Have you seen our new website!? www.hlanganani.org
Hlanganani has had a quiet year not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Good thing if all is running smoothly with no hiccups. Bad thing if the children are not being nurtured. We have a graduate volunteer who has set herself up to evaluate our project and hopefully that will bring some ideas of how to make things even better. She will interview all the Home Based Carers; their Hlanganani children and their guardian families and put a report together for us.
Lanseria
In August the children from Lanseria all went on a trip to the Acropark with the Lonehill academy and expended all their energy there.
One thing that I really battle with, is their performance at school. We can’t choose our children with regards to their intellect, but we can encourage them to do their best. With overcrowded classrooms and noisy distractions, it’s hard to keep your head down and work, let alone hear what is said by the teacher. Then the added mix of teen hormones does not help! We also have volunteers who tutor children when they need help, sometimes successfully, which is exciting and sometimes not, which is sad. We cannot make choices for the children who choose not to put the effort in, that is required.
We have one Matriculant this year – she has been a star pupil and excited about all she does. We pray for her successful exam period. If she succeeds in passing, she will receive sponsorship to do her driver’s license, once she has done her learners license, under her own steam. This way we see the commitment to the responsibility of the student.
Sadly, sponsorship from Lanseria International Airport has been halved. This means tightening of the belt and no expansion into new Home Based Carers or children numbers. At present we have 45 children. 14 from Diepsloot with 4 Home Based Carers; 25 from Lanseria with 7 Home Based Carers; 6 Cosmo City with 4 Home Based Carers. This means in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, a total of 60 people intimately involved in the communities with Hlanganani. Also not to forget the web designers; volunteers; sponsors; bookkeepers and accountants behind the scenes. This model could expand to anywhere in the country or continent if communities had the right support and passion for making a difference.
We had a kind donation of Mielie Meal for all our families this winter and Twinsavers gave us bulk issues and toilet rolls. These I have tried to get the children to start an entrepreneurship project with to earn some pocket money and skills to take life forward. Only one child has really taken the challenge up. Another child has started a little shop at her home to design; sew and sell various items, we will see how she goes. She is getting sponsored sewing and design lessons on a Saturday. One can only give the opportunity and hope!
One Sunday in October there are plans afoot to celebrate all that Hlanganani is, at our Junction Church. Then its exams for the children and we will end the year off in November with a camp and Christmas party combined at our property in Northriding. Party time!
Please check out our new website www.hlanganani.org which looks so much better and upmarket.