Tearfund volunteers benefit iThemba Academy pupils

Focus on Ithemba Academy and two Embo crèches have benefitted from the invaluable input of UK and SA TearFund volunteers who have spent the last 10 weeks helping improve the children’s lives.

Local NGO, Zoë Life partnered with TearFund, a UK based charity, to bring The International Citizen Service (ICS) programme to South Africa. Volunteers are funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Team iThemba consisted of Naomi Woodcock (UK), a third year international development and sociology student, Abigail Nelson (UK), fifth year Civil Engineering student; Rebecca Leeman (Bex) (UK), third year Theology student, Fika Gwala (SA), soccer coach in his local community and team leader, Theresia Baumker, who has a PhD in Health Economics and Social Policy.

Bex and Fika have been based at the Focus on iThemba Academy where they have taught the children P.E and held a wellness day which focused on a balanced diet, hygiene and the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

“We see P.E as a great need in the school and it will be a joy to be able to ensure that P.E lessons can continue even once we have left. We ran a sports day which celebrated what the children have learnt during our time at the academy. We have also been able to get a box of resources to leave behind at the academy in order that P.E can continue to be taught with adequate resources,” said Bex.

They also held a child trafficking workshop to raise awareness on the importance of stranger danger as well as highlighting how unique and special each child is. The workshop consisted of a short talk about child trafficking, teaching them the emergency number and running a hand printing activity with each class. The children printed their hands onto paper: with the words “I am special, I am priceless” , these were cut out to create a wall display outside the classrooms.

Naomi and Abigail have been working with the crèches to assess areas in which  improvements are needed to be able to access government funding. Their recommendations will be passed on to the next group of volunteers.  They also read and created craft based bible stories for the children to enjoy.

This is Naomi’s first visit to South Africa and she said of her work in the crèches, “It has been an eye-opening but positive experience. The children have been incredible and delightful.” Abigail added, “It has been challenging but rewarding and we hope we have helped make them more sustainable and become more self sufficient.”