New chairperson to lead Kingsburgh Welfare into the future

As Kingsburgh Child and family Welfare (KCFW) celebrates its 75th anniversary, it has appointed a warrior to lead the charge to keep its doors open. Iris Canham has taken over as chairperson from Rev Andrew Manning. Sun readers will know Iris as a force to be reckoned with, who started a school under a tree in Lower Illovo with only three learners that soon blossomed into 70. She then started workshops for early childhood development (ECD) centres that led to her forming Indwe Learning Centres that has done amazing work, teaching ECDs how to become sustainable. “The nomination to become a member came as a surprise and the chairmanship an even bigger one, even though I had collaborated with welfare on a few projects in the past year. The organisation is passionate about the well-being of the community and has a real family-orientated spirit. I am passionate about community development, especially the development of children and the focus on strengthening families as the foundation of a healthy and progressive society. I come from a very community-orientated family. “Being able to lead an organisation in its 75th year of operation, a society that fulfills diverse needs, is humbling. I want to see families grow and family values become the pillars of our society. Even though society has evolved in 75 years, the core essence of helping others build their lives can never be outdated.” READ ALSO: Emergency response may save Amanzimtoti ECDs Indwe Learning Centres relocating to Durban as most of the directors are based there, freed up her time to head KCFW. “I am now an independent community development practitioner with my own practice. I am still involved with ECD centres, currently working with six in Umgababa and Ilfracombe, one community project in Lovu Township, one hospice association and one special needs school in mentorship, training and sustainability.” With a scare that last month that KCFW was in such dire finances that it could shut its doors for good, understandably one of Iris’ focal points is to remedy this. “Keeping welfare’s doors open is a collaborative approach, where time, goods, services and funding for day to day activities will largely be a community effort. We are all volunteers at KCFW, so building a powerfully driven and enthusiastic team who speak from one mind and one heart is paramount. I have also been approaching small businesses with ideas on how they may be able to sell an item for us, where we push the advertising and KCFW will be able to take some of the proceeds. “We are looking to partner with the community to make our community better and stronger. We also appeal to families, individuals and businesses to host fundraisers on our behalf as well as calling for previously loved clothing and household items to keep our thrift shop running. Little bits do count and it is important to lobby support locally first before approaching donors outside South Africa, which I have often done in my previous endeavours and will continue to do.” Over the years KCFW has relied a lot on community funding and support, and the pandemic has depleted much of its financial resources. “The middle class, our biggest funders, no longer have as much disposable income as before. I believe this pandemic is going to bring a new set of beneficiaries who have never needed to depend on welfare before and mental health is going to become a matter of urgency as well. READ ALSO: Domino Foundation celebrates 16 years of giving One social worker is not adequate to meet the needs of the society, but we cannot commit to paid labour in the interim. We are going to need skills to help out on adhoc projects and programmes to reach as many people as possible in need, whether it is life coaching, sponsored psychotherapy sessions to support the community, sponsored conferencing and so on. We will need to develop a pool of skills and draw on people’s skills for assistance.” KCFW is not changing its programmes too much and will still focus on family strengthening, which includes individual and family counselling, youth empowerment, mental health programmes and ECD, but the approach will change. “Our goal is to enhance economic security and create stronger communities. This month we will be doing a ‘gardens from waste’ workshop to teach families to grow simple urban gardens in small spaces, workshops on grief, as most people are grieving something in this pandemic, whether it is loved ones, loss of income, time or a job. We want to do short programmes that enhance coping skills during this time and take it from there.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TLc5JqbCDk How can you help: Keep a gratitude jar or box in your home. When you count your blessings and things you are grateful for, think about things that may be excess in your home, business or office. Do it as a family or as friends. It could be small change that you picked up on the road or didn’t expect to get. Put clothing or books in a box or small change in a jar and see how much ‘excess’ you can collect in one month. “It is our 75th anniversary month in November, so if as many people as possible can keep gratitude boxes and jars, bring it to welfare or call us on 031-916-2274 or 031-916-3007 to collect, we would appreciate it. This is the spirit of community that can continue beyond the month of November, but the bottom line is that we need you, our community, to celebrate the legacy of KCFW with us.” Getting to know Iris: She was born in Durban, but left when she was three years old and grew up in Ladysmith. She went to Limit Hill Primary School in Ladysmith and Park Hill Senior Secondary School in Greenwood Park, Durban and studied at the University of KZN in Pietermaritzburg. She is divorced and lives with her daughter, Teegan, 14, in Scottburgh. “When I relocated to KZN from Johannesburg six and a half years ago, I wanted to live in Toti, but the only school I could get my daughter into was Scottburgh Primary. I love the Toti community and many people who have become family, mostly through their children. “My parents both grew up very poor and instilled values of reaching out to others in need from an early age. We grew up with little, but there was always enough for us and to help others. The principle was about sharing what we have. My parents were always working in the community, even though they had to hold down two jobs to feed the family. She loves nature, walks, baking, cooking and a bit of gardening, but mostly herbs and indigenous plants. In her little downtime she enjoys reading, writing and the arts. She has authored two books and this year wrote her first children’s short story. “I love meeting new people and learning about different cultures, so when there is an interesting artistic or cultural event, I make the time to attend.”   DID YOU KNOW? Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics. To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047 The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there? 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