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6 years ago

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Story-telling and Culture – do we listen?

The importance of storytelling and using our culture in creating content

Last week we published “Changing the world – one story at a time” as our weekly blog. This week we have a wonderful story that does just that! I often say that our national narrative is informed at three levels. First, what we hear from our politicians and journalists; second, what we experience day-to-day; and third, when we take the time to share stories from our own differing cultural experiences. Sadly, our daily media obsess with the first level and we seem to have so little time to spend in the second and third levels.

This is a ‘shared’ story about South African culture. Enjoy the read (Steuart Pennington)

By Zubeida Goolam

I’m an 80’s girl born in rural SA to a mixed-race father and a Zulu mother. That’s not uncommon in my country. It did get complicated given that the 80’s was a time when our country was in turmoil from a political perspective.

You see, in my small village, there were only two kinds of schools – those that accommodated black kids and those that accommodated white kids. None could be found for partial-race kids (or Other Asian as my birth certificate stated) In 1986 – the year I started primary school, the country was declared to be in a State of Emergency. This meant that I had to leave my parents and attend an all-Indian school in Pietermaritzburg, 80 kilometres away. There were uprisings everywhere and I remember that at my school and indeed many others, we were subject to frequent emergency drills. As kids we never understood the danger during these drills – obviously. It simply meant giggling under our desks instead of doing our sums.
...[read more]

MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet – A R5000 Vote?

Vote4Charity to drive R1 million in donations

May 2018

Very late in the day I have acquired a MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet card (my wife has had one for ages). I hope you will join this campaign and cast your vote! Steuart Pennington

One of the country’s biggest fund-raising programmes, MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet has pledged up to R1 million in donations, and is calling on South Africans to vote now for their favourite charity or environmental organisation. In the Vote4Charity challenge every vote secures a R5 donation for the organisation of your choice, and if you also share your vote via social media they get another R5. Over the month long campaign, organisations across the country, whether big or small, can secure substantial donations if their supporters cast their votes.
...[read more]

Early Childhood Development – the best place to invest?

In my work I come across truly incredible South Africans whose whole life is given to improving and bettering the opportunities of others. This is one such story – Steuart Pennington

Written by Sharon Dell

There is growing appreciation of the importance of play in early cognitive development, but such concerns are still far from being reflected in the allocation of resources in the early childhood development (ECD) sector. To fill this gap, three PMB-based NGOs have forged a unique partnership which makes a real investment in the future of society.

A 22-year-long study started among poor populations in Jamaica in the 1970s by Dr Sally Grantham-McGregor and Christine Powell showed that children whose mothers received weekly home visits for two years by doctors and nurses who helped them engage their babies in play attained higher test scores for reading, mathematics and general knowledge later in life. They stayed in school longer, were less likely to be violent or experience depression, and had better social skills. Significantly, they earned 25% on average more than a control group of similar children.

In a situation in which 50% of South African children who start Grade 1 drop out before matric, and 78% of Grade 4 learners are unable to read for meaning in any language, according to the latest PIRLS test, the need for early childhood stimulation programmes seems pressing.
...[read more]

FNB - HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

Philanthropy, giving that achieves lasting social change

Encourage your children to start saving early

THIS WEEK'S FAST FACT

ECD Centres in SA

There are approximately 28 500 registered Early Childhood Development Centres in South Africa caring for +/- 1 900 000 children, according to figures Released Pretoria. South Africa currently has 30 000 schools of which 23 000 are primary schools and 7000 secondary schools, including 1098 registered independent or privately owned schools. These schools have over 12 million learners, and some 386 600 teachers, approx. 580 000 learners write matric 50% of the intake in Grade 1.