Lifeskills for 2,587 Children in South Africa

Dear Friends,

I want to thank those that have been in touch regarding my mum, she has settled in to the nursing home however she now seems to be declining again. For the second day in a row she is sleeping, having to be woken up for a few morsels of food and then returns to sleep. I am thankful that she is pain free and well cared for, thank you for your concern and your prayers.

I am aware that for my American donors we are entering a season of Thanksgiving, I wanted to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for your continued financial support of Keep The Dream196 and the work that we do.

The impact we are having continues

• Teenage pregnancy is down from 13% nationally to 0.07% in our program, this year we have not a had a single girl become pregnant
• Suicide rate is 12.7% nationally, our rate is 0%.
• No children involved in crime, drugs or alcohol.
• Matriculation pass rate is 90% and we shall let you know regarding 2018s result early in 2019.

This impact is because of your support and we as Keep The Dream196 are very grateful but also as the Managing Director, I am very grateful for your support and investment in KTD196. What you give enables us to move mountains out of the way of our kids and give them opportunities for having a rich and fulfilled life. For that I am eternally grateful.

As you may have seen I have changed our target for the end of year fundraising to $150,000. This will enable KTD196 to reach more children; influence more families and communities; impact more lives with new activities as well as the traditional activities which are proven and tested. I am excited about 2019 however it is only possible through your support.

Because of our impact we have attracted a new donor who is also very excited about the work we do and the changes we are seeing in the lives of our children and their families. They are coming on board in early November 2018 so that is exciting. What is also exciting is the new project we will be starting through this donor and your support – Youth Leadership Training. We will be taking a number or young people to camp and training them on leadership skills to take back to their small groups. These young people will become youth leaders within their communities, from experience we have seen them manage and take control of the small groups in KTD196; voted on to school student body’s and representing youth in their communities at village level.

I trust you are as excited about what is happening, the new project we are looking to start in 2019 and the impact we will be able to achieve. If you have any comments please don't hesitate to contact me on keepthedream196@gmail.com also if you would like to receive KTD196 Annual Report please let me know and I will forward it, unfortunately GG does not allow me to attach the report to this email directly.

Thank you once again for your support and encouragement and enabling us to continue the work to assist over 2,000 orphan and vulnerable children on a weekly basis. Your support matters!

Blessings

Louise

Just for something different I thought I would post a testimonial from one of our visitors from Australia and the impact KTD196 had on her!

My name is Meg, I am 71 yrs old and I come from Riverton in South Australia.

I travelled to Keep The Dream196 in Tzaneen South Africa to experience the real South Africa and not the tourist Africa. I wanted to see the real world, and I did.

My first sighting of South Africa was as we flew into J/berg. On the outskirts of the city were the shanty dwellings of the people. This is a land where many still struggle to survive. Education is not a high priority, so prospects for work other than low paid manual labour, is the norm, and many have just given up. They live by their wits stealing and lying, many of them orphaned through HIV.

I was fortunate to stay in the village of Mokgwarthi for a few days where we did see a change. Keep The Dream196 program had been introduced to children in some of the villages with local leaders, Mokgwarthi being one of them and we were able to see their enthusiasm. The day we were there the scout leader had been delayed, but the older children took it upon themselves to make a start with dancing and games, looking after the younger children.

The moral code had a dramatic effect on these children so that their former life of lying and cheating and disobedience and sleeping around was turned upside down. This caught the attention of the school teachers, who were very keen for scouts to be involved with other students. The demand at the time was almost outstripping resources.

The results of this has been phenomenal, lifting the expectations of the young people, and for the first time bringing them hope, wonderful hope, not just for them, but for the future of South Africa, which a short time before would have just been an impossible dream. I encourage everyone to get involved with Keep the Dream 196 in whatever way you can with donations, volunteering, coming for a visit so that you can experience first had the great work being done by the team and have your heart irrevocably changed by the people you meet.

Links:

• Our Website
• Our Facebook Page for daily updates of activities

Dear Friends,

Today I want to share something personal and a bit different.

Two weeks ago today I was urgently called home to Australia, my mother had taken ill and the doctors had decided to discontinue active treatment. She was dying. They thought it would take 3days maximum. Within an hour of being notified I had 3flights booked and bags packed and was on my way to the airport to travel the next 24hours praying I would get there in time.

I am sharing this because life as a leader is a series of juggling acts and commitment to what I care about. I care deeply and passionately for the children I serve is Greater Tzaneen but I also have to hold that in tension with being a daughter to my parents and sister to my two brothers back here in Australia.

I am very fortunate that the team I have trained is able to continue on strongly in South Africa and release me to come home and be the daughter my parents need me to be at this stage in their lives. The work for Keep The Dream196 has continued on under the ever present watchful eye of Elizabeth Mabuza and Nkulu Mabuza. They have freed me to come home and do what I need to do here without having concerns for business back in South Africa. We are in contact daily.

It has now been two weeks and my mum has been transferred to a step down unit, she is on no medication and appears to have “Woken up” from the coma she was in when I arrived. I am so grateful to have this special time with my mum. I have slept in the hospital every night and have stayed in the hospital for most of the day barring going to the family home for a shower.

This intensive period of care was much like when we started, working in KTD196 every hour of the waking day, nurturing, caring, encouraging, and sacrificing not knowing if we were going to succeed. We had risked everything; given up our own paying jobs to start up something that we weren’t sure was going to make it.

During both times I was able to draw on a faith which sustained me, a faith which has enabled me to survive the highs and lows of starting an organization from scratch in a strange and foreign land, of leaving my family and starting another family in South Africa with over 12,000 children.

A faith which has sustained me through the difficult process of watching my mother lose contact with this world and transition to the next only to be pulled back from the brink literally. Her hold in this world is tenuous, she is not through the woods yet, she is still gravely ill but she is still here 2weeks later.

Thank you for your patience, this report is going out a few days later than normal, my ability to write thank you letters to new donors is also hindered because I couldn’t write them in the hospital where I was.

Be that as it may I want to thank you all for your continued support of KTD196. We would not be able to continue without you, you make it all possible. I cant explain how much that means to me especially during this period, I know that KTD196 is in good hands not only with the staff but also with our friends and partners

Yours sincerely

Louise

Links:

• http://www.keepthedream196.com
• Our Facebook Page for daily updates of activities