Education Programmes for Kids &Teachers, Cape Town

A big thank you for supporting food and education projects for children in Cape Town! Our partner organisation, ORT SA CAPE, focusses on education programmes for teachers and children, with the aim of making sure that children from disadvantaged areas receive a better quality education.

During the first lockdown in 2020, ORT SA CAPE also started a food programme, as the level of poverty rose. The food programme is continuing this year.

All of us at CHW thank you so much for your contribution towards these programmes. Below is an update from Bev at ORT SA CAPE:

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"Since the beginning of 2022, ORT SA CAPE has returned to face to face training. We have run 10 workshops in February and March for over 420 teachers. These courses included topics like Perceptual Skills, Lego Playbox and Six Bricks, Demystification of Coding and How to use Lego to enhance language development across the curriculum.

We have also continued with our monthly food relief initiative, we are currently supporting over 200 families, 6 ECD [Early Childhood Development] centres and one soup kitchen...

Part of the funding [received from CHW] allows us to supplement the food relief initiative to maintain our reach. Our food relief takes place on a monthly basis and we rely on volunteers to assist us with the distribution process. Beneficiaries collect their parcels from two central hubs and the elderly and infirm have their parcels delivered to them.

Unfortunately, the need for food relief continues and many people are desperate for assistance. We would like to continue and expand our efforts, so that vulnerable people are able to satisfy their basic needs.

Below is an email from one of our beneficiary organisations, MES – They Mould, Empower and Serve street people holistically so that they are enabled to live independent, sustainable and meaningful lives.

‘"I don’t know you yet you blessed us with SOOO much!  @ ORT SA Cape Education and Little Steps Day care, thank you for ALL the groceries, fruit, vegetables, cleaning goods and toiletries!  Our shelves were empty this morning and here your parcel arrives… Thank you ORT!... Have a lovely afternoon. Kind regards Franita"

As ORT SA CAPE’s core focus remains the training and support of teachers, we are grateful to CHW for their continued support of our education programmes. [Part of the funding from CHW] has been allocated to various teacher training initiatives allowing us to reach more teachers and expose them to the various training sessions we offer.

Educators from various ECD centres enjoyed a workshop on demystification of coding held in the ORT SA CAPE classroom at the end of February. Teachers also participated in the ‘’Purposeful Play’’ workshops we hosted in February. Each teacher received a Lego Playbox for use in their classroom. This series of workshops was held in person and on-line and over 280 teachers participated over 5 sessions. ECD practitioners participated in a LEGO Playbox session held in the ORT SA CAPE classroom on 18 March. They learned about the importance of play in early education. [Photos of the workshops are included with this report.]

ORT SA CAPE prides itself on making a meaningful difference in communities in South Africa and driving our country forward. We are extremely grateful for the continued support from CHW. Your further support will ensure that we can deliver on our promise to train and support teachers and learners in disadvantaged communities in South Africa so that a quality education is received by all."

All of us at Children's Helpers Worldwide (CHW) are extremely grateful to you for choosing to support this project on GlobalGiving! Your help is making it possible to continue to support ORT SA CAPE's food and education programmes in Cape Town. Whilst ORT SA CAPE has always focussed on education, the team also started a food distribution programme during the first lockdown, as the poverty levels rose so sharply.

Below is a report from Bev:

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ORT SA CAPE's mission is the empowerment of teachers and children in disadvantaged communities, through education development and intervention at key stages in their education journey.

ORT SA CAPE’s interventions have a strong focus on play-based learning. We encourage a system where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners - placing the child at the center of the learning process in which they are active participants. Teachers are reminded that playful learning encompasses all learning areas and integrates different foundational skills for later development of literacy and numeracy skills. In the future, children will need skills like creativity, collaboration and critical thinking to a far larger extent than before, in combination with more traditional skills like reading, writing and maths.

During 2021, ORT SA Cape offered various short courses to ECD (Early Childhood Development) and Foundation Phase teachers. These courses included Robotics and Coding, Perceptual Skills, LEGO Play Box and LEGO Six Bricks.

The donations given by CHW's supporters have allowed us to offer Playbox and Six Bricks training to over 150 teachers from August to November. Below are some comments from the teachers:

‘’This kind of training will definitely benefit me and my learners’’ – Grade 1 teacher, Saldanha Bay.

‘’Integrating LEGO into my maths and language lessons will change the way I teach. The practical approach of the workshop was so valuable and I enjoyed the focus on holistic development’’ – Grade 1 teacher, Vredenburg.

‘’I never knew how much fun and learning could be achieved with LEGO, thank you’’ – Grade R [Reception] teacher, Langebaan.

ORT SA CAPE also continues to provide much needed food relief to our beneficiaries. We are supporting over 180 families, 6 ECD [Early Childhood Development] centres and 1 soup kitchen every month... The December distribution will assist people over the festive season and will be the last for 2021.

The continued support from CHW has allowed us to sustain this project since April 2020. Anecdotal evidence suggests that when families do not need to worry about where their next meal comes from, they are able to focus on other important things like job hunting and doing homework/spending time with their children.

Below is an excerpt from a letter we received from a beneficiary school:

"The Management, staff, learners & seniors of the Little Lilies Educare & Ministry hereby wish to express our heartfelt gratitude towards you for your kind donation of food parcels.

The grocery parcels truly assisted the Educare... & members in the community during this economically strained time. Many families have no form of income and the parcels is a God sent for many underprivileged families. We thank-you for your kindness towards us and for including Little Lilies Educare and the community of Manenberg in your donation drive. Thank-you for having a community heart and making a difference in the Community of Manenberg.

We appreciate your kindness ...

Yours in Community Upliftment,  Margaret, Principal, Little Lillies Educare’’

South Africa’s early childhood development (ECD) sector was crippled by the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. ECD programmes serving the poorest children were most severely affected. By assisting these centers with food relief, they are able to support the nutritional needs of young children and focus on the much-needed educational support.

Thank you to CHW for helping us sustain our current projects as well as expand our reach to more teachers and children. Your ongoing commitment will ensure we are able to strengthen communities and change lives through education.

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Thank you again for supporting ORT SA CAPE's work through our page on GlobalGiving. This is truly appreciated.

Happy Holidays! We wish you all the very best for the New Year!