Youth Day celebrations

Youth Day celebrations

Youth Day

Youth Day, on 16 June, saw our young people participating in a special programme in our Hall. They took turns in performing individually and in groups with a variety of song, dance, readings  and drama. Grateful thanks to Feed the Nation and Pick ‘n Pay for sponsoring eats and juice to round off the day.

Meanwhile our teenage boys enjoyed a friendly soccer game at Valley View Place of Safety. Special thanks to Glenwood Superspar for their kind donation of gift vouchers to the value of R800, which allowed for us to buy snack packs for the boys to enjoy on their trip.

 

Youth Day Donations

Giving back to the community, thanks to the Hollywood Bets Foundation

Giving back to the community, thanks to the Hollywood Bets Foundation

Flood Relief

As a registered Child and Youth Care Centre, we are accustomed to being on the receiving end of charity. So it was a real joy for us to be able to give back for a change.

This came about when the Hollywood Bets Foundation selected DCYCC as one of their outreach partners for the  Hope is Power – Disaster Relief campaign. Launched in response to the recent floods in KZN, the campaign focused on getting help to where it was most needed. We received R30  000 to help families of our children (past and present) who lost their homes and possessions. We were able to visit these families, bringing much needed gifts of food, blankets, drinking water and toiletries.

Thank you Hollywood Bets Foundation for this wonderful donation – and for choosing us to be one of your outreach partners!

Broken crayons can still colour

Broken crayons can still colour

Nokhanyo graduates from university

An uplifting story from one of our ‘old girls’, Nokhanyo, pictured above on the day she graduated with her Master’s degree in Population Studies

When Nokhanyo was 6 years old, her mother died, leaving 5 children behind. Their father then became an alcoholic and abandoned the children. They had nothing but sorrow and poverty. But Nokhanyo tried her best to love and care for her siblings.

Their world changed for the better when they were placed at the Durban Child and Youth Care Centre. For the fist time Nokhanyo experienced how it feels to be loved and nurtured.

“I didn’t have parents, yes,” she says. “But I went to one of the most prestigious schools. And the love and care I received gave me the gift of childhood. I had the freedom to dream, and to believe in myself and the wealth of potential within me.”

Heart warming love and support

“I’ll never forget the love and congratulatory messages I received from the office staff and child care workers when I was awarded trophies and merit certificates in primary school. They were so heart-warming. I also remember my first laptop and a R1000 gift voucher I received from a lovely sponsor, in recognition of my hard work.

As a result of the support and opportunities I received, I matriculated from Durban Girls’ High School in 2014 with a bachelor’s pass and two distinctions.”

While many kids from her high school had options, Nokhanyo knew she had to get the best results in order to go to university. And, knowing that her siblings were being well cared for allowed her to concentrate on her studies.

First in her family to matriculate

She was the first in her family to complete matric and to attend university.
She wanted to be a Psychologist, and was accepted to study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology and Sociology, she did her Master’s in Population Studies. Now aged 27, Nokhanyo has this advice for today’s youngsters at DCYCC:

“I learnt that life doesn’t give you what you deserve but what you fight for. We might come from poor, broken families and our parents might have failed us. But wealthy, stable, united families can come out of us. Broken crayons still colour and give meaning to a drawing. No matter how broken we may have been in the past, the little we still have left in us can change our lives for the better.”

Message from the Director – Mandy Goble

Message from the Director – Mandy Goble

Human capacit for burden

How does one even begin to comment on all that has happened over the past few months? The devastating flood of April will certainly remain etched in the minds of all in KZN for decades to come.

We were blessed that our children, staff, and their families survived the ordeal with minimal loss and damage to property and personal belongings.
And although our grounds took a beating, our aged but solid buildings stood firm against the torrential rains.

We were however saddened to hear of the passing of a woman who spent her childhood in our care. Over the past 30 years, she had built a successful career and life. But in the early hours of that fateful day, she lost her life when her home collapsed on top of her, her partner and her son. I recall her as a feisty 16-year-old, who faced her truth with courage, and never used her years spent in the Centre as an excuse for not giving her best.

Nokhanyo’s story is another such testimony to resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulty and challenge. We know there are many more stories like this still to come. This – and the amazing generosity of our friends and supporters – is what encourages us to face tomorrow with hope.

Thank you!

Mandy Goble – Director Durban & Child Youth Care Centre

Spend Mandela Day with us

Spend Mandela Day with us

Mandela Day Volunteers

Monday 18 July is Mandela Day! Why not start your week off on a good note, by volunteering to help make our Child Care Centre bright and beautiful with a new coat of paint and other maintenance projects?

Get a team together from your workplace – or gather a bunch of friends together and book now for one of these Mandela Day opportunities:

Sand down window frames

All our window frames in the office, Khayelisha House, Amaqhawe Care Centre, Saunders House, SAWA House and the hall are in need of a little TLC. We need 5 enthusiastic volunteers for each venue (total 30 voluteers). Please bring gloves and sandpaper with you.

Supply and install lace curtains

We need 12 white lace curtains (size 2m x 2m), together with stretch wire and hooks for our hall. 5 volunteers needed for this task.

Set up Mini Library for Teenage Girls Unit

Three volunteers needed to supply and install bookshelves and arrange books. You will need to bring bookshelves and gloves, please.

Varnish jungle gyms

We have two sets of jungle gyms that need to be painted with water based wood treatment and varnish (if necessary, depending on the instructions pertaining to the treatment product ). Two sets of 5 volunteers needed. Each team to bring 2 x 5l water base wood treatment and 2 x 5l varnish (optional), plus 5 paint brushes.

Pavement clean up & weeding

A total of 10 volunteers needed to pull weeds and clean up the paving. Please bring gloves, bin bags and rakes.

Clean up and replant vegetable garden

5 enthusiastic gardening volunteers needed for this task. Please bring gloves, spades, rakes, compost and vegetable seeds/seedlings.

Paint TV Room and Security Gate

5 volunteers needed to sand down and paint the security gate and TV room. Please bring sandpaper, 20l paint and paint brushes.

Paint Saunders House front entrance walls

5 volunteers needed for this task. Please bring sandpaper, 10l paint and paint brushes.

For more information or to volunteer for any of these tasks, please contact Nicolette Modicka  by emailing nicolette@dch.org.za.

You could also choose to help out by donating items on our Wish List. Or make a cash donation online right now! Thank you!

New computer rooms and skills training – thanks to the Chester Group and Activate Academy

New computer rooms and skills training – thanks to the Chester Group and Activate Academy

At the beginning of the year, some members of the Chester Group visited our Home. As they toured the facilities, we mentioned the need for a study/computer room for our children. A month later, the Chester Group contacted us to let us know they wanted to renovate and set up not one, but two computer rooms for our children – one on each property – so that our children would have safe and easy access to these facilities whenever needed.

Needless to say, we were overwhelmed by this wonderful news! At last, our children wouldn’t have to queue up at our reception area and ask our receptionist for help with assignment research, printing, etc.

But more was to come. We were also offered the Activate Academy online learning programme, which is designed to grow the capacity of youth through self-led and blended learning programmes.

Activate Academy

Jacqueline Joshua, a facilitator of Activate Academy, now comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays to run the training sessions. Our young people started with a course on leadership, which they are thoroughly enjoying. They receive a certificate after completing each course.

Thank you Chester Group and Activate Academy!

As an added footnote: one night during loadshedding some neighbours drove past our Home and noticed that the place was mostly in darkness. They came to us with an offer to help by donating portable rechargeable lights for each of our houses. What a difference this had made! Thanks to these two members of the community, we now have sufficient lighting in and around our home during loadshedding.