Mselenii Children S Home

ANNUAL REPORT

(April 2010 – March 2011)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose trust is in the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.” Jeremiah 17v 7 & 8

Our social worker, Nosihle, has continued to work very hard running therapeutic groups, counselling children individually and working with the Department of Social Development social workers. Many children have been helped and it is great to see them changing and developing. It is challenging, however, working with the teen boys, who are quite reluctant to attend any of the groups. The care workers have also done a great job so that we have seen children maturing and dealing with problems.

Working with the children, their families and the social workers had been effective as we have also been able to discharge 18 children to the care of family members, and one more was placed with foster parents who are planning to adopt her. Sadly, we had one child who absconded. He had been admitted some years before and discharged into the care of his father, but was brought back this year by the police having run away from his father. He repeated exactly the same behaviour here; he was settled well, but then one day he was caught trying to steal something, and he just took off and he was not been traced for many many months.

As some of the older boys have left it has also been a time for moving on within the Home. A number of the boys have moved from the smaller boys’ house to the teen boys’ house. This means that they are now learning to cook for themselves and have a bit more independence. We do appreciate the ministry of Zabane, our male child care worker, who has an ability to get alongside the boys and talk with them. He will be leaving at the end of this year in order to go to Bible School as he feels called to be a pastor

The December holidays provide a good opportunity for children to spend time with relatives, working towards perhaps being discharged in to their care, or for going to a visit with prospective foster parents.

Other children have the opportunity to visit a host family. Nosihle, our social worker, was very busy in October and November, preparing for these visits, and in the school holidays. So during the latter part of the year months 18 children were able to make a visit to their family as part of the reunification process, and a further 3 children spent part of the holiday visiting a host family.

Last year we discharged one little girl into foster care with a pastor and his wife. This lovely couple intend to adopt her when the trial foster period is finished. Recently they came back to visit us to show us how she was doing. They are a very happy family!

Sixteennew children were admitted over the year. One of these was a tiny baby girl who was abandoned very soon after delivery. She is thriving. Another was a 17 month old girl who was very developmentally delayed. She was not able to sit by herself, not eating solids, and also not interacting with others. Within a week there was a big difference, and it has been great to see her learning to crawl, eating well, and making relationships. Probably the biggest challenge is a 10 year old girl who, like so many of our children, has experienced a lot of abuse. She would respond to the slightest difficulty or conflict by a major screaming episode, or perhaps lying in the middle of the road in the path of the cars. She is gradually responding and getting control of her behaviour, but we have a way to go!

The staff have continued to use the Today for Tomorrow materials in daily prayers with the children and young people. We rejoice that those children who have made a commitment are continuing to grow in faith.

A highlight was the baptism of three of our teen boys in November and one of the teen girls in December. It is wonderful to see these young people growing in their faith step by step.

During the holidays many of our children have the chance to go to camps & conferences. In December 9 of the 10 – 14 year olds went to the church children’s camp and had a wonderful time there. 9 of the teenagers then went to the church regional youth conference at Mtubatuba. Our teen girl who was baptized has become very involved at church and she also went to the Annual Church Conference in Swaziland.

This has been a challenging year in terms of education in that the children had a very long break because of the world cup in 2010, and this was followed by the national strike of government workers, so that the schools were closed again for another month.

January was results time. We were very disappointed that all three of our boys who had been writing matric did not succeed. One of these was one of our physically handicapped children so he has now gone back home and his parents are helping him with finishing school to try to upgrade his marks. Of the other two, Bhekizenzo is now officially discharged, but is part of our after care programme. Currently he is trying for his driving license. When he has succeeded there we will look for vocational courses at a further education college. For Mandla we searched for a school which would take him back into Grade 11. We found a school about 60kms away which has a very good pass rate, and he has been enrolled there and is staying in rented accommodation during school terms. We trust that he is now really putting a lot of effort into his studies.

Khanyisile, one of the older girls, who is now doing a B Social Work at the University of Zululand, has continued to work very hard and to do very well. She has passed all of her modules so far. Her hard work has been rewarded. She has now been granted a bursary by the Department of Social Development.

Sli is still enjoying being at Open Air School in Durban very much. She is part of a group which does dancing and this year she has started swimming. She continues to grow in her faith. This year she got the girls who sleep in her dorm in the hostel together and they are having a weekly Bible Study.

Njabulo, who has been away doing a carpentry course succeeded in getting his certificate for that. We then enrolled him in a bricklaying course, but unfortunately, he decided to drop out of that. The social workers then arranged for his discharge into the care of his uncle. Very sadly on the night of 30th September Njabulo came back to Mseleni & broke into the office, stealing a lap top, a computer and money. He also took the car keys and stole one of the Lulisandla Kumntwana vehicles. He was caught by the police the following day, so the vehicle and the computer were recovered.

In September we were blessed to have another ministry team from Union Bible Institute with us. As part of their programme they led prayers with the different groups of children, and also played games with them. Their ministry was very effective and they touched the children’s lives.

We also had a visit from four members of Shoeburyness Baptist Church in Southend, UK. This church has now made a commitment to link with the Children’s Home and Lulisandla Kumntwana for three years. They are intending to support in whatever was they can, including prayer, financial and practical help. This is such an encouragement to us and we look forward to seeing how the Lord leads.

We have not been able to continue with any renovations during this time, but an application for funding was approved which will include the reinstallation of remote control of the gate and fencing of the extension of the fence out to the road at the entrance. The funding became available in December, but by the end of the year in March we had still not been able to utilize it because we have been unable to get the local post boxes removed from our piece of land.

The long break for the world cup did give us an opportunity to do some fun things with the children. We had a daily programme which included some work time, and then some extra time spent helping them with school work. After that there was crafts, and in the afternoons, games and sports. Once a week there was a beach outing, and we also took them to the local game reserve. During this period we had three trainee auxiliary social workers on placement with us, and they were a great help in this programme.

For some time we have been trying to arrange an outing to Shaka World in Durban. This has not yet happened, but as part of the process of looking for accommodation we made contact with the Natal Mercury Children’s Home in Hibberdene. They offered a free holiday to our younger children over a weekend in October. It was a very exciting experience for them.

We had further beach trips in October, December, February and March. The December trip was combined with a beach party put on for us again by Coral Divers, who gave us lunch, lots of games and presents.

In the New Year we revived the programme of birthday parties and outings. With so many children it is not possible to have a party for each birthday, but we have one a month, or alternate months, depending on the number of birthdays. The children themselves put in a lot of effort, practicing songs and dances and sketches. Without fail, throwing the 6 to eat the chocolate with a knife & fork is always the point of most enjoyment!

Our first outing of the year was to Emdoneni Cat Sanctuary where we had a close up experience with African wild cats, caracals, servals, and cheetahs

This year we have been blessed with gifts from local individuals and businesses. Town Talk furnishers from Manguzi brought us toys, snacks, sweets and juice. As noted, Coral Divers gave the children a party at the beach. Various individuals gave clothes and toys. Our local Spar & our local Jock Morrison & Sons donated TVs, which was great as the TVs for both teen girls and boys had broken. Someone at Sodwana Lodge gave us some children’s CDs and books. Mseni Lodge donated kitchen equipment and a sewing machine. One of the local pastors gave us a big branch of bananas and a lady from one of the local churches gave three huge pumpkins. A local group of Methodist churches visited us bringing snacks and clothes for the children. A group of Christians from Mtubatuba gave blankets, clothes and toiletries.

In addition to the regular in-service training for staff, four of our staff have been continuing with the National Association of Child Care Workers course which leads to the Qualification in Child and Youth Care. So far they have done 4 of the 14 modules. This is a very useful course and we are thankful for the opportunity for them to do it.

In March our social worker attended a one week course in post traumatic stress counselling. The social worker, Principal & two of the care workers also attended a one day workshop on the implementation of the new Children’s Act.

Finances

An audited financial report is attached.

Rachel Fredlund, Principal

This Annual Report for Mseleni Children’s Home April 2010 – March 2011 was read and approved at the Annual General Meeting held

Signed: ______

Chairperson

Signed:______

Secretary