Masakhane News nr. 2

Hallo Everyone,

Here is the second issue of the Masakhane Newsletter. We had wonderfull reaction to the previous one. Thank you to all of you for your support.
See report below:
Masakhane Newsletter nr. 2 16 January 2009

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Edutainer at Masakhane

The Masakhane community will be receiving an edutainer from ABI soon. This means that the community will have a fully equiped classroom with tables, chairs etc. A site has been selected and paperwork is being handled regarding this. This classroom will be invaluable as a training centre and will also be utilised as creche for young children. A number of programmes, such as the Kare Gude ABET programme, which was implemented by the Department of Education last year, failed because of the distance which people needed to walk in order to get to their classes. This meant that mothers were away from their young children and also lost valuable time needed for household chores and gathering fuel and fetching water. The edutainer will certainly make education and training more accessable to the people, and especially the women in Masakhane.


First Aid and Fire Training completed

Through sponsorship from SAB people from Masakhane were provided with the oportunity to receive First Aid and Fire training in the village. Ben Supke from Firemed provided a two-day First Aid training course to 19 members of the community on 31 January and 1 February 2009. This training was conducted in a canvas and plastic shelter which serves as a church building in Masahane. Unfortunately due to the heavy rains, the structure had to be evacuated and the training was completed in the house of Seun and Boy Ngobeni. It is only through the perseverance of the participants and Mr the facilitator that this course was completed.

A one-day course in Fire Training was presented on Saturday 7 February. 19 people attended the course. This time the weather was more favourable and the course was presented under the tree where all the community meetings are usually held. Participants received course material and could learn through the interactive lectures and video-material which Ben provided. Children were encouraged to sit in on the proceedings and received colouring-in books. Brightly coloured posters were distributed to households in the community.

Certificates were issued and will be handed out at a graduation ceremony later this month.

Read more about this on the blog. Article 'First Aid and Fire Training'

http://themasakhaneproject.blogspot.com/



Relief for 'Family of 7 left destitute by fire'

( see blog item with same name for pictures and more information)
http://themasakhaneproject.blogspot.com/
As reported in the previous newsletter, a family of 7 people were left destitute by a fire which destroyed their house on the 25th of January. This family includes two elderly people and two small children age 4 and 6. Nothing was left of their possessions. In response to the last newsletter they have been helped in the following ways:

They have received:
37 sheets of corrugated iron to build a new shack with
A wooden door
Food
Blankets
2 Pots
Some chairs
Clothing

They still need:

Some cement as the run off water from all the rain just washes into the house at the moment
Food to tie them over untill the end of the month
Mattresses
Anybody wanting to assist this family can contact me at 083 999 5017 or make a deposit with the word 'Fire-Aid Masakhane' in the 'description-box' Funds will be applied to helping this family. Village Power is a registered Non-profit organisation. (Fundraiser number, if you are wondering, by law no longer required).

Banking Details:

Village Power Community Development Projects

FNB Cheque acc.

Branch code: 258 055

Acc. Nr: 621 947 163 07



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Small ways in which you can help

In our efforts to develop the community at Masakhane we need the support of people who believe with us that there is a positive contrbution that can be made. A wise person once said that 'all it takes for the world to go to pieces is for good men (and women) to stand by and do nothing'. Here are some small ways in which you can help us to make a difference:

Village Power CDP needs a web site. When you go to the blog you will see that scrolling up and down to get to information is cumbersome. We would appreciate the services of a web-site designer and a sponsor for a web-site. We will make sure that you get advertising space on there!

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The support of the local community is very important in a project such as Masakhane. But for the local community to know what we do we need to get our name out there. We are looking to get some of those magnetic squares which go on the door of your car.

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Masakhane has a commitee which forms a link between the community and the various development stakeholders. One of the commitee members has been allocated the portfolio of 'communicator'. For this project to run effectively, this communicator needs to be able to get hold of the relevant stakeholder in case of an emergency (such as the fire mentioned above) or just to relay issues and information as they arise. A sponsorship for airtime for this person could go a long way to ensuring that an effective channel of communication is maintained between the community and the people they work with

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Last word...

Thank you to Hannelie Hartman for sponsoring the laminating of the First Aid and Fire Training certificates!

Thank you for a donation of 40 blankets donated by Tertius van Vuuren on behalf of the Rotary Club of Roodepoort. These blankets were received in response to the fire-incident at Masakhane. These were handed out to the family which was affected by the fire, the family which had lost their breadwinner, mentioned above and to other needy members of the Masakhane community.

All the best for the next fortnight.


Kind Regards
Sonja van der Vyver
(Director)
Village Power Comunity Development Projects

083 999 50 17
e mail: iansonja@vodamail.co.za