Seed of Hope open day shares new projects with Bhekulwandle community

Seed of Hope’s (SOH) annual community open day for the people of Bhekulwandle on Friday, 19 January shared news of the new programmes that the NGO has available for the community.

“More than 55 adults attended and this year’s open day was exciting because renovations that happened last year have enabled us to launch new programmes,” said SOH CEO, Kierra Ward.

Last year’s renovations were made possible with help from Woolworths Galleria, Shelley Beach and Musgrave, which created an after-school children’s library; the CommUnity Project, which renovated SOH’s Simunye after-school programmes block; CS-Solutions, which renovated SOH’s computer training room, and other generous local and international funders.

“In response to a community and schools survey we facilitated last year, SOH has evaluated and strengthened our existing programmes and we are launching a few new ones to benefit more of the community members and ensure our organisation remains relevant to the needs of the community and our vision of ‘Working together to build thriving communities’,” said Kierra.

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These new programmes include the ‘Khulanathi’ process, which means ‘Grow with us’. It is a process for unemployed adults who might find themselves in a situation where they have become stagnant and unable to move forward with their future dreams, for many different reasons. This process includes Christian-based life skills and leadership sessions, to help participants realise their God-given value, resources and purpose, and focuses on developing motivation.

Once completed, participants progress to a job readiness course to help them prepare more effectively for the workplace, and includes relevant topics like work ethic, interviews and CV writing, time management and professionalism.
On graduation each participant will have created their own CV, had extra English lessons to assist them with interviews and created an online presence for job applications.

“Last year when SOH piloted this programme, five of the graduates found employment within three months of completing the course, and all reported how grateful they were to SOH for this opportunity,” said Kierra.

SOH is also offering computer courses, sewing training and career preparation counselling and guidance to students who participate in the Khulanathi process, to help them actively pursue their next step.

It has also started an elderly ‘gogo’ support group in response to a request from the Chief and traditional counsellors, as there were no official programmes for the elderly in the community of Bhekulwandle. “We currently have 25 women who participate but we have been asked to start a second group because there has been such a great response.”

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From February, SOH will facilitate two elderly support groups on a weekly basis. “We have also been requested to do more family wellness training to help members of the community access more social and health-related information. This will enable more people to make better lifestyle decisions, and to know how to recognise and respond to social crises that affect their families.”

SOH will launch training on parent capacity building, HIV awareness, and drugs and alcohol awareness.

“We would love to partner more with other organisations and institutions from the area, to host more trainings that can benefit and empower this community,” said Kierra. If anyone would like to facilitate a capacity building or wellness training for free for members of Bhekulwandle, call the centre on 031-903-1125 or email office@theseedofhope.org.

SOH is also looking for someone to volunteer one morning a week to help out with admin and social media – if anyone is interested they can email or phone the centre.