Children are the key to any nation's future, and therefore are key to our community interventions. We work with children in a variety of ways, from those who have lost their parents, to those with other instances of abuse and vulnerability. We provide holistic care, looking at the socioeconomic, psychosocial and spiritual elements of the children and families we support. We have a key focus on the support of HIV positive children.
HIV Positive Children
HIV still carries stigma, and for infected children and their families this is particularly heavy. Traditionally, many parents' relationships with their children is such that sharing difficult information like a positive HIV status is a very difficult thing. Our work begins with the parents/guardians of HIV positive children and adolescents as we walk with them through the process of fully disclosing to the child about their HIV status. From that point, we are also able to work with the children, and run residential camps to provide psychosocial support, HIV treatment literacy and peer support to these vulnerable young people. Taking them to camp gives us the opportunity to reduce their social isolation and increase their resiliency living with the virus and stigma that still surround it.
"I used to think that I couldn't have any dreams for my life because I'm HIV positive. But now I see that I have hope, I'm not alone, and I have a future. I want to become a social worker so that I can help others, too." |
Interactive HIV education with children at camps
|
Parenting Skills Camps & Workshops
"At camp I learned quite a lot about how we should raise our children... I learnt more about myself. |
Many parents and guardians in our local tribal area struggle to bring up children struggling to provide the positive parental input they need to navigate the difficulties of modern life. We run parenting skill workshops and camps to increase positive parenting skills and improve parent-child communication.
|
Creche Support
We support nearly 30 creches located throughout the Amangwe Tribal area and beyond. These creches provide a brighter future through the provision of early childhood development for over 1,000 children. We run workshops every two months with the creche teachers, visit the creches regularly to support their development as independent non-profit organizations. We support with the provision of information and pass along donations to support the future generations of Amangwe children.
Reach4Life Programme
Bringing values, lifeskills and hope for the future to local youth
Thembalethu's new Reach4Life program provides a Bible-based lifeskills foundation to students in grades 6 and 7 at four different local primary schools. With class sizes ranging from 40 to 80 children in each class, it is not difficult to imagine that many students miss out on important life lessons in school. The Reach4Life program consists of 40 lessons and addresses issues of identity, Christian foundations, and speaks directly about relationships, sex, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention, crime, and many other social ills in the local area. These difficult issues, especially discussions of sexuality and HIV prevention are not often broached at home, and even teachers given the task of educating children are mostly happy for others to take over for them.
Thembalethu's new Reach4Life program provides a Bible-based lifeskills foundation to students in grades 6 and 7 at four different local primary schools. With class sizes ranging from 40 to 80 children in each class, it is not difficult to imagine that many students miss out on important life lessons in school. The Reach4Life program consists of 40 lessons and addresses issues of identity, Christian foundations, and speaks directly about relationships, sex, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention, crime, and many other social ills in the local area. These difficult issues, especially discussions of sexuality and HIV prevention are not often broached at home, and even teachers given the task of educating children are mostly happy for others to take over for them.
