PROJECTS
Family literacy groups |
Community Notice Boards |
Pen Friends
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Newsletter This started when group members were asked to write to the FLP. These letters were printed, followed by a few pages with news and then photographs. The newsletter is now professionally laid out. It is very popular as it is filled with news from the different groups. |
Journals
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Box libraries and book clubs
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Community libraries
The bright blue container arrived in Stepmore and our first community library was opened in November 2003. Library furniture was provided by the provincial library services, books by Biblionef, Exclusive Books and other donors; group members catalogued the books and set up the library. The library is open to anyone in Stepmore and is run by one of our group members, with support from the facilitator. Nelly Shezi, the Stepmore facilitator, did some research into the impact of
the library, asking: “Why do you want a library?” 93% of the 114 people
answered as follows: Home visiting
To support the women, Felicity Champkins runs workshops once a term in each site on activities that can be done at home. These workshops are a follow on from those run in 2002 and 2003 that focused on story telling, reading books and other games and activities to support the development of early literacy skills. |
Child-to-child groups
Children from the following primary schools attend these groups:
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Teenage sexuality groups These groups are run separately for boys and for girls to discuss issues of sexuality especially as they relate to HIV and Aids. |
Health support groups These began in 2004 as a response by the FLP to the numbers of women caring for orphaned children. Chris Gibson had trained the facilitators in the key messages of the international Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses project and this information is passed on to others as part of the home visiting scheme. |
Community projects The FLP has been approached by other NGOs who have provided skills training and materials for members of some of the family literacy groups. Community projects that some FLP groups are managing are a sewing group, a vegetable tunnel and a chicken project. |
These provide an opportunity for group members to display their literacy skills and also share information gained from the topics covered
in the sessions. One group member is responsible for organising the notice board and encouraging others to contribute to
the displays.
Every family literacy group member is encouraged to write to someone in a neighbouring group. These letters are
exchanged when the facilitators meet. Pen friends meet at the end of year event.
The FLP supplies a book to each adult to keep a journal with a child. The adults and children choose a picture to paste
into the book or draw one, talk about these and the adults write down the conversation in what are called
Umzali Nengane (Parent and Child) journals
Each group was given a box of books for women to borrow. At first mainly
Group members visited their neighbours to see whether they would use a
library. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of having a library and,
with perfect timing, we were asked by the NGO Biblionef if we would like a
container library.
The group members' desire to spread the message of early literacy gave rise
to the home visiting scheme. The women take books with them to read to
children; they also talk to mothers about their role in their children's
development.
This programme is an important part of the FLP. Over 200 primary school
children meet once a week to read, draw and discuss different topics. These
topics often mirror those of the family literacy groups, so links between
family members are nurtured. The groups are multi-age with Grades 3 and
4 children helping Grades R, 1 and 2 children. International research
confirms our conviction that such a programme builds self-confidence in
both the reader and the listeners.