Newsletter Winter 2011

Newsletter Winter 2011
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Students at the Matjana Elementary
School in December, 2010.
In This Issue:
The Swazi Kids Blog ................................ 2
Trip to Swaziland ...................................... 2
President’s Report for 2010 .................. 3
Fundraising ................................................ 3
Educational Sponsorship ........................
3
Major Projects ..................................... 3-5
Future Plans ..............................................
6
Community Profile: Clare Thiessen ..... 6
Kids at Matjana Elementary School line up
for daily rations, a Swazi Kids meal program.
Sawubona. Hello and welcome to the new edi/on of the Swazi Kids
Newsle6er. This edi/on marks the beginning of a new format for the
Newsle6er. In the last issue, Swazi Kids founder Pam Carlson, asked
for help in administering what has become a large and successful en-­deavor.
A few members of the Swazi Kids community responded in-­cluding
Andrew Mar/ndale as the newsle6er assistant. Our ambi/on
for this publica/on !345678()69:(67(+;

The Swazi
Kids Blog
Swazi Kids’ Trip to Swazi-­land
Nov-­‐Dec 2010
Our on line pres-­ence
expanded in
November with the con-­struc/on
of a blog, a website that fea-­tures
short journal posts on current pro-­jects
at Swazi Kids. These can include pic-­tures
and videos. Pam used it to great
advantage on her recent trip to Swazi-­land.
She was able to make frequent up-­dates
describing her trip and progress on
a number of ini/a/ves.
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We also have sec/ons summarizing on
going projects, fundraising efforts, future
plans, and on a number of relevant
themes.
The blog also permits members of the
Swazi Kids community to comment di-­rectly
in response to these posts. The
blog is something of a draT form of the
newsle6er, presen/ng informa/on on
Swazi Kids all year round. It complements
the website, and the two sites are linked.
There is no sign up or registra/on needed
to access the blog. Its free and fun. You
can visit the blog at:
www.swazikids.wordpress.com
If you have been following the blog,
you’ve likely been interested in updates
from this recent trip. A group of support-­ers
traveled including, the president, Pam
Carlson, long /me sponsor Karin Burgess,
gap year student and recent sponsor,
Gabrielle Heine and Pam and Bruce's
Swazi daughter, Thula Carlson. Fourteen
updates were posted on the blog includ-­ing
several with photo slideshows.
Highlights
Pam, Karin, Gabrielle and Thula were pre-­sent
for the installa/on of the new jungle
gym playground, paid for by Swazi Kids
sponsors, at the Manzini Region Halfway
House. A small opening ceremony and
luncheon was held with many local and
high ranking social workers in a6endance.
A most encouraging mee/ng was held
with the Deputy Prime Minister. There is
hope that the interna/onal adop/on pro-­gram
will open again soon.
The first of what we hope will be 15
community centers was started as part of
our partnership with the Gone Rural
Gabrielle and her friends at the Manzini
Halfway House in November ’10.
What is a blog? I had only a vague idea
when Pam decided that Swazi Kids needed one
and that having it in place in advance of her
trip would be great. I did a bit of searching and
found the blogosphere. Blogs have been around
since the beginning of the internet and come
in as many forms as there are people with stories
to tell. There are also lots of free services for
the blogger; we chose WordPress, a global nonprofit.
Our blog helps us keep people informed
of our activities between newsletters. Since its
permanent its more convenient than email
and its more coherent than FaceBook.Many
members of the Swazi community have their
own blogs. At some point, we’ll make a links
page on ours to highlight them.- AM
Swazi Kids Newsletter - Winter 2010
2

women’s coopera/ve. See Page 4 for
more details.
A rou/ne visit to Matjana Elementary
School to check on our 40 students and
the daily food program. With art sup-­plies,
paid for by young sponsor Clare
Thiessen (see Page 6), pain/ngs were
done by 20 students for a fundraiser in
the future.
A visit to Gogo Girlies’ house (built by a
Swazi Kids crew in 2009) illustrated the
depth of poverty that many Swazi’s face.
A spontaneous mee/ng with a commu-­nity
worker, Lindiwe, from a prior service
project, resulted in finding the funds
needed to complete the trussing and
roofing for another resilient woman and
her 4 children, as the rainy season ap-­proached.
Gabrielle spent a week playing, doing art
and reading with the children of the
Manzini Region Halfway House and a 2 nd
week helping out in the classrooms at
New Life Homes, Kamfishane region.
***
President’s Report for 2010
Swazi Kids president, Pam Carlson, re-­ported
on the ac/vi/es of the charity to
the Board of Directors on January 11,
2011. It has been a busy year. In 2010,
we received $31,220 in dona/ons from
75 educa/onal sponsors and about
$66,420 from major sponsors. Other
fundraising efforts generated $26,210
for a total of almost $124,000 up from
around $105,000 in 2009.
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EducaGonal Sponsorship
With these funds, Swazi Kids sponsors 84
students, 25 in elementary school ($200
each), 45 in high school ($400-­‐$700
each), and another 14 in post secondary
educa/on, where the fees vary. Five
sponsored students graduated from high
school in 2010, a remarkable achieve-­ment.
We are also very proud of the post
secondary students, many of whom have
been sponsored since elementary
school. Here are some highlights:
• Francisca O. nurse graduated, Sept 2010.
• Phindile M. nurse started Aug 2010.
• Nomathemba S. finished a basic sewing
course and is applying for an appren-­‐
/ceship with Gone Rural.
• Bongiwe M. finished a catering course
and is employed part /me at the Swazi
Sun resort.
• Makhosasana S. was/is in journalism.
• Simphiwe M. is finishing up 4 th yr Bach
Commerce in South Africa in 2011.
• Thembi M. finished at Co-­‐op course ’10
and has moved onto scholarship in
teaching college ’11. (we support with
monthly s/pend).
• Sifiso M. has a scholarship at SCOT in
electrical engineering for 2011.
• Philane D. on scholarship in B Commerce
at the University of Swaziland.
• Ayan another nurse being helped out in a
small way with par/al rent.
• Ntokozo is in tourism.
• Bongani is in automechanics.
• Colile S. completed catering but is not
employed.
• Wandile is in house design and draTing.
Major Projects in 2010
Infrastructural projects are increas-­ingly
part of Swazi Kids plans.
While educa/onal sponsorship re-­‐
Swazi Kids Newsletter - Winter 2010
3

mains the core of what we do, there is
tremendous need for basic facili/es. We
generally do these on an ad hoc basis, as
funds are donated, but we are also creat-­ing
project-­‐specific fundraising ini/a-­‐
/ves.
Half-­‐Way House Jungle Gym
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The fun begins on the jungle gym at
the Manzini Region Halfway House.
In 2010, we created a specific-­‐project
fundraising approach on a small scale:
the construc/on of playground equip-­ment
at the Manzini Region Halfway
House. In advance of the trip to Swazi-­‐
land, a fundraiser was pulled together
and $5,000 was raised. The equipment
was ordered in /me to be installed while
the Canadians were there! An honour-­able
men/on must go to Gabrielle Heine
and her family who were responsible for
raising over $2000 on very short no/ce
for this most gra/fying project.
Thanks also goes out to friends from
Vernon who a6ended a has/ly assem-­bled
fundraiser at the Carlson’s home
and also donated generously. As related
in the blog, the opening was a great suc-­cess.
As it was put, for likely the only
/me in these children’s lives, kids out-­side
the fence were looking in with envy.
This approach, of planning specific pro-­jects
and then seeking dona/ons is
something we will con/nue. Check out
the blog for plans and updates.
Gone Rural Community Center
Many of you know the Gone Rural coop-­era/ve,
a ladies co-­‐op weaving group
whose wares are available in bou/ques
around the world, at Ten Thousand Vil-­lages
in Canada and at Malandelas in
Swaziland. We are working with Yael
Uzan-­‐Tidar of Gone Rural to assist the
families in the co-­‐op. The local and ac-­countable
nature of the group with its
clear benefit to women and their chil-­‐
Construction underway at the new Gone
Rural community center at Lamghabi.
dren makes it a good partner for
Swazi Kids. With a generous indi-­vidual
dona/on of $7,000, we con-­structed
a community center for
one of the groups in the coopera-­‐
/ve. This building gives the mem-­bers
a place to work and conduct
their business, but it is also being
used to conduct literacy programs,
for HIV/Aids educa/on, for the dis-­tribu/on
of medica/ons, and for
other training purposes. In addi-­‐
/on, the roof will be modified to
act as a water catchment facility to
provide water to the community.
There are 14 other groups in the
coopera/ve and we plan on build-­‐
Swazi Kids Newsletter - Winter 2010
4

ing one community center each year un-­‐
/l all the Gone Rural women have one.
Art Supplies Project
With funds provided by young sponsor
Clare Thiessen, art supplies were pur-­chased
for the Manzini Region Halfway
House as well as Matjana Elementary
School. Art is not oTen part of classroom
instruc/on in Swaziland. As part of this
effort, about 20 elementary students
produced pain/ngs as dona/ons to
Swazi Kids. These will serve as the cen-­terpiece
for a fundraiser, perhaps an art
show and sale, in the near future. We’ll
A very old member of the Gone
Rural weaving cooperative.
post updates and images of the pain/ngs
on the Swazi Kids blog.
AdopGve Families Scrapbook
Pam produced a high quality scrap book
of photos of almost all Swazi children
adopted in to Canada, just before the
November trip. The book contains photo
essays on Canadian families with chil-­dren
from Swaziland. This lovely book
served both to unite the Swazi adop/ve
families and as an advocacy project for
the opening of Swaziland’s adop/on
program. Pam distributed 8 copies to
high-­‐ranking Swazis including a High
Court judge, several senior social work-­ers,
and the Deputy Prime Minister. The
DPM granted Pam a private mee/ng at
which the future of adop/on was dis-­cussed
as well as poten/al future part-­nerships
in the area of agricultural up-­starts,
funding for villagers to begin
community based gardens. This mee/ng
was hugely successful! The book was so
well received that is was taken into par-­liament
by the DPM as evidence in sup-­port
of the ra/fica/on of the Hague Con-­ven/on
in favour of inter-­‐country adop-­‐
/on. We are pleased to confirm that, as
of early Feb ’11, Swaziland has, in fact,
voted to proceed with the process of be-­coming
members of this interna/onal
treaty on the rights of the child.
Plans for 2011
As always, the need in Swaziland is
unaba/ng. Our plans for the com-­ing
year include:
1. Innocent Nkambule, who
graduated from Kalamdladla high
school in 2010, is applying to
medicine/transi/onal year in a
South African university. We plan
to fund his medical degree.
2. We need another $12,000 for
the second of 15 community cen-­ters
for the Gone Rural ladies co-­opera/ve.
3. Another playground is a strong
candidate as the first one was so
successful. These kinds of facili/es
are the lifeblood of children’s play
and something we take for granted
in Canada, yet are almost non-­existent
in Swaziland.
4.Partnership with BeauGful
Gate. In an effort to meld and
benefit from shared synergies,
Swazi Kids has decided to join
forces and help out a fledging char-­ity
doing similar work to our own
in Lesotho. Spearheading these
efforts is Laura Cutshall, who with
her husband Mike Ogden has
Swazi Kids Newsletter - Winter 2010
5

adopted a darling son, Khotso, from a
fabulous children's home called Beau/ful
Gate. On this most recent trip, the crew
from Swazi Kids, made the very long trek
from Swaziland over to Lesotho for 4
days to check out Beau/ful Gate and its
opera/ons. This development is only
men/oned here, in the event that you
might be invited to join in a shared fund-­‐
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from Ghana and has come, with his wife
raising event. It does not mean that
your funds will be transferred over to
Lesotho, nor will you be approached by
someone new, but it does mean we are
spreading our wings out over more of
Southern Africa to help out other chil-­dren.
Who knows where this partner-­ship
could lead?
5. Introducing Mr. Joseph Aryee, With
the support of Swazi Kids’ board, it has
been decided that we are now ready and
in need of ground support in Swaziland.
Pam has come to know Mr Aryee over
the past 18 months. They have come to
trust and admire each other in their re-­spec/ve
work. Mr Aryee is originally
and 3 young boys, to work as a pastor
and teacher in Swaziland. Pam feels very
strongly that he is just what she has
been looking for as a “go-­‐to-­‐ground-­‐guy”
at bat for Swazi Kids from within the
country. He is highly educated, speaks
impeccable English, works from a place
of honesty and integrity and has a big
heart for the plight of these young peo-­ple
and children in Swaziland. He has
already accepted and is already invalu-­able!
***
Clare Thiessen raised $225 for art
supplies.
Community Profile:
Clare Thiessen
Clare is one of Swazi Kids’ art pro-­ject
sponsors. She is 11 years old
and saved coins in a /ssue box rais-­ing
a total of $225 for art supplies
for children in Swaziland.
Mr. Joseph Aryee and his family.
Swazi Kids Newsletter - Winter 2010
Thank you for all your help!
Swazi Kids
280 Kalamalka Lakeview Dr.
Vernon, BC Canada
V1H 1G1
Community Profiles. This is the
first of what we hope will be a series
of profiles of people in the Swazi
Kids community. One of the effects,
and perhaps one of the attractions,
of being part of an organization
like Swazi Kids, is that we
form a sense of community that
crosses cultural and political borders.
If you know of someone who
we should profile send us a note at:
swazikids@shaw.ca
6