#KnowYourNPO #Domino

If you’ve ever wondered what the Domino Foundation actually does… here’s your chance to #KnowYourNPO! This quarter we’re unpacking what the Domino Foundation does on a larger scale.

#1: We are a group of like-minded individuals that believe in the power of a changed life. We have a range of community outreach programmes that focus on the individual, to empower, uplift and transform their lives so they too can impact the nation and others around them. We currently impact the lives of just over 4000 individuals every single day, ranging from 0 to 18 years of age.

#2: We seek to assist and empower the neediest in communities to pave the way for a brighter tomorrow. Our dream is to equip individuals physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively and spiritually to enable purpose-filled lives.

#3: We manage focused interventions and initiatives operating into the spaces of education, nutrition, injustice, child support and business development. So depending on your company’s CSR policy and specific area of impact, we have a diverse offering across multiple geographic locations to suit your needs with the ultimate goal being the same: to empower, uplift and transform our communities.

#4: We believe that for effective social change to take place within communities, we need to work effectively in three key areas. Namely social charity, social justice and social entrepreneurship to holistically transform communities.

#5: Over the years we have witnessed changed lives, changing other lives and we’ve termed this #TheDominoEffect. As we have impacted, uplifted and transformed an individual’s life, they have gone and transformed their immediate family’s lives, and they have gone on to impact and transform their community’s lives and so a beautiful ripple effect, or #DominoEffect of changed lives takes shape. We believe that you change a community, by changing an individual!

#6: We rely on support from a host of like-minded businesses, individuals, partner organisations, schools, churches, international supporters & activists and sporting enthusiasts. So if you know of any, start your own #DominoEffect and share the love!

#7: We couldn’t do what we do without an AMAZING team. These people LOVE doing what they do and what nothing more than to uplift, encourage, support and transform people’s lives. Dedicated, inspired, driven and fun, our teams are truly the best around!

#8: Ways to support ALL

There are SO many ways for EVERYONE to get involved. Whether you’re in school, a group of interested staff members, corporate’s looking to satisfy your #BEE scorecard or simply an individual with a heart for others, there is space for YOU to join the #DominoEffect.

#9: Our support process is super simple. SUPPORT > RECEIVE DOCUMENTATION > FEEL GOOD. Repeat!

New season, new roles

With a new season comes new leadership. As the Domino Foundation increases its capacity to reach more communities there have been some internal shifts to ensure that the hands who do this work are passionate, skilled and ready to impact lives.

At the beginning of the year Mickey Wilkins stepped down as CEO of the Domino Foundation. After twelve incredible years of leading the non-profit Mickey has now decided to look after the sustainability of Domino and has started Domino Business. As of February 2016 the Domino Foundation welcomed in a new CEO, Richard Mun-Gavin, lead pastor of Cogs Church. Not only does Richard bring a wealth of pastoral experience but his passion for people means he’s more than ready to take Domino into a new season of growth.

Shaun Tait has officially moved into the role of  COO and is overseeing the day to day operations of all the programmes and its staff. Although a tall task Shaun has slid into his role with effort and ease.

After heading up the ECD team since its inception Toni Wilkins has decided to focus her attentions on the Life Skills programme and counselling at the Door of Hope Counselling Centre. The team is now been led by the capable Jessica King, who moved over from donor relations. Jessica is more than qualified for the position and brings her unique learnings from her studies, a Bachelor of Social Science in Organisational Psychology and Industrial Sociology and a Foundation Phase Teaching qualification and is currently Clinical Psychology. Jessica also handles the Domino volunteers.

And in the feeding programme Cathy Whittle has taken over the reigns as Programme Manager. Cathy comes from the cooking industry and has the heaps of experience needed to steer the many Domino feeding projects in the right direction. In case you’ve forgotten, that’s our Sandwich Kitchen, Soup Kitchen and Relief Kitchen. Past Project Manager, Brenda Scheepers has moved onto an exciting venture with Domino Business, which you can read more about here.

November General Overview

It’s that time of the year again, the festive spirit is in the air but as the year winds down, exciting events are still on the go!

On the 19^th of November, Durban North’s newest Babies Home (an extension of Domino’s Babies Home: 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. Read more about this new home and see pictures from the day here.

 

On the 1st of November a Christmas Hope Market was held at Grace Family Church. This is a non-profit, community development initiative that seeks to offer opportunities to emerging business men and women to generate income and learn from the basic business experience of selling their home-made, hand-made or crafted products.We were invited to take along some of the awesome produce from our Vegetable Tunnels in Brookdale and sell them to raise funds for the running of this project that has just been more and more fruitful. Read all about the success of this market here.

 

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. Check out more of this story and the cute pictures that go with here.

 

Our next newsletter will be a combined January/ February one as over the school holidays our programmes quieten down but we wish every one a Merry, Merry Christmas and a safe, festive season!

 

Read more from our November Domino Effects Newsletter:

Babies Home Effect

ECD Effect

Life Skills Effect

Literacy Effect

Feeding Effect

 

ECD Effect 10/14

Staff Training:

On the 7th and 8th of October eight of our crèche owners attended a business training at Entrepreneurial Support Services. They had attended a course last year and this was a follow-up on this. We are trusting that our crèches become small businesses and this means they have to be able to run simple books, keep records etc. This course was to check what they had done and to add to what they had learnt previously. A person from Social Development Services gave a talk on how to get crèches registered which was very helpful. The crèche owners loved it as it added to their knowledge on how to run a small business which in the long run helps the children.

Creche Lessons:

It’s hard to believe that we’ve already hit November! That means Grade 1 is in the near future for many of our kids, so we have set aside October and November  to start preparing the kids for ‘BIG school’. The field workers and crèche owners cover areas such as How to hold a pencil, how to count basic numbers, how to thread string/rope through various items and how to hold and cut with a pair of scissors. Having witnessed the lack of school readiness from previous grade 1 learners within Amaoti, we are confident that our learners are well prepared and we are very excited to see our 1st group of ECD learners head off into the ‘big pond’ that is primary school.

 

 

Read more from the October 14 Domino Effects Newsletter here:

Babies Home Effect

Life Skills Effect

Literacy Effect

Feeding Effect

General Overview

 

Domino – Off To The Races!

On the 12th of September The Domino Foundation had the privilege of being one of the beneficiaries for a race of great proportions at one of Greyville Racecourse’s Friday night horse racing meets.

Mickey Wilkins (CEO of The Domino Foundation) attended this evening where 220 people gathered to bet and raise funds for the community. The ‘Domino Foundation Maiden Plate’ was the first race on the cards, thereafter an auction took place where memorabilia was sold to also raise funds for the various beneficiaries.

We then had the opportunity to share briefly with the audience about what we stand for, where our hearts are focused, the great ‘DOMINO EFFECT.’ People were encouraged and our message was received well. We decided that for this event, we’d create a unique product that would appeal to this specific audience and leave them with more than just the memory of the night, but with a token that represents us.

The Domino Effect Bracelet has different charms on it that signifies our various projects. One for feeding and one for our Babies Home. The bracelets were a hit on the evening and we were able to raise some incredible funds!

Overall, the night was an amazing success for all, full of charity, entertainment and fun!

 

 

 

Read more from the September Domino Effects Newsletter here:

General Overview

Babies Home Effect

Literacy Effect

Life Skills Effect

ECD Effect

Feeding Effect

2013 #DominoEffects

The Domino Effect in Action!

The Domino Effects from 2013 have been astounding!

When one life is changed, it creates a positive ripple effect on those lives around them and they start to make more and more ripples! (ie. Changed lives in turn changing more lives!)

We term this the ‘Domino Effect’ and our aim is to create #DominoEffects in the work that we do! 2013 has been an incredible year for us and we wish to extend a BIG thank you to everyone who has helped us this year.

From financial contributions from corporates & individuals, to those volunteering their time with us. You have helped us continue the #DominoEffect of ‘Change a Life, Change a Community’. Check out the #DominoEffects video below…

799048 meals. 1424 Creche children impacted. 951 Literacy learners impacted. 749 LifeSkills learners impacted. 25 ID books obtained. 24 Birth Certificates received. 7 babies placed this year.

2013 #DominoEffects

2013 Feeding #DominoEffects

2013 ECD #DominoEffects

Life Skills #DominoEffects 2013

Literacy #DominoEffects for 2013

Babies home #DominoEffects 2013

Read more of our November Domino Effects Newsletter here:
– Monthly General Overview
– Babies Effects
– Feeding Effects
– Life Skills Effects
– ECD Effects
– Literacy Effects

Babies Home Effects – 11/13 – 01/14

Community Involvement:

La Fleur Landscaping services at Fairhavens

We are thrilled to announce that we have a volunteer who has a PHD in Child Psychology who has committed to helping us for the next 3 years. She will begin by assessing each child in the new year and then develop a Child Stimulation Programme for the children at our babies home. This will help Domino effectively reach our objectives of meeting not only physical needs, but also cognitive and emotional needs to the children. Identifying speech problems, ensuring developmental milestones are met and assisting volunteers with age appropriate toys and games for they visit, will ensure that our children at the home receive the best care that we can give them.

La Fleur Landscaping, run by Yvonne Sharpe comes weekly to volunteer her time and attend to our garden! Yvonne and her staff keep our lawns and gardens looking beautiful, which allows the children spend as much time outside as possible!

There have been a number of phenomenal medical professionals who have assist us in our times of need. From weighing babies for urgent international adoption requirements, to speech therapy assessments and medical check-ups, we say a HUGE thank you to all who have given of their time and efforts to assist us!

A special thanks goes to La Fleur Landscaping, Beachway Medical practice, Anneline Jack & Candice Stone Speech Therapy Practice, Kwikspar Sunningdale and to all the volunteers and donors who have continued to support us!

Baby Updates:

We currently have 5 precious children staying with us in the home, after having 2 children spend some time at the home during the holidays. All babies are on the adoption register and we are eagerly waiting adoptive parents for them!

Baby News

From time to time , we have babies who are placed with us for a few days due to severe crisis that occur. One such child was a baby boy of 2 years who spent two days and two nights with us, while the Police could locate his mother to be arrested for child neglect. The police were called to the rescue by the neighbours, after his mother had left the baby alone in their flat for 2 nights. The child has since been returned to responsible family members by child welfare.

A beautiful baby girl, BabyA arrived on 5^th November when Child Welfare had removed her from her family for the 2^nd time this year. She remained in our care until the festive season and was placed in a children’s home with visitation rights as she is not on the adoption register. When she arrived, she was quiet, unresponsive, scared and would sit for long periods on her own and not talk or smile. Our hearts broke but the staff and volunteers continued to show her love and affection and by the time she left us, she was laughing, talking, playing with the other children and even swinging outside!

The #DominoEffects for 2013 at our babies home have been astounding, see stats below…

Babies home #DominoEffects 2013

Read more of our November Domino Effects Newsletter here:
– Monthly General Overview
– Babies Effects
– Feeding Effects
– Life Skills Effects
– ECD Effects
– Literacy Effects

Literacy Effects – 11/13

Literacy Assessments:

One of the key components of our Literacy programme is our ongoing assessment of our each of or learners. From the results, we are able to review the programme, assess teaching techniques and consider any necessary changes moving forward. We believe it is vitally important to reflect on the results from our assessments which we carry out 3 times a year.

As we approach the end of the school year our literacy team have been busy carefully assessing each of our 950 learners across grades 1 to 3. From this process we have identified that spelling in English is an area of concern facing the foundation phase learners. The learners are struggling to hear vowel sounds, specifically finding it difficult to distinguish between vowel sounds ‘a’ and ‘e’. Our team are busy ‘tweaking’ the programme to address this need in 2014.

Amongst the positive results from the learner assessment we can see that the learners have an increased understanding of texts with an increased ability to read sentences and short stories. As you can see from the accompanying graphs, the Grade 2 learners have deepened their Knowledge of sounds as they progressed through each assessment period. (March, June, November). The pink group illustrates children who are performing above average, the blue group illustrates the children who are performing at an average level and the yellow group illustrates the learners who are struggling. From these assessments our literacy workers are able to identify which learners need 1-on-1 tutoring for further development. Our multi-purpose training huts provide a safe learning environment not only for our life skills learners, but also for literacy students who need special attention.

These assessments were carried out in early November, allowing our teams to meet with school management and discuss the results and ways forward. We received some positive feedback from grade 4 educators as they are finding it easier to complete their syllabus as a result of the Domino Foundation Literacy Programme. As a governmental requirement, foundation phase learning (pre-school & pre-primary school years) is taught in the learner’s respective mother tongue. When learners reach grade 4 however, educators are required to teach all syllabuses in 1st language English. In a community environment, where students do not receive effective ECD English training before grade 4, primary school teachers are needing to teach English, before teaching their own subject, resulting in an incomplete syllabus. Teachers reflected and compared situations before our literacy programme was implemented to now in 2013, having had their 1st set of pre-primary learners complete our programme. Our team was deeply encouraged and motivated to improve wherever possible.

Literacy Lessons:

After reviewing the results of the assessments, our literacy team continued their final 2 weeks of literacy lessons based on area of improvement. We focused on reinforcing the vowel sounds ‘a’ and ‘e’ and specifically applied these to the spelling of words. We also focused on distinguishing between the vowel sounds ‘I’, ‘o’, ‘e’ and ‘a’ when reading and spelling.

Read more of our November Domino Effects Newsletter here:
– Monthly General Overview
– Babies Effects
– Feeding Effects
– Life Skills Effects
– ECD Effects
– Literacy Effects

Changing Amaoti community, one crèche at a time

Primrose with a few of her children

The world has just celebrated the life and work of Nelson Mandela and how this one man transformed lives and mindsets. Although not on the same scale, but with equal passion, DOMINO has just celebrated one woman’s dedication for the poor with the official opening of our new crèche, Thembelihle, in Amaoti.

Heading this crèche is Primrose Gcabashe, whose heart was stirred by the plight of children who had to fend for themselves because their parents were either too sick to look after them or were looking for work in the city. “Many of these children barely wore any clothes and they had nothing to eat while they saw their parents wasting away in shacks”, says Primrose. She started looking after 80 children in her modest 2-roomed house in 2006. “I fed them porridge and vegetables from my garden and helped them to draw and write”. Just providing the basic needs like food and love started changing the lives of these destitute children.But when she started working alongside Domino around 2007, the crèche really took off: “I felt encouraged that someone was assisting me; sharing the same love for the community and children. It is when you have a support system, that you start following your dreams and have the strength to look after the children who so desperately need hope in their lives”.

This hope has translated in a very tangible way in the success of Primrose’s children. She very proudly tells of how her first group of children just finished Grade 7 and that two of them have received the highest marks in their classes respectively. “I just want to hug them all the time and are so happy that they listen to me and follow my advice that you have to focus on what you’re doing”.

Old (left) and New (right)

1 room for 80 children when Primrose first started

New Creche with 3 classrooms for the children

Primrose has applied this motto to her own life. Through training with Domino’s partners, Primrose has grown the crèche and herself as a person which has led to the new crèche being built by Key Group (Pinetown), Childlife Foundation (affiliated to Key Group) and General Motors. “I’m very grateful for the companies who have built this new crèche for me. I can now see the way forward; I have grown confident as a person and a teacher and realise that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. But most importantly, God gave me the strength to show His love to the community”. This new crèche will also allow Primrose to grow the current number of 70 in the crèche as she will have more space and teaching resources to help the children.

Primrose has 6 children of her own and is very proud of her daughter Phindile, Grade 6, who has achieved the highest mark in her class.

This strong lady also has very strong words of encouragement to her community:

“Stand up and do something and when you’re successful, don’t live life so high that you forget the poor”.

Feeding Effects – 11/13 – 01/14

Sandwich Kitchen:

The kitchen continued to make the weekly 3600 sandwiches with the groups of volunteers managing to honour their commitment to 1 hour a week. As the schools closed for the exam period and end of year, our kitchen slowly came to a close for the school holidays. We held a volunteer tea to honour our Feeding volunteers for their commitment throughout the year. The ladies thoroughly enjoyed their time, with lucky prizes sponsored by donors and a heart-felt video from one of the schools on the feeding programme. Check out the video below…

Brookedale Kitchen:

The kitchen continued to run effortlessly the last quarter of 2013. We averaged on about 1400 bowls of soup and JAM Porridge a day helping countless children who go to schools and crèches with no food. The final figures for 2013 are at the end of this post and we are astounded by the incredible impact made through our feeding programme.

Vegetable Tunnel Project:

Our vegetable tunnels are up & running and have produced their 1st harvest. Petros, our current driver surprised us by volunteering to maintain the vegetable tunnels over the holidays and throughout the year. We found that Petros is in fact an experienced and passionate farmer and we are looking forward to developing him in this area. One of the long term goals of the Vegetable Tunnel project is to create a ‘Training Centre’ where community members and crèche owners can work on our Domino Tunnels and be equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to create their own veggie tunnel at their homes and schools, thus providing a sustainable source of sustenance.

We currently have 5 vegetable tunnels up and running with our 1st harvest due in December 2013.

Community Involvement:

Each December Domino partners with Lugisani Indlela and helps run and manage a holiday club at Zwakele school for the 1st week of the holidays. Sports, games and arts and cultural activities are organised and the children in Amaoti absolutely love their time at the week-long club. The Domino Foundation continues to support this initiative and our feeding programme caters lunch time meals for the holiday club each year. The reality that faces a number of communities and townships, is that due to the lack of resources (no sports fields, community centres etc.) the members find themselves in a situation where there is no place to go and nothing to do. This is why teens find themselves in situations where they are involved in ‘risky behaviour’, (ie. involved in drugs, drinking, gangs etc.). Backed by Social Work theories, we aim to create a ‘safe space’ at the schools in the community where the children are occupied with constructive activities to keep them away from ‘risky behaviour’. This is why we run our Life Skills Boys & Girls club (after school extra-curricular activities) and also support the holiday clubs run in Amaoti.

This year The Round Table agreed to sponsor the meals at the holiday club and have committed to the 2014 holiday club too! Volunteers graciously gave of their time on two of the days to make the delicious hot dogs, snack packs and juice.

We had 4 Vegetable tunnels and one open veggie garden planted in November & December. Thanks to Flight Centre, Sibaya Casino (built 2 tunnels) and a team from COGS Church (1 tunnel & open tunnel), we have reached our goal of having 5 veggie tunnels running by the end of 2013.

Unilever continued to supply The Domino Feeding programme: Sandwich Kitchen with 100kgs of Margarine a month which alleviated the running costs in the kitchen. We also received donations of Mayonaise and Peanut butter for the sandwiches.

A HUGE Thanks to Flight centre, Sibaya Casino, COGS Church, The Round Table Unilever and ALL the volunteers and Donors for supporting our Feeding kitchens!

2013’s #DominoEffects were astronomical and we are VERY proud of what our Feeding Programme has achieved. Thanks to all the Donors and volunteers who helped us reach these figures below…

2013 Feeding #DominoEffects

Read more of our November Domino Effects Newsletter here:
– Monthly General Overview
– Babies Effects
– Feeding Effects
– Life Skills Effects
– ECD Effects
– Literacy Effects