Masupatsela

ISIBINDI
DIRECTED by ALETTE SCHOON
EDITED by TINA-LOUISE SMITH
TX 7th June 2010

Isibindi is a social franchise for doing child and youth care work with orphans and vulnerable children. It is called a franchise because organisations adopt a tried and tested model that is supported by government and funders with strict standards set for the monitoring of the work that is done. The National Association of Child Care Workers mentors the work and does detailed data collection of each project, which makes it easy to work closely with government and donors, and to ensure that children get the best service possible. Child care workers are trained through a course registered with the National Qualifications Framework, so that the community members are set on a recognised career path in the Welfare sector.

In Alice Isibindi assists 432 children, of whom 20 are disabled. Isibindi’s approach creates circles of care around children who are vulnerable or orphaned. The Isibindi care workers provide support to these children – many of whom head households – and allow them time to themselves, to do homework, and to play. The Isibindi model prefers to keep children within the spaces they know, encouraging them to build stronger links with people they know around them, rather than removing them to a place they do not know. Sive and Xhanti for example, were orphaned when their mother died of AIDS. Their grandmother became their guardian, but she had no place to stay and survived only on her pension. Primrose Ndiko recognised the family’s situation and approached members of the Phumlani community to help the family. She requested the chief to allocate a piece of land to the family and found volunteers to build them a house. Today the three – grandmother and two grandchildren – live together in their house because of community and Isibindi support.

While many organisations wait until parents die before intervening, Isibindi encourages parents to test and know their HIV status. This way parents can live for their children, both ensuring that they remain healthy even if they are HIV positive and that they can plan for how to look after their children when they are dead and their children are alone.

TO CONTACT OR CONTRIBUTE TO THE ISIBINDI franchise:
telephone Zeni Thumbadoo on +27 31 312 9484 or +27 79 492 5750, fax her at +27 86 572 7008, email her, or visit the web site.

IF YOU ARE PART OF AN ORGANISATION THAT WOULD LIKE TO ADOPT THE ISIBINDI FRANCHISE:
- collect data and apply for an Isibindi social franchise
- work with community members to recruit potential child and youth care workers
- train these recruits in a series of ongoing courses registered with the National Qualifications Framework
- access Isibindi mentoring to support child and youth care work and provide professional advice
- recruit families to the programme
- get child and youth care workers to engage in a range of psycho-social and domestic services to help children to cope
- assist children  and their care givers to access services in their community, such as schools, ARVs, clinics, grants
- work with Isibindi’s programme and access Isibindi funding and government support.

NKANYEZI STIMULATION CENTRE
DIRECTED by JACQUELINE VAN MEYGAARDEN
EDITED by JEMIMA SPRING

Thembekile Shabalala is an extraordinary woman who has been working with and supporting children with cerebral palsy in Soweto for a number of years. Her son, Nkanyezi, was born with cerebral palsy in 1989 and Thembikile had to cope with the fact that her husband blamed her for their son’s condition. He forced her to choose between him and her son – she chose her son over her marriage and got divorced. Her sister and their family gave her a great deal of support during this difficult time.

Determined to help her son, she set out to find out more about cerebral palsy and started attending training about the condition. She learnt a great deal and in 1991, started working at schools that cerebral palsy kids attended. She realized that there weren’t many facilities to look after kids with this and similar conditions, and many children were sent away. In addition, the stigma attached to having a disabled child made many parents hide them away. So Thembekile started a support group with the parents of cerebral palsy children called ‘Dimpho tsa rona. She had many challenges to keep the group going as there were problems with finding a meeting venue and transport costs were unaffordable.

Eventually she decided to set up her own centre, registered as an NGO in 2001 and applied for funding from the Department of Health. They are called the Nkanyezi Stimulation Centre, after Thembekile’s son who passed away in 2000. The organisation now supports itself on a small amount of government funding, donations, private funders, and volunteers from the community.

Thembekile was recently nominated in the Checkers Woman of the Year Awards and is still fighting for financial support. In 2008, with funding from Standard Bank, City Parks created a park for disabled children where they can play and interact and still be in their wheelchairs.  This stimulation park in Orlando West provides an opportunity to disabled children to play and have fun without any judgment from others and is the first of its kind in the area.

TO CONTACT OR CONTRIBUTE TO THE NKANYEZI STIMULATION CENTRE:
contact Thembekile on +27 79 185 8231.

TO SET UP A SIMILAR PROJECT WHERE YOU LIVE, LEARN FROM THEMBEKILE’S PROCESS:
- when her son was born, she found as much information as she could about cerebral palsy
- she started helping at schools and saw the conditions
- she started a support group for parents of children with cerebral palsy
- she registered an NPO
- she managed to raise funds from government, donors and business
- she was instrumental in the creation of a stimulation park for differently abled kids.

POSITIVE MOMS
In 2007 we featured a story on the work that Positive Moms is doing around South Africa. This organisation works with HIV positive mothers to ensure that they are able to obtain the medication they need and have the information they require to keep living healthy lives. In this episode we speak with Romy Saitowitz to find out how the organisation has grown and learn that through increased funding they are also able to ensure the children of HIV positive mothers receive proper care and treatment.

FOR MORE ON Positive Moms:
visit their web site.

SCREEN GRABS FROM THE ISIBINDI AND NKANYEZI STIMULATION CENTRE STORIES: