|
|
Three2Six newsletter - June 2023
|
|
|
Visit of the Three2Six photo exhibition
|
|
|
|
|
|
New publication
|
|
After months of work, the project is delighted to this month have launched its new booklet “Dust in our Hair”. It all started last year with discussions held with some Three2Six children and their parents, and a Three2Six alumni. Maren Bodenstein, who was leading the process, tried to get a better sense of their context before they joined Three2Six, and of how the project had impacted their lives.
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to these conversations, photographers David Edwards and Debbie Yazbek visited the project and the families in their homes to take photographs that would add to these narratives. The result is a booklet that contains both written and visual testimonials of how refugees live in South Africa. The aim is to raise awareness of the challenges they encounter and show their strength and determination to overcome hurdles and succeed in life.
|
|
We are thankful to Maren, our families and children, our team, the photographers, and Professor Jonathan Jansen for writing the foreword to our new publication. Read these poignant stories here and share them with your networks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Menstruation remains a taboo subject and because of it, many girls around the world still live with the stigma. They are often not well educated on the subject and suffer period poverty.
|
|
The Menstrual Project visited our host school to talk to the Grade 6 and 7 girls about what menstruation is, how to navigate it and the different products that can be used during one’s menstrual cycle. The girls were given a safe space to ask the facilitators all the questions that were on their minds but they had not dared to ask before.
|
|
|
|
|
The hour they spent on the campus was not long enough to address the many questions and concerns the girls had, which is why the Menstrual Project’s team agreed to hold another discussion in the weeks to come. Thank you to their team for an enlightening and necessary workshop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A group of Three2Six children and their parents were taken to Alliance Française of Johannesburg to see the “Leaving no child behind” photo exhibition we spoke about in our previous newsletter. The collection of photographs represents our children in their homes and spotlights the kind of support provided to them by Three2Six. Some of our learners, who appeared in the photographs, were particularly excited and proud to show their friends and parents their pictures.
|
|
Before leaving, our group was treated to a fascinating visit to the Alliance’s library which has over 20,000 books, DVDs, magazines, and other resources in French. Our children also tried their hand at their French games.
|
|
|
|
Merci beaucoup to Alliance Française! It is a privilege to partner with them and to have our exhibition on their premises. We have developed a catalogue of all the photographs if you are not able to visit the exhibition. Click on this link to view it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A group of Three2Six children were invited to attend a performance event at St David's Inanda Marist. The play by the Prep School was around Marcellin Champagnat and the five Marist values, family spirit, presence, simplicity, love of work, and in the way of Mary. Each class was given a different value to perform about, it was exciting to see how young children can stand in front of people and express themselves. This gives our learners motivation to say that if that child can do it, I can do it too. The group from Three2Six who attended the event usually performs at school events.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cathy Rutivi and Abigail Dawson from Terre des Hommes Germany visited our new campus to see how well the children were settling in. Cathy and Abigail went on a tour of the campus to see the classrooms where the children were studying and all the new facilities and opportunities available to them.
|
|
They were fortunate enough to catch a marimba lesson in progress and the children showed how much they have learnt in only 6 months! They also chatted to Randry who is an alumnus of Three2Six and is currently teaching at the school. They finished off with a project meeting with the team and some hot soup prepared by the kitchen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Grade 7’s recently learned all about natural disasters and were instructed to find out more about volcanoes. They had to research this phenomenon and had to build a volcano making use of waste material and any other mediums they needed. To the excitement of the class, they made their volcanoes erupt during class!
|
|
|
|
Youth dialogue
|
Three2Six, the Outreach Foundation, Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI) and Sophiatown Community Psychosocial Services partnered for a dialogue to celebrate Youth Day. About 40 young adults from our respective organisations gathered for a day of inspiring and impactful discussions.
|
|
The themes touched on by the facilitators included: how to become a leader in one’s life; the rights of the youth; how to be a brand ambassador for one’s own brand; how to heal from trauma to thrive; how to start a business from one’s passion; and how to advocate for one’s life vision and rights. The facilitators shared practical advice and information that included how young adults can discover a purpose and work out a vision for their lives, work ethics and how to present oneself in the work environment, important values to display in the work context, how to use social media wisely, personal branding and how to address trauma.
|
|
|
|
|
|
There were lots of fun, energising items and a nice lunch during which the youth had group discussions. They had to set a goal they could achieve together, discuss their shared values, and decide on their collective vision as a group. They then presented this to everyone.
|
|
There will be a follow-up event in the weeks to come to reinforce the messages of this month’s session and present the migrant youth with concrete opportunities. Whether this be job placements, short courses or bursaries to study at university. If you would like to join this event as an organisation or local initiative for refugee and migrant youth, message us at advocacy@three2six.co.za.
|
|
|
|
Volunteers at the project
|
|
Three students from Fordham University in America arrived in South Africa this month and have been volunteering at the project since then. Abdual, who is majoring in Philosophy and Anthropology, Maddie who is majoring in Sociology and English, and Lauren who is majoring in African and African-American studies and Sociology, are here to conduct research in their fields. They will be looking at the impact of xenophobia on the lives of refugees, the choice and use of the language of instruction in educational settings, and the issues that people from the African diaspora face in Johannesburg.
|
|
|
|
The students will be engaging with and interviewing some of our teachers, staff and parents to gain a better perspective of these themes. During their time in the country, they will be based at our host school where they have already started assisting where needed. One of these students is also a musician and in a first for our eager students, they are being taught to play the violin! The students will be here for another few weeks.
|
|
|
|
Alumni day
|
|
|
|
"Literature" was the theme of our Alumni Day this month. All our activities were planned around literature and our objective was to first attempt to strengthen the alumni's reading, writing and comprehension skills. For most of them, English is not a first language. Our second objective was to showcase the benefits of reading novels and poetry as well as engaging in writing. We began our session by playing our usual ice-breaker games and this time it was a rhyming game where participants had to rhyme with the previous person’s phrase.
|
|
Our second activity was a free-flow writing activity where pupils had to scribble down their thoughts and feelings in no particular structure. However, the catch was, every 3 minutes a facilitator read out a word and the pupils had to incorporate that word into their poem. The pupils were asked to share their thoughts on the writing activity and said that “it felt therapeutic”. We were joined by Timmy Barnwell, who was a full-time Three2Six volunteer last year.
|
|
|
Our third and final activity was unprepared reading to test the level of their reading. We prompted the alumni to read various chapters of popular novels and the overall response was positive and adequate. We did recommend various novels and scriptures available on the internet for the alumni to attempt.
|
|
One of the novels sparked great discussion and contained themes of queerness and gender identity. The alumni had many questions about homosexuality and how to navigate an ever-changing world with various gender and sexuality movements and communities. Facilitator Keith Witelson led the discussion with the male alumni and introduced the idea that gender and sexuality can be seen as a spectrum, as this was a new topic for the alumni. We ended our day off with a prayer led by Pamela Paton-Mills and some lunch.
|
|
|
|
|
We have just released our new highlight video that covers the months of April and May. Click on this link to watch it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Each donation counts and helps us make a valuable change in the lives of our learners.
|
|
|
|
    
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
