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I hope this email finds you well and flourishing. Thanks to your continuing support the projects and programs here at Seeds of Light are also flourishing. Our older projects are stable and our pilot programs are showing great promise and are gaining momentum. We hope to expand these new programs in the new year.
The Saturday girls empowerment classes are making a huge difference to these young women as they learn more about personal development and a right-brain approach compared to the conventional schooling provided by the state. To be more beneficial and cost effective, we wish to accommodate more girls as well as bring newcomers on board each year.
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During 2016, we reached out to 450 girls with the Dignity Dreams packs. These girls are now able to attend school no matter the time of the month and function with much more confidence. Imagine a year where each girl in the entire community are able to contribute without this gender bias!
In addition to the Dignity Dream handouts, the HIV and pregnancy prevention education project has been given a thumbs up by the learners in the current schools. Feedback from the peer educators training has included remarks, such as "I did not realize that I had a say or choice." and "I now know it is my decision."
There are two new high schools that need our help with Dignity Dream packs for the girls and
HIV and pregnancy prevention education
for boys and girls. We are hoping to be able to train reproductive health peer educators at these schools next year.
Our garden project has shifted focus to encompass home gardens and the greater community. There are many households that need home gardens that are permaculture based. This design does well with limited water supplies and can feed a family without too much time and labor. With your funding support, our champions have spread the gardening ethos within their own communities as well as to school gardens. They receive many requests for collaboration with other projects, including skills trading in Venda and facilitating the Food for Life Scouting badge program.
We can't do this without your help. Seeds of Light's programs rely on the generosity of our friends and donors. Please support us by
making a donation today. Your donation will help us continue to make a difference in the lives of the community that we serve!
With love and gratitude,
Wendy Fraser,
Director, Seeds of Light
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Dignity Dream Handouts
Over 450 reusable and washable sanitary pad packs were handed out to girls at Seeds of Light's partner schools and over 900 boys and girls received Reproductive Health Education.
This simple initiative is changing lives! The over 450 girls that have been given sanitary pad packs are now able to attend school on every day of the month.
Girls in rural schools are the most vulnerable. They are not able to go to school during menstruation because they do not have money to buy reliable sanitary products and use rags, toilet paper and leafs to mention just a few desperate solutions.
They now have washable and reusable pads that last up to 5 years.
These girls now have the freedom to focus and function better in their lives and in their communities.
These school girls are also very susceptible to teenage pregnancy and HIV infection due to a combination of a lack of knowledge about pregnancy and prevention and lack of knowledge of personal and woman's rights. Girls and young women also have the highest incidence of new HIV infections.
Seeds of Light's reproductive health program is addressing these issues and empowering these young women to stand up for their rights and taking responsibility for their health.
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Seeds of Light Hosts Its F
irst
Sexual Health Peer Educator Training Camp
for High School Learners
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| The beautiful setting of the Drakensberg mountains at the Blyde River Canyon was the backdrop to the 2 day workshop. |
This year Seeds of Light launched a new project to train Peer Educators on Sexual Health. Twenty girls from our partner school, Shobiyane High School, attended a 2-day workshop as part of this new project.
The workshop included formal training on topics such as: menstrual health and pregnancy prevention, consent, and women's rights as well as HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The girls also practiced expressing oneself with confidence and forming closer relationships with their peers to engender a supportive environment.
The girls bonded over leadership activities, fabulous meals and a large bonfire in the evening. By the second day the girls felt comfortable enough to share with each other and discuss the difficulties they and their peers have experienced at school and in their communities. Although not able to solve all the issues, the girls came away from the weekend with a much better understanding of their rights as women and how they can stand up for themselves and their peers.
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| The girls enjoyed the evening singing and playing games around the camp fire. |
The feedback from the girls was extremely positive. The knowledge sharing was truly appreciated. More excitingly the girls were moved to share how empowered they felt after the discussions. Here a few of their sharings:
"I did not realize that I had a say or choice,"
"I now know it is my decision to make," and
"I want to share this all with other learners in my school."
These 20 girls are now on their way to becoming fully fledged and capable in their role as Peer Educators for their school. They are already sharing the knowledge they gained from the workshop back into the schools and making themselves available to other school learners to talk and share knowledge and advocating for their own women's rights!
We would like to expand this successful program to reach more of Seeds of Light's partner schools and to include boys and more girls.
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| A rope bridge took many of the girls way out of their comfort zone, but they managed well and felt a real sense of achievement. |
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Our Art S
tudents
Achieve Success at Local Art Competitions
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| Three Seeds of Light art class students from Tsakane Special School were awarded with prizes at a local school art competition. Well done Ntwanano, Promise and Thato! |
We are so proud of the achievement made by Seeds of Light's Art students this year in the local and national art competitions. The high school group performed well in the Mpumalanga Department of Education provincial art competition with some of the learner's artwork being exhibited at the national level. These students also won prizes at other local school events.
The theme for the work that was submitted by the high school group was "a reader is a leader". It was inspiring to see how the art students interpreted the theme.
Our artists from the Tsakane Special-Needs School also came away with prizes at a local school art competition. It was so wonderful to see the children's pride when they received their prizes.
When we foster art sessions in our other projects and at Tsakane, the impact of encouraging self-expression for its own sake is a powerful tool. At the Special-Needs school the students are making strides in becoming more calm and are able to relate better to others, as well as starting to show better self-knowledge too.
Thank you, Nick Vorono and your art team in making this happen!
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| Clement Pilusa from Shobiyane High School with his prize. |
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| Jessica Mkhari was so excited to receive a prize of art supplies for her artwork. |
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| Clavin Mageba's eagle won him a prize of art supplies. |
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Guest Speakers Provide Depth and Encouragement
for Seeds of Light's Girls Empowerment Program
The Saturday Girls Empowerment Program has been greatly enriched by many guest speakers over the last few months. The school system is a very structured curriculum and there is little room to expand critical thinking. This program addresses the need to develop the ability to discover the self and clarify each girl's own needs and goals. As well-rounded individuals, the girls are better able to tackle the academic subjects at school. They also receive a little extra coaching, especially in Math. At the Seeds of Light workshops and classes, the girls are encouraged to think outside the box through exploring their self-expression and are particularly encouraged to be more proactive and participate in the choices available to them. Debating, art, poetry, leadership, life skills, and entrepreneurial skills are taught in these classes. Seeds of Light is very grateful to our many guest speakers who have contributed their time and are helping to make a difference in these girls lives.
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TryGive Nxumalo, a Seeds of Light Acornhoek Leadership Forum graduate, teaches the girls
entrepreneurial skills.
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Wandile and Owethu team up to present an idea to the class.
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| Quentan enjoys an art class aimed at building self esteem given by Nick Vorono. |
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| Dr. Mark Blair teaching poetry.
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Quentan and Charmaine working as a team.
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Charmaine debating her topic in front of her peers.
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News from The Ekurhuleni Center for Orphans
and Vulnerable Children
Seeds of Light continues to support The Ekurhuleni Center for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. The Center now has over 230 children attending. Over the last few months, the children enjoyed a regular Saturday morning conservation and education program sponsored by INGWE Leopard Research and On Track Safaris. The children learned about local animals including learning about other countries and their wildlife, geography, and flags to mention just a few topics. The children also were visited by representative trainers from the local snake park. They were at first fearful but then they were excited to interact with some very large snakes and other reptiles.
In addition, a group of 60 children were able to visit the local rehabilitation Center and interact with large raptors, vultures and other animals. The children loved the classes and visits and are responding and blossoming with this exposure to intimate nature encounters. We look forward to seeing how they develop.
We are developing environmental warriors!
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Permaculture Home Garden Workshops
Help Communities Learn About Climate Change Resilience
We are very proud to be partnering with AWARD (The Association for Water and Rural Development) and Mahlathini Development Foundation to help improve climate change resilience in this very hot and dry area of South Africa. A temperature increase of just a few degrees over the next few years will destroy the communities present staple food source of maize.
Permaculture farming is the way of the future. We are excited to be embarking on a program that will help local small-scale farmers increase food security for the resource stressed people in their communities.
Your support has assisted in the training of Permaculture Gardening Champions where they have stabilized the growth of home gardens in their local areas and have started to contribute as facilitators in the greater community beyond Acornhoek. It is wonderful to know that change is starting to spread.
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Funjwa Primary
School Gets a Facelift
The Funjwa Primary School teachers and children were concerned about the coming summer rainy season. There were so many holes in their roof that, when it rained previously, they had waterfalls in the middle of the classroom. Seeds of Light community field worker Nick Vorono was able to facilitate the repair of the roof and painting of the classrooms. The Seeds of Light and Funjwa community came out in full force to volunteer their time. The renovations and roof repair was achieved with donations from
On Track Foundation and Paintworks, Hoedspruit. Dispite the continuing drought, we did have an occasional downpour over the last few weeks, and the classrooms remained dry. The classes can now continue uninterrupted during the summer rains.
Funjwa School hosts Seeds of Light's Girls Empowerment Program, and this was a wonderful way for us to say thank you to them for hosting the project.
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Funjwa Grade 2 classroom before renovations.
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| The same classroom after the renovations. |
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GET INVOLVED
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
~Nelson Mandela~
If you are inspired to fund raise for our work, please let us know and we will help you. We have videos, brochures, stories, everything you need to make it a success. Contact Mona at (505) 424-8844 ext. 5 or write to us:
info@seedsoflight.org.
If you'd like to donate today, please click here.
In the USA and South Africa, your donations are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Contact Details:
For USA, contact Mona: Mail: Seeds of Light, 223 N. Guadalupe #275, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Phone: (505) 424-8844
| Toll free in USA/Canada: (888) 989-3552
For South A
frica, contact Wendy: Mail: P.O.Box 282, Hoedspr
uit, 1380.
Phone: 076 488 2745 Email: solloveinaction@gmail.com
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