Blog

Dear Friends and partners of Keep The Dream196,
 What an AMAZING year we have had. What an incredible 10years we have had serving the   children, families and communities of Limpopo and Acornhoek. What an extraordinary journey it has been from such humble beginnings, please allow me to reminisce during this report so that you can agree with me, it certainly has been an amazing journey.  

This report is going to be a bit different in that I need your advice! In the past when we have approached our target I have, under advice from GlobalGiving, just increased the target figure but I have realised that this is probably not fair to our partners because you think we are close and then the goal posts move.

YIPPEEEEEE we received some funding to go camping during the school holidays. The kids are so excited,We received $100 from the microproject to put towards the camp so that is great as well.

The weather has turned hot 39C today and 42C tomorrow but that does not affect the enthusiasm for camp at all.

Living in the rural area obviously isn't a nightmare day out day in, children live a normal everyday life, with the bad and good times that they would have all over the world. They love their parents, they fight with their parents, they go to school, are sometimes lazy and sometimes exited, but the exception comes with, what has sadly become normality for a lot of them: many parents are unemployed (like 27% of adults in Limpopo) or may be working far away in the economic centers like Joburg or Pretoria, children might be looked after by their siblings or grandparents.

My name is Meg Smyth, I am 71 yrs old and I come from Riverton in South Australia. In 2004 my friend Rose Argent and I travelled to Keep The Dream196 in Tzaneen South Africa to experience the real South Africa and not the tourist Africa. We wanted to see the real world, and we did.

On behalf of KNH I visited Limpopo partners, on 26/27.08. Keep the Dream 196 was on my agenda. Firstly, we go to a Journey of Life workshop in which 15 mothers of scouts talk about their own childhood and reflect on how they can support their children in having a brighter future. They share about their families and they enjoy playing the games which illustrate the message of the modules. 15 women who are willing to face serious facts, but also who love and laugh and have so much potential.
 

I have just come back from a visit to Burgersdorp (approximately 30kms from Tzaneen) where I met over 100 children from 1st, 2nd & 3rd Burgersdorp Scout Troop and Cub Packs. These kids have come from all over this village at my request so that I could introduce a prospective donor to the life skills program. The kids are always eager and keen to meet together and show off what they are doing. Their passion for this program keeps me going when the day to day struggles with beaurocracy threaten to push me under.

What is the worlds second largest ILLEGAL Business GLOBALLY Your probably thinking “What on earth am I talking about?” But ask your self the question any way! If you answered Armaments like missiles, tanks, bombs, guns etc you are wrong that is the 3rd largest illegal global business. The second largest ILLEGAL Business GLOBALLY is human trafficking! Shocked? Surprised? Devastated? We should be. Today people become commodities and are trafficked across the globe for a variety of reasons such as: labour; sexual exploitation; soldiers; and organ trafficking.

Although it happened in 2012, children living in greater Tzaneen may remember one astonishing koala. This koala's unique talent was riding a bicycle.

The koala's name was Katie and she cycled in tandem with me through Africa. We started in Uganda and made our way to Tzaneen in August of 2012. The reason was to raise awareness of the support and activities provided by Keep the Dream 196 for orphaned and vulnerable children. When we arrived, many of the children being supported by KTD196 waited at the roadside to meet Katie, the koala. Wherever she went, Katie was an attraction.