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There is a crèche and a baby day care facility in our local township which is well run and managed and is funded by other local NGO’s; the teachers in this crèche have all undergone training courses. In other more rural locations however the facilities are often far more limited and they are often more of a day care facility providing little or no structured classes or stimulation for the children.

We would like to roll out the model from our local crèche into these facilities. We could utilize the trained crèche teachers to upskill the local crèche leaders and would also plan to introduce our teaching syllabus into these crèches too.

We have seen very clearly that children receiving structured tuition in crèche proceed far more easily into primary school. Properly trained creche teachers are also able to identify children needing medical or food assistance.

In order to improve the standard of crèches we need funding for

• Paint to refurbish existing facilities

• Carpet / flooring

• Plastic tables and chairs for the children

• Photocopy of teaching syllabus

• Ongoing photocopying of exercises for the children

• Pens / pencils / paper

• Educational posters and games

• Storage boxes for class materials

• Transport fees for trained crèche teachers to visit rural crèches

The exact funding needed for each crèche will depend on its state of repair and the resources they currently have available but we will make good use of any donations received.

As a guideline we estimate that the cost of basic teaching materials and resources (not including crèche refurbishment) to be around R3500. The cost of refurbishment is very much dependent on the current state of the crèche.

There are a number of children living locally who have some sort of disability or special need. We already have a client base of children suffering from cerebral palsy (CP).

These children often live in very basic conditions and their carer’s manage without even the simplest forms of equipment that we would usually take for granted. We have a volunteer CP therapist who holds monthly treatment and support group meetings. These have been a huge success and are well attended, the sessions are full of laughter and fun and for the children it is often the only time they ever really leave their home.

Where possible and practical we try to arrange placements for the children into special schools; we currently have 5 local children attending such schools with more on the waiting list.

Donation of funds into this project would allow us to buy equipment for the children still living at home with the aim of improving the children’s quality of life. Specialised CP wheelchairs are not available from the government so we have to fundraise for these privately.

We improvise where we can using donated wheelchairs and old sheets to secure children into place but the benefits from a custom made CP chair are infinitely better.

Other forms of basic equipment can also make huge improvements to quality of life.

The cost of a custom built wheelchair will be approx R15000, these chairs are fully adjustable to ensure they can be used for many years.

It is clear to us that the children in our community who live with CP or other disabilities are mostly confined to their homes. It is difficult for carer’s to manage them outside of the home as public transport here is very limited and often involves a long walk to the pick up point.

We would like to organize a day trip for these children which may be to a local game reserve or to a local swimming pool. Any opportunity for the children to interact with each other and to have a day away from home is a wonderful gift for them.

To organize such a trip we would need to hire transport, arrange for extra carers, pay any necessary entrance fees and provide food and refreshment.

We estimate the cost of such a trip to be approx R2000

There are no facilities for children’s play at all in our local area except for those at the creches. It is not uncommon to see children taking rubbish from bins and then “playing shop” with the empty packets and cartons.

We would like to offer safe areas for children and their families to meet and play. Our vision is to create parks and play areas around the township as well as at the Isibani community centre.

We have researched play equipment and have found designs of play structures / jungle gyms made at minimum cost and with recycled materials wherever possible. We would plan to use equipment that is accessible by all children including those with disabilites which would complement our plan to offer day trips for such children.

We would hope to offer shaded seating in these areas so would need benches and trees and other plants.

There is huge unemployment in our area which only adds to the poverty and despair which is already in abundance. Children having finished school and received a good education have a far better chance of accessing the limited job market and increasing their chances of avoiding poverty as adults.

We find that children will often drop out of school because their family are unable to afford to buy them school uniforms, these families often have a whole range of other social problems and we try to work them to solve their problems one by one and to help the children back into school.

Children who attend crèche before school are far more prepared for the overcrowded classrooms (often between 60 and 70 children per class) Parents are sometimes reluctant to send their children to crèche because they are ashamed that they do not have clean or appropriate clothes. We are also working with these families and children to support them with the necessary clothing for crèche.

We do receive donations of clothes but we never have enough children’s clothes to satisfy the demand.

The crèches and first few years of primary school supply food for the children which is another very good reason for them to be there.

The cost of a school uniform for one child costs approx R500

We are helping a young girl who has been removed from her mother by social workers and has now been placed in a special school for children with physical disabilities.  

She is doing well there and has made lots of friends;  since going to this school she has become a real little girl, full of fun and much happier and healthier than we have ever seen her before.

Her exact age is unknown as she doesn’t have a birth certificate but we believe her to be around 7 years old. She has mild Cerebral Palsy and does not yet speak.

It is a termly boarding school and we are looking for a sponsor for the school fees which are R550 per term.  There are 4 terms each year.

In addition it would be wonderful if we could find funding to sponsor a speech therapist on a regular basis. She has had a couple of speech therapy sessions before in a previous placement and after just 2 sessions could say “Sawubona” which is Hello in Zulu. Unfortunately her speech has not progressed since and we feel that a speech therapist could make a huge difference in her ability.

HIV / AIDS is a huge problem in our area and although there are no accurate statistics available from the government it is our experience that almost every family in our community has at least one member affected by this virus.

The virus affects the immune system and when combined with poor nutrition and living conditions we find our patients are often affected by “opportunistic infections” such as TB, meningitis, forms of cancer, skin diseases etc.

Treatment for HIV is available in the form of ARV drugs but historically it has been difficult for patients to test for HIV as the nearest hospital is around 20km away and they simply can’t afford the cost of the transport. For those who did make it to the hospital and tested positive there are at least another 4 journeys needed for blood test, training and initiation of the drugs.

After 2 years of meetings and bureaucracy Isibani now has permission to perform HIV testing on site as well as the adherence training; we are a short walk from the local township and as such far more accessible to clients.

Having tested positive for HIV all patients need a blood test to establish their CD4 count (the number of “fighter cells” in the body). Once this falls below 200 they are eligible to start on ARVs; the threshold is 350 for pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.

Having the blood tests involves 2 or more trips to the hospital, firstly the test then the results a couple of weeks later. We are in the process of buying a portable machine which would allow the CD4 results to be obtained within 20 minutes, we have been donated funds to purchase this machine. There is an additional cost of R57 per test kit (approx 5 GBP). We are looking for funds for these test kits.

We are working alongside our local hospital on this project but they have no funds in their budget to buy or to run the machine. Our priority areas are pregnant women who need their test results quickly and patients who are already very sick and need to start treatment without further delay.

As we have already secured funding to purchase the CD4 Testing machine any funds donated into this project would be used to purchase CD4 testing kits.

Immune System Booster

Patients suffering from HIV are very vulnerable to infection as their immunity is compromised and their immune system is constantly under attack. For those patients with CD4 counts too high to start on their ARV medication we are sometimes able to offer EM which is a health booster drink that contains all the nutrients and other essential things needed to boost someone's immune system.

We have supplied this before for a couple of people and it has had incredible results.

The cost of this is around R700 for 1 person for 6 months supply.

Propolis

We are dispensing propolis which is a natural alternative treatment to traditional antibiotics, it is taken with a small amount of water to which 5 drops of propolis are added.

Patients with HIV are susceptible to all sorts of infections and this treatment seems to treat a multitude of ailments.

We have used it for patients with infected teeth as well as sores on hands and feet that are very susceptible to infections. Often their bodies can become immune to traditional antibiotics and this treatment seems to work very well. 

The cost of a bottle is R1500 for 1 litre but as patients are only taking it in small quantities they are only given 10ml each so one bottle goes a long way. When dispensing the propolis we give a small dropper bottle to our patients. The cost of these is R700 for 300 bottles.

The work that we do at Isibani is only possible thanks to the help of our volunteer team. We are blessed with local Zulu and English speaking volunteers who are paramount to the continuance to the projects we offer.

All volunteers are asked to undertake a week’s trial during which time they will work alongside as many of the existing team as possible. We assess them during their trial to see if they have the skills and the heart for the work and the issues we face each day.

If successful the volunteer must then work for a further 3 months without any remuneration. After this 3 month period they qualify for a stipend (this is a gift). We currently offer R1000 per month per person; we rely on donor funds to make these payments.

We do not offer salaries as we are not offering jobs; we offer an opportunity for people with a heart for their community to join is in making a difference, the stipend is a “thank you”, a gesture from donors to acknowledge the help and support our volunteers offer in their community.

Our volunteers often find themselves “on call” even outside of our office hours. When the community learn they volunteer at Isibani they are often approached at weekends and during the evenings to help people in their community.

Throughout their time with us we try to upskill the volunteers, teaching them how to use computers, they learn about our processes and procedures and have exposure to meetings and workshops. We hope that the skills, training and exposure to different situations they experience at Isibani will eventually help them in finding permanent paid positions elsewhere.

Isibani would not exist without the help of this team of people.

Zulu Language Sunday School

A partner organisation now runs a Sunday school from a creche in the Khetani location. This is a Sunday school taught in Zulu so the children can learn about God and the Bible in their own language.

They need donations to cover the cost of crayons and paper and other Bible study related craft activities for the children. Donations are also used to cover the cost of food and refreshments provided at each Sunday School class.

Matthew 25 Feeding Scheme

Isibani administers a feeding scheme on behalf of another local NGO;  they get maize donated from local farmers and rely on cash donations to put together basic food parcels of sugar, salt, tea, sugar beans and soya mince.

Isibani visits the families at home and decides who qualifies for food, how much and for how long.  A lot of these families are also clients for school uniforms.

The level of cash available for food parcels is currently at its lowest ever level so any donation into this project would be very welcome.