Life
has been very busy at the Eva & Bjorn Centres, and at Hamburg After-Care
over the last few months! At Bjorn Centre in Mgbaba the garden has flourished
with the assistance of the Umthati project from Grahamstown, and there are even
enough extra vegetables to sell which helps raise funds for school uniforms
& food parcels for those most in need.
Staff
from Fish River Sun and the Masibambane Primary School have offered us
wonderful support too; we have received several boosts to our reading
collection, and we are about to embark on some new activities through the
Creative Development programme, so things are buzzing here!
Fish River Sun staff,
Umthati Project, Masibamasane primary school pupils,
community members and
staff and children of the Bjorn Centre at
Mgababa Village on Madiba Day.
In
Lover’s Twist, Eva Centre is also a busy nurturing place. NACCW workshops have
given the staff a lot of insight into child development, communication, HIV
awareness etc. The garden here is blooming too, providing welcome vegetables
for local families.
Hamburg
After-Care has been leading the way on the Creative Development programme with
regular staff training sessions leading into an exciting activity programme on
Thursday afternoons. The Nal'ibali reading programme has been in full swing and
monthly themes (Women, Madiba, Heritage) provided more opportunities to learn
and have fun.
Nokhanyo
Nkani is now full-time operational manager of all 3 OVC centres, and, with her
wide experience in Human Resources, she has been a great asset in helping to
draw up systems and procedures. National Arts Council have provided funding for
the Creative Development programme to expand and flourish at the centres so
there will be more news of how the programme is shaping up in the coming
months!
‘Ndim Lo!’ – ‘This is
Me’ is the central theme of the 6 session introductory training: a series of
one-day experiences which involve trainees doing their own ‘sensing’
(spontaneous creativity in response to different sensory stimulations), then
translating this experience into planning a structured session for children,
delivering the session that afternoon in the centre, followed by non-verbal
reflection time through an arts medium in which their own experiences and their
observations of the children are recorded.
