The children had a wonderful time interacting with animals while learning important lessons.

Hurt and abandoned animals show our youth the way

Our staff focus remains on understanding and practising ‘the courage to care’. Staff teams and the organisation have increased our efforts at reaching out and becoming a positive influence in the lives of our young people and families through a process of breaking down barriers.

Accessing caring and developmental environments ensures positive impact and lasting influence on our youth and families.
 
Patty and Peter are two people who show their immense caring for animals and people by opening their home and hearts to all. Their Animal Rescue Farm in KZN was just the place to take some of the youngsters from Girls & Boys Town in the school holidays.

Reluctance

We saw the reluctance on the boys’ faces to have anything to do with the animals at first, because of fear. They did not know or understand the animals, never having been in close contact with so many in their lives before.

Then we saw the change on their faces as the day progressed. Their eyes and hearts were opened through the love they received from these mostly hurt and abandoned animals.

It was like a miracle unfolding before our eyes. Here are some extracts from their letters:

• “When I went to the farm, it was amazing to see animals coming to greet me and not harm me – they were friendly.”
• “At first I was scared but in the end I felt proud of myself. The thing I liked most was feeding the horses.”
• “It was my first time to touch a horse and be around so many animals without being scared.”
• “The horses and dogs liked having tea and sandwiches with us at the table!”
• “The horses and donkeys and even the dogs were eating carrots. It was amazing to see animals behave like that.”
• “We were throwing the ball in the water and the dogs would fetch the ball out of the water!”

Sunshine call

Author Trevor Hudson wrote in his book ‘Signposts to Spirituality – Towards a Closer Walk with God’: “The great commandment is given to us for our wholeness, the wellbeing of our relationships and the healing of our societies. We discover how loving (and caring for) others releases within them immense possibilities for growth and change.”

Caring always starts with a thought such as ‘Who can I serve today and how? We have to be faithful to follow through on those good thoughts – and to carry out those thoughts we have to get involved.’

Show your caring by making that sunshine call. Write that note of encouragement. Send off that donation for a good cause – get active. Our lives become a blessing when we reach out and care for others.

Abandoned as a very young child Yolanda* had been raised by her maternal grandmother, who sadly passed away last year. That is how she came to join the Girls & Boys Town “family” at the beginning of 2011.

The Girls & Boys Town team have had to help her manage many overwhelming challenges: She has numerous health problems arising from foetal alcohol syndrome, the most serious of which was a malformed kidney. The kidney had to be removed not long after Yolanda joined Girls & Boys Town - she was incredibly brave and underwent the operation with no complaints.

When she went back to the hospital for her post-op check-up, the doctors discovered she had a couple of tumours next to her spine. This required major surgery but she bore this setback with patience, dignity and courage. The operation went ahead and she recovered well.

She has now returned to school and is working with great determination to make up the work she missed. Her school has been amazed at her positive attitude and her progress and we are all very proud of her.

While she was in hospital she made friends with one of the nurses who expressed an interest in being her host parent. After much screening and preparatory work from the team, Yolanda finally spent a weekend with her “new host” and the good news is she is now visiting her host family regularly.

Removing barriers to achieve success takes hard work and tenacity on all sides. Your and our ongoing support will ensure that nothing stands in Yolanda’s pathway into the future.

Caring for horses stretches the horizons of our Cape youth

One of our boys during the animal assisted therapy session.

The therapy helped our boys and girls grow and embrace positive change.

Our young people are afforded the opportunity through Animal Assisted Therapy and Equestrian Therapy with the Forest Riding Club.

Benefits

It is well documented that therapy with animals can bring a wide range of physiological and  psychological benefits to both children and adults who have suffered a variety of traumas.

Our children participate in activities that emulate situations they will experience in their own interactions within society. They learn skills such as responding rather than reacting, being assertive as opposed to aggressive and to trust and submit within a safe environment.

Our girls and boys have all enjoyed the riding itself, the grooming of the horses and the relationships they are building with the horses. At the end of each session they write up their experiences in the diaries the riding club gives them.

When they have gained a bit more confidence and experience in handling the horses they will go on out-rides in the forest and up into the mountains above Tokai. That’s something they cannot wait to do!

How effective are we

The three phase project will help our youth to grow and develop into responsible citizens.

This is the question constantly on the minds of staff at Girls & Boys Town and that is asked of us by the public and our generous donors – “How successful are we at achieving our mission?”

Our mission is to…

“Create opportunities for youth to grow and develop into responsible citizens, able to contribute to family and community life in a spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, equality and solidarity with others.”

Our Research Department has strategised to answer this question accurately. The Girls & Boys Town research team has been joined by Professor Adrian Van Breda (Associate Professor in the social work department of Johannesburg University). His crucial expertise and guidance adds great value to this project.

It is a three-phase project that will identify the key factors youth need in order to “Grow and  develop into responsible citizens” within two years. We will then assess each youth being helped by Girls & Boys Town on these variables and adjust our interventions to target specific variables.

We will continue to track these youth while at Girls & Boys Town, as well as after they have left, evaluating their journey towards becoming ‘responsible citizens’. In this way we will be able to measure how effective we have been.

Phase one

The first phase, called “The Journey into Independence”, will be completed by March. By interviewing young adults who left Girls & Boys Town at least five years ago, we are uncovering the triumphs and challenges they have experienced in becoming independent.

We are truly excited about what is being learned from these early stages of research. Already it is helping us to prepare our youth to become ‘responsible citizens’.

A staff member’s journey...

Mackey Moodley is seen with one of the students during an interactive lesson.

Computer Phobia

My name is Mackey Moodley. Before I joined Girls & Boys Town in 1998, I was an educator employed by the KZN Education Department. I am presently the Learner Support Teacher Aide at Girls & Boys Town KZN.

I humorously refer to myself as BBT – Born Before Technology. I must confess that I had a real fear for computers and avoided touching one at all costs. Can you imagine how my blood pressure and anxiety levels rose when I was required to attend a computer-based numeracy and literacy course in Gauteng.

I had sleepless nights. I made all sorts of excuses not to go. However, I realised that I was the one who always quotes Nelson Mandela, “Nothing is Impossible until it’s done.” Off I went to Gauteng and the rest, as they say, is history.

I am now computer literate and enjoy working with computers, especially the Maths Buddy and Accelerate Program. The youth at Girls & Boys Town Tongaat are also benefitting a lot.

Sipho* (Grade 5), Thabo* and Angela* (Grade 6), have shown an improvement in their school work after being exposed to the computer based and Face to Face lessons in Literacy and Numeracy.

Letters from our Councillors

Our proud mayor and councillors are part of the decision making team at Girls & Boys Town.

Girls & Boys Town is the only child care organisation in South Africa where youngsters are significantly involved in decision-making concerning their own affairs. Our unique system of peer group self-government and ‘family-style’ living encourages girls and boys to learn about leadership and responsibility under the guidance of adults. A councillor and now Mayor, shares his journey …

My experience as Councillor and Mayor,
At first I was nervous because I was not sure how the boys would react to me as councillor. I knew what I was stepping into was not going to be easy, but I knew it would be worth while and a big learning experience for me. Being a councillor of Girls & Boys Town Magalies is the most rewarding “Job” that I have done. Leading the boys has been a great experience as I have learned how to deal with other people and I have learned more about myself. I was very happy when I was a councillor, but that was not my goal, my goal was to become Mayor of G.B.T and I can proudly say today I’ve reached that goal. The most important thing that I have learned from being a councillor and a mayor is that a “leader is a servant” and respect comes to those who give it. I’d like to say thank you to Girls & Boys Town for redirecting me into the right path and showing me that positive change is good. From Collin