When the Masikhulisane Crèche doors opened in January 2010 one could liken it to a new beginning for the crèche! The previously crammed 80 pre-schoolers were now reduced to a more manageable 38. This was the amount approved of by Social Development , who at the end of 2009 had officially registered  the Creche as an Early Childhood Development  (ECD) centre. A milestone had been reached!
The extra space now meant that the children had enough room for their tables and chairs where they could do art and educational activities, as well as room to move, jump and dance to their action songs.
RESOURCES AND EQUIPMENT
This also made it possible to introduce more resources and equipment and thanks to the Charity Challenge donors this included wooden book reading corners and books, toy boxes and pigeon-hole lockers as well as 'play' sink, stove,  ironing board and iron, broom and dolls cot for the Fantasy play area. Other resources included paints, crayons, scissors, paper, playdough , glues and Xhosa books. Teacher feedback is that the children are growing in confidence and love to share stories, especially on Mondays when they share about their weekends.  Mirriam says that Story Time is one of their favourite activities as they love to answer the questions posed about the stories. The children also remind the teacher if they have 'left out' Story Time that day! Fridays is dance day where they learn cultural dance and Jive....(seems like the Jive has now become a cultural dance!).  At the end of November this year,  9  Grade R children will don their graduating gowns and hats for their graduation ceremony.  Additional resources made possible by the donors included a new stove, re-painting and a 2nd fire extinguisher.  All requested needs were met.
TEACHERS AND TRAINING
The compliment of staff during the year has been 7, which includes 5 teachers, a cook and Mirriam Sipondo (owner) who functions as the Social Auxillary Worker. During the day the Grade R teacher serves as the Acting Principal.  There are 2 teachers overseeing  the 18 month to 3 year old group, as well as 2 teachers for the 3-4 year olds. This group makes up the majority of children (22). Staff training has continued throughout the year with 3 of the staff members completing the 'Levels' training at Cape College and Intec. The training also incorporated child development and guidance on managing hyperactive children, which Mirriam says the teachers are implementing well.  Other training courses accomplished included the Red Cross Child Safety course (during the World Cup) which covered child trafficking awareness; and a Think Twice course on HIV and Sexual Abuse awareness. This course has equipped the teachers of the 4-6 year olds to facilitate awareness of sexual abuse and HIV through games and songs. In addition, the Centre for Early Childhood and Development (CECD) continued with organisational training for the principals which included modules on Financial management, Constitutions, Policies and Fund-Raising. This area is a learning curve with continual growth and refinement needed. 
VULNERABILITIES OF THE CRECHE COMMUNITY
The Crèche finds itself in a vulnerable community with sexual abuse, HIV and alcoholism three of the most prominent ills. Around two-thirds of the children are cared for by single mothers under 25 years, alternatively aunts or grannies, some of whom are HIV+ and others alcoholics.  There are also 2 single fathers. Work for most of the caregivers is sporadic and often temporary as 'chars' or piecemeal work on the Philippi farms. Due to the nature of the environment the staff keep a watchful eye on 'irregularities' among the children, referring to local NGOs and clinics for support where necessary. Examples, are involving the Children's Fund for underweight children,  ARK or Szophila project for ARV monitoring and Mirriam conducts house visits, offering psychological  support and food parcels to the grannies of the orphans. HIV/AIDS is rife in this community (25-35% of the community infected), and the Crèche is affected in variety of ways, including the pre-schoolers, staff and parents.  Sadly to say the HIV stigma is still 'huge' and this year we have seen unnecessary deaths of parents and family members who kept the 'secret' to themselves and did not get treated.
THE JOURNEY TOWARD SELF-SUSTAINABILITY
The involvement of the Aids Resource Centre and the donors over the past 4 years has been to ensure that the funds raised serve to meet the needs of the Crèche so that children in this vulnerable community benefit by being in a safe, fun and learning environment.
When we came into contact with the Crèche at the end of 2006, it was a grassroots crèche, unregistered with few organisational structures in place, and had limited space for the children to work and play in. Together with Mirriam, it has been our goal to help ensure that over time the Creche would transform from dependence to a place of sustainability where the children would learn and grow in a comfortable environment. In order to achieve this goal we assisted in transferring the property into Mirriam's name, enabled maximum building extensions and renovations, purchased equipment and resources (see Wish List in Aids Resource Centre website for all needs met) and provided organisational training via CECD. Finally at the end of 2009 the Creche became registered as an NPO as well as registered with Social Development as an ECD centre allowing 38 kids (the maximum number allowed in space available) which enabled Mirriam to make application for a monthly government subsidy to cover costs at the Centre. The subsidy has not yet come through and the Charity Challenge donors continue to pay towards running costs and expenses of approximately R10 000 per month as well as resources, equipment and other needs. With the subsidy in place Mirriam would have been brought to a place of greater sustainability and we envision further donations from the Charity Challenge may fall away.  The Charity Challenge donations have provided Mirriam with an 'amazing' 4 year head start which is rarely seen by crèche owners.
THE GREATER COMMUNITY OF VULNERABLE CHILDREN - UNDERSTANDING THE BIGGER PICTURE
In the bigger picture, the Aids Resource Centre and Ubomi (www.ubomi.com) have been working closely with the Kosovo (shack community) and Samora Machel community,  looking toward a lasting and impactful solution for the vulnerable children.
Currently we are supporting 100s children who are attending the 'unregistered' shack crèches by the assisting these crèche owners with resources and training. We are also targeting those kids who are unable to afford to attend a crèche, by including them in our holiday Kidz Clubs. It is estimated there are 3-4000 0-5 year olds in the Kosovo shack community alone, many of whom are not in crèches as the caregivers cannot afford the R100 per month creche fees! These are the 'most vulnerable'.
Our ultimate goal is to work under the Ubomi Charitable Trust umbrella to develop a Children's Support Centre which would serve as a 'place of safety/refuge' for the 'most vulnerable' children in the community. Funds raised from the 2010 Webber Wentzel Charity Challenge have been allocated to this project.
Up until the present time, we have earmarked a 2500 sq/m piece of land, have architectural plans drawn up and are in continual negotiations with Social Development to achieve this goal. (Social Development are currently in the process of reserving the land for a project such as ours).  Our model for the Centre is a well-researched and holistic. It will focus on educare for 240 of the 'most vulnerable' children, as well as offer residential support with safety homes for emergency cases, spiritual support with a church for children, recreational support with weekend and holiday programmes, entrepreneurial skills training for parents, as well as psychological and nutritional support.
It is with the support of donors and athletes of the Charity Challenge that so much has been accomplished over the past 4 years.  We are so thankful and grateful for their invaluable contribution to the vital foundational years of so many vulnerable children in this community and look forward to together making a greater and lasting impact in this beautiful community in years to come. It is our prayer that our local government will 'see the cry' of the helpless children in this community and release the vacant land for a 'response to help' as large as this.
Warm regards
Niki Kuys (Aids Resource Centre/Ubomi Charitable Trust)

Now that the Masikhulisane Creche has been registered and receiving a subsidy, we are no longer funding this project and have moved our focus to uplifting the many other unregistered grassroots creches in Kosovo and Samora Machel in an effort towards them also becoming registrated as Educare Centres where they will obtain a subsidy. See what Donors have funded here

A NEW BEGINNING!
When the Masikhulisane Crèche doors opened in January 2010 one could liken it to a new beginning for the crèche! The previously crammed 80 pre-schoolers were now reduced to a more manageable 38. This was the amount approved of by Social Development , who at the end of 2009 had officially registered  the Creche as an Early Childhood Development  (ECD) centre. A milestone had been reached!

The extra space now meant that the children had enough room for their tables and chairs where they could do art and educational activities, as well as room to move, jump and dance to their action songs.

RESOURCES AND EQUIPMENT
This also made it possible to introduce more resources and equipment and thanks to the Charity Challenge donors this included wooden book reading corners and books, toy boxes and pigeon-hole lockers as well as 'play' sink, stove,  ironing board and iron, broom and dolls cot for the Fantasy play area. Other resources included paints, crayons, scissors, paper, playdough , glues and Xhosa books. Teacher feedback is that the children are growing in confidence and love to share stories, especially on Mondays when they share about their weekends.  Mirriam says that Story Time is one of their favourite activities as they love to answer the questions posed about the stories. The children also remind the teacher if they have 'left out' Story Time that day! Fridays is dance day where they learn cultural dance and Jive....(seems like the Jive has now become a cultural dance!).  At the end of November this year,  9  Grade R children donned their graduating gowns and hats for their graduation ceremony.  Additional resources made possible by the donors this year included a new stove, re-painting and a 2nd fire extinguisher.  All requested needs were met.

TEACHERS AND TRAINING
The compliment of staff during the year has been 7, which includes 5 teachers, a cook and Mirriam Sipondo (owner) who functions as the Social Auxillary Worker. During the day the Grade R teacher serves as the Acting Principal.  There are 2 teachers overseeing  the 18 month to 3 year old group, as well as 2 teachers for the 3-4 year olds. This group makes up the majority of children (22). Staff training has continued throughout the year with 3 of the staff members completing the 'Levels' training at Cape College and Intec. The training also incorporated child development and guidance on managing hyperactive children, which Mirriam says the teachers are implementing well.  Other training courses accomplished included the Red Cross Child Safety course (during the World Cup) which covered child trafficking awareness; and a Think Twice course on HIV and Sexual Abuse awareness. This course has equipped the teachers of the 4-6 year olds to facilitate awareness of sexual abuse and HIV through games and songs. In addition, the Centre for Early Childhood and Development (CECD) continued with organisational training for the principals which included modules on Financial management, Constitutions, Policies and Fund-Raising. This area is a learning curve with continual growth and refinement needed. 

VULNERABILITIES OF THE COMMUNITY
The Crèche finds itself in a vulnerable community with child sexual abuse, HIV and alcoholism three of the most prominent ills. Around two-thirds of the children are cared for by single mothers many under 25 years, alternatively aunts or grannies, some of whom are HIV+ and others alcoholics. Work for most of the caregivers is sporadic and often temporary as 'chars' or piecemeal work on the Philippi farms. Due to the nature of the environment the staff keep a watchful eye on 'irregularities' among the children, referring to local NGOs and clinics for support where necessary. Examples, are involving the Children's Fund for underweight children,  ARK or Szophila project for ARV monitoring and Mirriam conducts house visits, offering psychological  support and food parcels to the grannies of the orphans.

THE JOURNEY TOWARD SELF-SUSTAINABILITY
The involvement of the Aids Resource Centre and the donors over the past 4 years has been to ensure that the funds raised serve to meet the needs of the Crèche so that children in this vulnerable community benefit by being in a safe, fun and learning environment.

When we began assisting the Crèche in 2007, it was a grassroots crèche, unregistered with few organisational structures in place, and had limited space for the children to work and play in. Together with Mirriam it has been transformed. The journey included transferring the property into Mirriam's name, building extensions and renovations, purchasing of equipment and resources and providing oganisational training via CECD. Finally at the end of 2009 the Creche became registered as an NPO as well as registered with Social Development as an ECD centre allowing 38 kids (the maximum number allowed in space available) which enabled Mirriam to make application for a monthly government subsidy to cover costs at the Centre. In October 2010 the subsidy of R10 000 per month was granted. With the subsidy in place Mirriam has been brought to a place of greater sustainability. We are no longer supporting this creche financially. Our current focus is on resourcing other unregistered creches in this area. The Charity Challenge donations have provided Mirriam with an 'amazing' 4 year head start which is rarely seen by crèche owners.

WITH THANKS!
It is with the support of donors and athletes of the Charity Challenge that so much has been accomplished over the past 4 years.  We are so thankful and grateful for their invaluable contribution to the vital foundational years of so many vulnerable children in this community and look forward to together making a greater and lasting impact in this beautiful community in years to come. It is our prayer that our local government will 'see the cry' of the helpless children and women in this community and release the vacant land for a 'response to help' as large as this.

Warm regards
Niki Kuys (Aids Resource Centre)