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May 2022 newsletter
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“When I grow up I want to be a scientist!” - Precious, 10 years old, grade 3
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2021 annual report launch
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We are pleased to announce that we have launched our 2021 annual report! It covers the activities that took place at the project during the second year of this global pandemic, and provides information on our team, news from our alumni and details on how to get involved in the project. The report is available here.
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We would like to thank all our partners and funders for their continuous support towards the project, you made 2021 a momentous year for us despite the challenges faced.
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Dominican Convent School learners
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Last year, we released a booklet compiling poems written by our learners around being a refugee and the struggles that come with it. After reading it, grade 5 children from the Dominican Convent School were inspired to write their own poems which they called “Welcome to Africa”. The group visited our grade 5 learners to read to them their own poetry and share a bit about their home countries. It was great to make new friends!
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We would love to have similar partnerships with other schools. Please don't hesitate to contact us at advocacy@three2six.co.za for any suggestions. If you haven’t read our poetry booklet yet, you can do so here.
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On the 27th, all our learners came together for burn awareness talks by the Smile Foundation. This organisation works with disadvantaged children who have facial abnormalities, such as cleft lip, and burns, and provides them with pro bono reconstructive surgery.
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Through these presentations, our children learnt about fire and burn prevention at home and in other contexts. Before leaving, the Smile Foundation very kindly handed out toiletry bags to all our children and teachers, as well as blankets donated by the Light A Sparke organisation. We are very grateful for their support.
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Social cohesion initiative
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This month, we introduced self-defense classes at our Sacred Heart College campus. Self-defence is more than just learning combat techniques to protect oneself against an attacker. It also teaches learners how to judge a situation to avoid danger and how to act with confidence.
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At Three2Six, we added a social cohesion component to it to allow for new friendships to develop. Every Tuesday, grade 6 learners from the main school and from Three2Six get together for these classes that are held by our partner Judo for Peace.
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The programme started at the beginning of the new term and will carry on for 12 weeks, before moving to our other campuses next term. Thank you to all participants.
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Reading support
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Reading can be intimidating for the little ones especially to those who know that they are struggling with it. Our volunteers make reading exciting by using fun techniques that are difficult to forget. They support the grade 2 learners with their reading every day before class with a special focus on the learners who are far behind. They listen to them read, help with difficult words and with pronunciation. We have definitely seen an improvement in their reading since the start of this initiative.
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Play Africa visit
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Our grade 3 and 4 learners visited our partner Play Africa at Constitutional Hill over the last few weeks. This month it was the turn of our grade 5s. They all worked with the design thinking model for children, which encouraged them to dream big, create and be actors of change.
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The team has been working on a new advocacy project. At the end of last year, our advocacy officer conducted interviews with some of our parents to better understand the challenges they face in the country as non-South Africans when accessing their basic rights. These individual stories will be compiled and turned into a booklet to raise awareness of the difficulties refugees and migrants face in the country, which are obstacles to their integration and to their full participation in the society. We can’t wait to share this with you soon.
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Engagement with Parliament
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For a bigger and lasting impact on the lives of our beneficiaries, our team has been partnering with the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) to identify efficient ways to engage with Parliament. The strategies discussed will be implemented over the next few weeks, through direct engagement with individual Members of Parliament and other initiatives.
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Psychosocial Rights Forum meeting
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During the month, we attended this meeting along with other organisations working with migrants such as the Jesuit Refugee Service, Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) and Future Families. Some of the representatives at the meeting explained the issues they are facing in the provision of services to their beneficiaries and mentioned their upcoming projects for potential partnerships.
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This month, our intern Divine who has been supporting our communications efforts since the beginning of last year has seen her role expand. She is now also in charge of some of our monitoring and evaluation activities. In this role, she will collect data that will be relevant for funding applications and reports. Divine will also be in charge of keeping track of our alumni and of our children's nutritional needs.
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Catch up on our April activities by watching our highlight video on YouTube:
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The June edition will come out soon!
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Each donation counts and helps us make a valuable change in the lives of our learners
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