consolidate their knowledge of sounds, blends or digraphs.

The benefits of sound fans

• Supports children in reinforcing their knowledge of sounds
• Helps build self-esteem

Outcomes we want to achieve?

Through developing a knowledge of sounds, blends and digraphs children will develop the basic knowledge necessary to read or spell.

‘One of the most common reasons for failure to progress in second language learning is lack of opportunity for consolidation.  The key to success are: small steps, frequent repetition and a wide variety of consolidation activities.’ Language without limits, (2014) [online]

Sounds fans are one of five activities we use to consolidate basic knowledge.

Read more from our November Domino Effects Newsletter:

Babies Home Effect

ECD Effect

Life Skills Effect

Feeding Effect

General Overview

 

Babies Home Effect – 11/14

125 Adelaide Tambo Drive

With the unveiling of the new community centre happening this month, our beautiful new babies home (an extension of Fairhavens) has also now been officially opened! So for November’s newsletter we’ve decided to take you on a tour of the new home and introduce you to this home’s crisis mother.

This section of the house will be where our toddlers and babies sleep. The room is spacious and full of light, making a happy environment for our tots to sleep peacefully and soundly.

 

 

 

 

This bathroom/toilet area comes directly off the babies’ bedroom which is greatly ideal.

 

 

The living area of the new home allows space for the children to play and be themselves and for the staff to relax.

 

 

 

 

This room of the home will be for the crisis mom and her daughter to live in. It also has an en-suite bathroom.

Meet Precious!

Precious is our new home’s crisis mother. She has worked at Fairhavens for a number of years and among being caring and loving, she is an amazing leader and manager. Her and her daughter will be living in the home and taking care of all the beautiful tots that will come through it’s doors. 

Read more from our November Domino Effects Newsletter:

ECD Effect

Life Skills Effect

Literacy Effect

Feeding Effect

General Overview

New Community Center Unveiled

On the 19^th of November, Durban North’s newest Babies Home (an extension of Domino’s Babies Homes: Fairhavens) was officially unveiled! A cocktail party was held on the day to celebrate this prestigious moment. Many men and women gathered to be entertained by live music and tour the new beautiful home, situated directly next door to Fairhavens.

For 10 years Fairhavens Babies Home has been a beacon of hope and a safe haven for abandoned babies from all walks of life. The success of the home, together with the good governance of our NPO has led to a businessman buying the house next door and signing a 10 year use agreement with the Domino Foundation. Our main mission is to impact as many people as we can and it is a passion of ours to serve the community in as many ways as possible – in saying this, this new opportunity has totally astounded us and made us even more hopeful to see our nation changed and bettered.

Mel Turner, Project Leader of the Babies Home: “We’ve seen God’s provision for this new babies home right from the start…and I believe our impact in the area of justice for abandoned children will be multiplied. I believe God is going to increase our influence and even move us into a space of assisting birth mothers in crisis. I’m also excited to see one of our longstanding staff Precious Thabethe, move on into the new responsibility of crisis care mother.”

It is our intention and privilege to open up the new home as a second Fairhavens as well as a community counselling center.

The two roles of the new home:

1. The unravelling of this new opportunity for The Domino Foundation allows us to extend our capacity for abandoned babies, as the Child Care Act only allows us 6 babies per home. So we look forward to being able to accommodate more beautiful abandoned children and be the link that connects them to their forever families.
2. The crisis center will offer free counselling, in the area of crisis pregnancies in teenagers, child abuse and family trauma. A new space means a greater opportunity for Domino’s skilled therapists and counselors to impact the community and speak life into the driest areas in peoples’ lives.

 

The Domino Christmas Story

This Christmas, join in The Domino Christmas Story
and spread the festive joy!

Help package Christmas ‘loveboxes’ for vulnerable children in the Amaoti township.

We work with 32 crèches on our ECD programme and benefit over 1000 children on a daily basis.
We are wanting to place a Christmas present
into the hands of each of these children on
Christmas day to share the love and make a difference
in the lives of these little ones.

There are 3 easy steps to contribute to this awesome drive:

  2 options:

1. Grab your friends & Colleagues, Download Santa’s Christmas Parcel List (valued at R150ea, below!) and get shopping for all the items for your chosen age group ‘Lovebox’!

2. Donate R150 to The Domino Foundation for us to put together‘ Loveboxes’ for the children!

 

(Booking of time slots essential!)Bring your gifts, wrapping paper, sellotape and Christmas cards to 125 Adelaide Tambo Drive, Durban North On Thursday 27 November or Friday 28 November And join in the packing festivities with us!

 

 

Bring your Christmas Parcels and place them under the Domino Christmas tree at 125 Adelaide Tambo Drive on Thursday 27 Nov & Friday 28 November and join us for the “Giving light to hope Ceremony” at 19h00 on Friday. We will deliver Christmas parcels during the 1st week of December 2014 before crèches close for the holidays.

 

 

Here are the Santa Christmas Parcel Wishlists:

 

To read more about this awesome day visit our website: www.domino.org.za/dominochristmas.htm

 

Babies Home Effect 10/14

October has been a month of new arrivals, amazing support from the community and overall joy!

Baby Updates:

BabyK, our incredible Spiderman!

A part from the beautiful girl that was brought to our gate this month (read the full story here) we have also had an additional cutie join our expanding family. 2-year-old BabyJ was placed with us by child welfare after being at a more crowded home. This special tot will also be the official first child of our new home (next door to Fairhavens) opening soon!

We received an abundance of ‘dress up’ outfits this month and have begun our very own dress up corner in the home – now our kids can truly be anything they want to be – from a pretty princess in pink, to the amazing Spiderman! We love to let our children be children, and give them the freedom to play and enjoy life in a safe, happy environment.

At the moment our house is being painted (sponsored by the awesome Angel Projects) and we’ve had the privilege of having Amber Ferreira, a qualified psychologist with us. She is volunteering on a full-time basis at the home, helping with the stimulation of the babies. We are more than happy to have her with us, she has been a blessing not only to us, but to the babies as well!

 

Community Involvement:

This month we have seen an incredible response from the community with regards to donations, support and love. In the last week of October the Gail Smith School Of Dancing held a production: ‘Applause’ to raise funds for Fairhavens. The girls danced their hearts out and created amazing awareness for our Babies Home – we’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to them for their awesome support!

 

We’ve also received some incredible donations from the local community with regards to baby products. We are so grateful for all the formula, nappies etc that have been brought to our doorstop and as the year winds down to an end we are always needing those extra few supplies to get us to December:

• Nappies (Sizes 1-4)
• Wetwipes
• Naan 2 

We would greatly appreciate any donations!

Read more from the October 14 Domino Effects Newsletter here:

Life Skills Effect

Literacy Effect

ECD Effect

Feeding Effect

General Overview

A Pampered Body, A Pampered Spirit.

On the 22^nd of October 110 girls from Amaoti 3 School travelled to COGS Durban North for a day filled with informative talks, amazing food and awesome pampering! The 13-16 year old age group for girls is a time of adolescence, growing up and change so we see it as important to give these girls the tools and knowledge they need to be inspired and encouraged in a positive, safe and relaxing way.

The girls were treated to 4 inspirational talks by various speakers, all relating to empowering women to take pride in themselves and live a happy life.

#1 REACH FOR YOUR DREAMS

The girls were encouraged by KwaMashu Social Worker: Mpume Thusi who was a teenage parent that persevered through her circumstances and reached her goal of becoming a Social Worker. She made the most of her situation and obtained her matric and then proceeded to finish her degree through UNISA, doing her last year through The Domino Foundation.

#2 LIVE A HEALTHY, HAPPY LIFE

Nkululekho Ngcobo is a young food-fanatic who is passionate about helping young people live a life that is healthy and balanced. She enlightened the girls with an exercise and eating plan that would benefit them for years to come.

#3 GROOMING AND BASIC SKINCARE

Vanilla Bar’s beauty therapist, Andy Oliver volunteered her time and even closed her salon for the day to come and speak about how to look after your skin in an easy, affordable way.

#4 YOU CAN DO IT!

The 4^th and final speech was a more personal one. Mandy Hlope is a matric student at Amaoti 3 who was one of the first members of our Girls’ Club. Mandy was a source of encouragement and hope as she spoke about how the foundations she learnt at Girls’ Club lead her to a better life where she was in control. She showed the girls that their futures could be bright if they let them be. They can look forward to what’s ahead!

Why are these type of days important?

A pampered spirit is just as important as a pampered person. We try to engage in as many activites as possible like this with the girls we work alongside with. They not only get to interact with each other in a safe environment, but tackle important issues that face them daily. We get to play a part in the positive uplifting of over 100 girls and we are honoured to have this privilege!