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April 2021 newsletter
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13 year anniversary
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On 7 April, we celebrated our 13 years of operation. Since inception, we have provided a safe learning space to over 2600 refugee and migrant children, have grown from one campus to three, have provided over 600 000 meals and over 11 000 food parcels to our families. We have also supported 23 refugee teachers with employment in South Africa and raised over R43 000 000 for our operations. None of this could have been possible without the support of our funders, friends and supporters.
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For this occasion, we launched a week-long social media campaign in the form of a quiz for our followers to learn about our model and operations. Thank you so much to all the persons who interacted with our posts, responded to our quiz, and who showed interest in what we do. Your support helps us make a difference.
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If you would like to find out more about our history and our activities, please make sure to visit our website https://three2six.co.za/ and to contact the team for any further information.
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Easter egg hunts
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Thanks to the generous Easter egg donations of the Sacred Heart College community, our campuses could organise egg hunts for the children. The eggs were hidden by our team while the children prepared baskets to keep their eggs from the Easter bunny. The children were so enthusiastic about the hunt that most eggs were found within a few minutes. They were allowed to eat some on campus and took the rest home to enjoy.
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Alumni day
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On 17 April, we were excited to hold another Saturday alumni day with some of our past learners. The morning was cold and only a few alumni joined us at first but more did as the morning warmed up. We started off with an icebreaker to energise us before moving on to a meditative session, a “centering journey” to find oneself.
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The adult volunteer who ran this session invited the group to relax, to close their eyes and to follow him on the journey he was describing and leading them through.
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This introspective session was followed by flow writing and flow drawing, for the past learners to express what they felt during this experience, in the way that they wanted to. After this, we also had the opportunity to exchange on this experience for the ones who wanted to share.
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The volunteers then helped some of the children with their homework while the alumni who did not have homework read books. Before lunch, our volunteer Bulelani organised various games with the group to play and have a good time all together. Thanks a lot to Marist Young Adults Johannesburg for another great alumni day.
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Holiday programme and camp for our grade 7s
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During the April holidays, our Grade 7 learners participated in a 3-day holiday programme from 19 to 21 April. The subjects learnt were IsiZulu, drama and computer science.
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Children were introduced to IsiZulu as a class subject to support their integration into the South African schooling system and society. They learnt basic conversational skills in IsiZulu, as well as vocabulary and some grammar.
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The drama sessions helped children to develop skills to express themselves and work together. The theme was “good action” which was about telling a story using body language instead of words alone. In doing so, the children mainly worked on storytelling, music and movement. At the end of the sessions, a child expressed that she discovered that she can do things she first thought she was not able to do.
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For the computer lessons, our children were curious and thrilled to sit in the computer room for their first time to learn how to start a computer and how to operate it.
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Right after the end of their holiday programme, our grade 7 learners went on a 2-day leadership camp at Sediba Kwele in the North West province.
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During the camp the learners enjoyed working together to build communication, trust, team spirit and team fellowship amongst the peers. The camp environment gave the learners time to bond, for there is no team without unity.
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The activities arranged were very exciting! The volunteers and the facilitators gave swimming lessons to learners who could not swim. We also went on game drives. While driving around, the learners asked questions about the animals they could see, expanding their vocabulary and their knowledge of wild animals. The learners also had a good time hiking, rafting, ziplining and playing games which included a water challenge and an obstacle course.
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"If you fail to plan, you are simply planning to fail!" - the moral of the camp
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Three2Six in Misean Cara's newsletter
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In April, the project was delighted to be featured in a newsletter by Misean Cara which has been one of its long-standing funders. The newsletter has a spotlight on how the educational projects that are funded by Misean Cara have adapted to the pandemic. Three2Six is featured on page 4 and 5 of the newsletter. Click HERE to access it.
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During the month, the project shared its expertise of working with refugee children in South Africa with a researcher from the Disabled Refugee students Included and Visible in Education (DRIVE) project. The DRIVE project is led by a team of researchers in the United Kingdom (from the School of Education at the University of Nottingham), South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda. It aims to understand the educational inclusion and exclusion of disabled refugee students, particularly girls, in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
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The research project will gather evidence on this issue to impact policy and practice for these children to be effectively visible and included in education. Children and their families, organisations working in the education field and education officials in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe are consulted as part of this process to get a full picture of the situation in these three countries. The findings of the research will be disseminated towards the end of the year.
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Launch of Destination Unknown guidelines
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The project was thrilled to help with the development of these communications guidelines on hope-based narratives about children, young people and migration, which were launched this month. They were created to support and inspire civil society organisations, policymakers, the media, and all individuals working with and communicating about children and young people on the move, as well as to influence a shift to more hopeful and positive narratives on them.
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Three2Six contributed to the creation of these guidelines through several engagements with the Destination Unknown team and support with the drafting of messages on migration related issues that were tested with a varied audience in South Africa. We were also excited that Randry, our past learner and current volunteer, took an active part in the process and joined the Destination Unknown editorial team that worked on the resource.
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Find out more about the guidelines by clicking HERE
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Launching soon
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This month, we have been working hard on our 2020 annual report. It will cover our COVID-19 response and activities over the year, feature poems from our children among many other things. Follow us in the coming weeks to make sure you do not miss our launch!
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Fundraising update
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Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019, the World Health Organization warned that Africa’s health systems would struggle to cope if the virus began to spread on the continent. That prediction was realized in South Africa. The COVID crisis also impacted on many projects and NGOs that solely depend on fundraising.
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At the beginning of 2021, the project managed to redirect many of the funds from existing contracts and reviewed the budget to add a contingency for covid-related expenses. The goal for the year is to ensure that learners are provided with quality bridging education and can be placed in mainstream schooling, and be monitored to ensure that they complete their secondary education.
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The total budget for the year is R6,254 648 and of this amount 80% has been reserved from partners for the year 2021. The project would like to thank all the partners, donors and friends who keep ensuring that the objectives can be achieved through access to funding and financial support.
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- Private Dutch donor
- Misean Cara
- Misereor
- Terre des Hommes
- Investec Private wealth
- Caring Women’s Forum
- Breadstick Foundation
- Mary Oppenheimer and Daughters
- Johannesburg Stock Exchange
- HCI foundation
- Maitri Trust
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We would also like to thank the parents of Sacred Heart College who continue to provide additional support for the families in need and also make financial donations to the project. It is through your generosity that we are able to make such a valid contribution to the lives of the children and their homes.
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The support from partners and sponsors enabled the project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the operations of the project since the beginning of the school year. If you would like to receive a tax certificate for your donation, please do email us on partnerships@three2six.co.za
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