Toddlers Inn

Our toddlers are so happy in their new environment!! Thanx to Vodacom change the world for funding our new classroom. These little mites have all the space they need to play and grow. This is such a critical age for development and they are now getting all the stimulation they need, especially important as many are being looked after by elderly grannies who may not be able to give them all the stimulation they need. The Ladies working with them are concentrating on areas such as gross and fine motor development, concentration, co-ordination and other skills. As well as this these littles ones are also given two meals a day, its always so sad to hear when a child has gone to bed with nothing but hot water to fill their tummies.

Welcome Julie Hay

On Monday we welcomed Julie Hay to our team. Thanx to Vodacom Change the World! Julie will be working in our school. We are extremelly grateful and excited to work with this special lady.

‘What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal’ Albert Pike

Human Rights

In this day and age we all know how important it is to have ones ID document, in almost everything we do we are required to produce it. However there are many people even in there middle and later years of life who may never have had the opportunity to apply for their ID book. And so with monday being human rights day, we were so grateful to have representatives of the Human Rights Commisson visit us, as well as Black Sash, SASA, SAPS, and Home Affairs.

It was such a fantastic opportunity for members of the community to be able to apply for their ID books, financial grants and other issues that they needed assistance with. They were also educated on their basic human rights.

A workshop was also held which allowed attendees to delve deeper into the issues of ones rights in many fields and aspects of life.

Remember your rights everyone and keep a special thought in mind for those who fought for us to enjoy the equal rights we have today!

Much love…

1000 Hills Community Helpers Team

The School Bus

Hello dear Friends,

With the Christmas rush long behind us, we can now persevere into continuing where we left off last year. Some of you might be aware that one of our big wishes for 2010 was to acquire some sort of reliable transport for the preschooler’s to the centre and back to home again. I use the word was because it is literally what it is, WAS. With the help of very special people, GAGA-UK and some wonderful ladies from the Hillcrest area, our wish has become a reality and we have now taken possession of a Toyota Quantum mini bus.

Many of the children attending our preschool have generally had to walk quite great distances, having to get an early start in the mornings. To make matters worse, these children are usually only supervised by the oldest sibling in the family who could be as young as 8-10 years in age. The little ones are worn out by the time they reach school and then struggle to concentrate on their lessons.

This is the least of their worries as they have to deal with various hazards provided by other people and vehicles. The children lucky enough to have a ride do so at their own risk as the vehicle providing their transport is severely unreliable and a grave danger to its occupants.

With the new mini bus, we are able to ferry these children in a safe controlled environment.

Our old school bus.

Our new school bus.

 

Thank you

Hello Dear Friends,

We extend our gratitude to all who helped give our community a wonderful Christmas. Without your love and compassion for the less fortunate many in our community would have had a bleak festive season. Thank you for walking the walk with us.

Children waited anxiously to see if Father Christmas managed to drop off a gift for them. During the school holidays we can have up to a thousand children visiting us. Many of them are from orphaned households sometimes totalling 15 per family, so you can imagine the big strain it puts on the grannies having to provide food and clothing for these little ones.

As education is the success to anyone’s life we try everyday to give these children a lesson in life skills. We explain to our children at Christmas time it is not about a gift it is time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and he shares his birthday with us. 

This teenage headed household of boys have lost their parents and were chased out of their home as they were not providing anything toward there upkeep. A place for them to stay was found and with your help we managed to feed and clothe them but school uniforms always a big problem to purchase due to the costs.

There are so many children who turn to us for help at this time of the year.

These little poppets above are in the same situation as many other children here in Inchanga area are child headed households.

Thank you to our community ladies who assist me in taking care of these children.

Thanks you for your ongoing support.

So give yourselves a hug from us all

A hug is a perfect gift — one size fits all –And no one minds if you return it 

LOVE DAWN

Happy 2011

Yippee and hooray!!!!! 2011 has begun. Undoubtedly many of us have welcomed its warm embrace into the next phase of life. Seasons come and seasons go, but life goes on. People are born into this world and people leave this world through death. It is the natural cycle of life that is obeyed by all. It’s this life that unites us all together, working for a better cause. The cause may be the fight against HIV/AIDS,   or the plight of those living in poverty. It may be feeding the hungry or representing children’s rights to a better education and life. Irrelevant of the cause we represent, we unify together to make those wrongs right, or a child’s dream a reality. There is a word for that, it’s called: HUMANITY.

We all remember that old saying, “Money makes the world go round”. Well that’s not entirely true. Money is a useful catalyst but it does not encompass the unity that is bred from humanity.  The saying, “All you need is love”, does however ring true. 2010 was definitely a bad year for most due to the recession and yet many people still felt it necessary to contribute something, no matter how small, into the lives of those less fortunate. For this we are humbly grateful and most appreciative.

As we go into and beyond the year 2011, let us do so with dignity and pride, knowing that we are all able to make a difference in the lives of those who are victims of their circumstances.

Best wishes to all who support our cause for the year 2011, may yours be filled with much laughter and joy.

1st December 2010 World AIDS Day.

Hi there to all reading this post, hope you are all keeping well. The year has come full cycle again and once more it’s the 1^st of December-World AIDS Day. Although HIV/AIDS has become one of the more manageable viruses of our time, it is still dreaded and widely stigmatized due to misconceptions and traditional myths. These myths can range from anything such as the consumption of certain traditional medicines to having sex with a child virgin. These actions, although not entirely responsible for, contribute towards the child rape statistics in South Africa.

Every year literally thousands of people pass away from HIV/AIDS related secondary and opportunist infections such as T.B, Diabetes, and even the common cold and Flu’ virus. If these secondary and opportunist infections are not treated promptly and correctly they lead to complications within the body’s immune system. Anti-bodies are compromised and eventually stop defending the immune system from infections which in turn allows the virus to spread and infect the host further still which breaks the immune system down even further and so the vicious cycle goes on. The individual is eventually so run down they are physically unable to move, eat, and in severe cases unable to breathe. If left untreated, the condition eventually leads to death.

The 1^st of December has become traditionally know as World AIDS Day. This day is a day that has been mutually set aside globally to not only commemorate those who have fallen to the HIV/AIDS virus, but also to highlight HIV/AIDS prevention awareness. This day is also intended to dispel myths and misconceptions about the HIV/AIDS virus which causes stigmatization amongst communities. Our centre has played its part for many years and this year was no exception.

This year saw the participating co-operation of Big Shoes, Youth for Christ, and Fredville Clinic, the local Police represented by Captain Radebe. The event was themed, “We are Responsible” and involved the message that we are all and need to be responsible for our actions.

Big Shoes is an organization all about improving the medical care of orphaned and vulnerable children, especially those affected by HIV/AIDS.  They contributed to the event by blood tests on children to encourage knowledge of HIV status. Interested adults were also encouraged to have blood tests done and pap smears at the 1000 Hills Community Helpers Clinic assisted by Fredville clinic.

Youth for Christ is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian youth development agency directly addressing the problems and needs of the young people of South Africa. After a very successful presentation from the Youth for Christ change agents during the World Cup Holiday Programme, 1000 Hills Community Helpers was honoured to welcome the Youth for Christ team back for their presentation on World AIDS Day.

Captain G.G. Radebe represented the national Police force in a local capacity and addressed the ongoing issue of women and child abuse and the need for awareness. These people must be commended for their brave attempt to redeem their reputation within the general population of South Africa. They deserve a hard earned hooray not only for their stance against crime, but also for their huge contribution towards the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Safe Babies

Hi there and hello, hope this blog post finds you all well. The year 2010 has been a seriously eventful one over the past twelve months. The FIFA World Cup, being the highlight that it was, has come and gone and the hours, days and months continue marching forward. Yet life goes on and so does the many social problems faced by community members living in impoverished conditions. Probably one of the most heartbreaking social problems still occurring in our era is the consistent, ongoing abandonment, abortion and infanticide of new born babies. There are very few babies who get dumped into trash cans, toilets, and the likes that are found still alive. This is a very sad heart wrenching fact that is indeed a very real fact as each year many new born babies are literally abandoned, killed or aborted by desperate mothers.

 “The Baby Safe” (http://www.thebabysafe.org/) is an organisation who provides a safer alternative to mothers which assists in curbing the high rate of abandonment and infanticide. Many of you might be familiar with the “hole in the wall” concept, where a mother can take her child and place him/her in a chute receptacle with a one way door. Once the baby is placed inside, the mother can’t remove him/her again, which in a way is a final deciding factor for a mom who wants to get rid of her child.

Wandisa in collaboration with The Baby Safe has helped our centre to establish a “Baby Safe” on our premises. Although the actual installation has not yet taken place, we are all very excited about his development because it will enable us to contribute towards saving lives of so many little one’s who didn’t ask to be born. One of three pre-selected individuals will be on call and as soon as a baby is placed within the baby safe, the alarm signal will alert them via mobile sms that a baby is ready to be collected. Once collected, the infant is then taken to safety and the placed in a care programme until he/she can either be fostered or adopted. A very happy ending to a rather sad beginning

Vodacom “Change the World”

Imagine spending time changing someone’s world?

You could be making a difference working for a charitable organisation without the worry of having to make financial sacrifices. That’s what the Vodacom Change the World programme is all about. Over the past 10 years through the Vodacom Foundation, we’ve helped hundreds of charitable organisations with funding. Now we would like to enable you to join our efforts and make a real and sustainable contribution to South African communities.

The Vodacom Change the World 2010 programme will give 10 people the unique opportunity to work at one of 10 SA-based charitable organisations, for six months from April 2010, and get paid for their time.

Would you like to take six months out to make a difference?

Interested? Then what are you waiting for?
Apply now

The campaign is aligned to a worldwide Vodafone initiative, called World of Difference. The Vodacom Change the World programme, is delivered by the Vodacom Foundation, a division of Vodacom(Pty)Ltd in association with Avusa Media.

Follow us on Facebook to see videos, photos, updates and interviews.

PS – please help us spread the world about the launch of the Vodacom Change the World 2010 programme, by telling all your family and friends and encouraging them to follow us on Facebook for the latest news.

London to Cape Town Rally initiative for 1000 Hills Community Helpers

No previous rally from Europe to Cape Town has kept the wheels turning throughout the length of Africa without recourse to airlifts or shipping over some part of the way. The London – Algiers – Cape Town Rally has a never-rallied-before route and is designed for those who think they have what it takes to drive this 13 000 km adventure…..against the clock

During the past 20 years Philip Young and the Endurance Rally Association team have organised more than 60 major international rallies, including the longest rally in history, the Around the World in 80 Days, and 12 rallies in Africa, including London-Dakar, the Classic Safari Challenge, and World Cup Rallies. The team that initiated the first-ever international Historic Rally for classic cars in 1988, the Pirelli Classic Marath…on, the first Monte Carlo rally for classic cars, the Monte Carlo Challenge, the Peking to Paris and other major events, now plans the most adventurous – a rally against the clock down the full length of Africa.

This adventure starts at the stroke of midnight on New Years eve under Big Ben in London as part of London’s famous celebration. 27 days later some of the vehicles will reach the V&A waterfront in Cape Town for an almighty party.

The rally can be followed via daily updates on the journey at:  

http://www.londoncapetownrally.com/

The South African team is local couple from Kloof, KZN, Rick amd Tracy Jackson. As part if their initiative , they have pledged to raise funds on behalf of 1000 Hills Community Helpers through the rally and an awareness raising campaign.

Their journey will be updated via blog and FaceBook daily, so please support us by supporting them and visit them on these links:

http://ourherd.co.za/?p=87

They can be found on FaceBook at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114025591978741

The Official Taxi Number 13 website:

http://web.me.com/rick117511/taxi_number13/Home.html