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Three2Six newsletter - June 2024
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Celebration of Child Protection Week
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During this year's Child Protection Week, our organisation joined hands with our partners, the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI) to advocate for the rights and well-being of all children in the country. The week-long celebration included a series of impactful initiatives aimed at raising awareness and fostering community engagement for a safer, more supportive environment for all children, including refugees and migrants.
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Together we launched a social media campaign to educate the public on children's rights and to urge them to take action, hosted a webinar with UNICEF and Centre for Child Law, discussing with youth from Save the Children South Africa challenges faced by marginalized children and proposing solutions, and issued a press release and opinion piece on critical child protection issues. To close off the celebrations, we conducted a community workshop on positive parenting and the importance of play in child development with the support of Johannesburg Parent and Child Counselling Centre (JPCCC). Visit our social media platforms to see our awareness campaign and help us spread the word.
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Welcoming visitors to the project
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This month, we were honored to receive visits from two of our funders: the Breadsticks Foundation and a private client trust administered by Investec Wealth & Investment International. They have respectively been funding the project since 2016 and 2020.
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During their visits, the representatives were given a comprehensive tour of our host school's facilities and had the opportunity to speak directly with some of the students they support through their generous funding. They also engaged with our team to learn more about our daily efforts and recent activities and initiatives within our project. We are grateful for their ongoing support, which significantly impacts our work assisting refugee children in need of education.
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Donations
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We are thankful for the generous donation of stationery items from the wonderful Grade 3 students of De La Salle Holy Cross School! Thanks to their kindness, our educational project received pencils, pens, rulers and other stationery that will be put to great use. To show their appreciation, our students created beautiful thank you cards, brimming with gratitude and joy. Thank you for supporting our children’s learning journey.
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Supporting our parents
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On 22 June, a team of social workers and paralegals from our partner organisation, Outreach Foundation, dedicated half a day to assisting our host school and Three2Six parents.
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They introduced their services provided to both local and refugee communities and assessed each parent to understand the issues they face accessing basic services. The event focused on school registrations, which will open soon, to help our Grade 7 parents who will need to go through this process for their children. Since the meeting, our partner has been offering further assistance to our parents, including helping them obtain proof of birth from the hospital to apply for a birth certificate, which is crucial for the school registration process ahead. We are grateful for their ongoing support and dedication to our community.
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Team update
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As we said goodbye to Ida, our amazing volunteer from CMI Germany, we reflect on the contributions she made over the past six months. Her dedication in the classroom, helping both our teachers and children, her daily assistance with the supervision of the children, and her support with administrative tasks and other duties have been invaluable to our team. She was also very involved in our monthly alumni days held by the Marist network.
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Ida has returned to Germany to pursue her tertiary education later this year. We wish her all the best in this new chapter. Thank you so much to her for her support during these six months, and to our partner CMI Germany for their continued support!
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Social media campaign
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As announced in last month's newsletter, the project has embarked on a collaborative social media campaign with its partners Misean Cara and FMSI. This month, to celebrate World Refugee Day, we launched a video that highlights the impact that our three organisations are having together on the lives of refugees in Johannesburg. Make sure to watch it here and give it a like!
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Alumni day
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The past alumni day, we gathered in the cold to say "goodbye" to Ida. The alumni were completing the last stretch of their exam season. The session was spent doing yoga exercises as well as reflecting on youth day. The alumni engaged in discussions about the 1976 Soweto uprisings, youth day and the impact of the youth in today's society. The alumni presented their thoughts and reflections of South Africa, democracy and the education system since 1976. We ended off our session with lunch and refreshments.
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Each donation counts and helps us make a valuable change in the lives of our learners.
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