Opening of Community Centre

On the 8th of June the launch of the Masakhane Community Centre, sponsored by SABMiller plc., was celebrated. Several prominent people from SABmiller plc., SAB Ltd., ABI, Local Government and the Magaliesburg community attended the function.
Standford Sambo, a member of the Masakhane HIV-Drama Group, was the Master of ceremonies for the event.
Community leader, Rosina Kubu, said that Masakhane had come a long way in standing up as a community and that the settlement was really starting to take control of it's development.
Social worker, Sam Savage, described the social factors influencing communities and people in rural areas. Development practitioner, Sonja van der Vyver, gave an overview of the project and said that the centre was a tangible manifestation of the progress which has been made by the community.
Sue Clarke, from SABMiller plc, expressed her exitement at seeing the centre complete and at the way in which the communty has made progress over the last two and a half years. Sue also performed the ceremony of cutting the ribbon and thus officially handing over the building to the community.
MMC, Olivea Caldeira, said that she was very exited to see how the project progresses in future and expressed the willingness of local government to asssist the project in any way possible.
In his speech, Councilor Dennis Thabe emphasised the importance of cooperation between the different stakeholders in a project such as the one at Masakhane and said that this was one of the main reasons for the success of the Masakhane Project.
The children of Masakhane charmed the audience by singing the national anthem: Nkosi sikilele iAfrika.
The Traditional- and Gumbootdancing items were sure favourites with the audience!

The Masakhane hip-hop group performed an item which gave a message of hope about HIV/Aids.
A plaque stating the support of SABMiller for this community was handed to the community.
A photographic display, depicting the different aspects of the project, was set up inside the centre.
This sign, which was put up above the main entrance to the centre was painted by some of the youth from Masakhane.
A highlight of the day was when the Masakhane Two4Joy Soccerteam showed off the gear they had received courtesy of ABI.

The food for this event was made by the women of the community and included conventional as well as traditional fare.

The day was a huge success and a landmark in the development of this community.

Building of Community centre progressing beautifully!

The building of the community centre at Masakhane, sponsored by SABMiller plc, is progressing very well. Building commenced at the beginning of January and despite delays caused by heavy rains the community centre is already sporting some windows and doors!
March 2010
February 2010

Draftcon, the building contractor responsible for this project is training members of the Masakhane community to improve their building skills. Certificates confirming the acquisition of these skills will be issued to the apprentice builders upon completion of the project.

The community centre is placed so as to form a square with the two edutainers. This will provide Masakhane with a 'town square' symbolic of the progress and perseverance of this project and the community towards autonomous and sustainable capacity building and development.

ABI visits Masakhane

On the 13th of October Masakhane received a visit from ABI. Monica Narsee and Kobie Heyman were accompanied by Kathy Ustus, wife of Managing Director, John Ustus, and Isabel Pimental.

The group was entertained by the children's rendition of 'Nkosi Sikilele iAfrika' and various poems and songs which were performed by a group of very exited little ones.
The four trainee teachers at the creche each took a turn to welcome the group and to express their gratitude at the change which the edutainers have made to the lives of the mothers and children of Masakhane.
Each visitor was given a hand-printed T-Shirt which had been decorated by the creche children helped by the teachers and Standford Sambo, a young father from the community.
The involvement of the parents in the education of their young children is of paramount importance and a parent/creche-orientation program has been implemented by Village Power.















Next a visit was paid to the Women's Craft Project, another ABI intervention in this community.
The ladies from the Women's group proudly showed off the products which they had made, While Su West, facilitator of the project, explained the different skills, such as crochet, sewing and embroidery, which had been transferred to these unemployed women in the last few months.

Some of the items on display were purchased by the visitors. The proud crafters were very happy at making their first sales and were delighted when Kathy Ustus, here pictured with group leader Maria Selebogo, immediately put on the beautiful crochet waistcoat which she had purchased from them.

Launch of Edutainers by ABI

On the 13th of May the placement of two edutainers at Masakhane was launched by ABI and celebrated by the community.
Sarika Ponee from ABI cut the ribbon on behalf of the funders. Yvonne Kgope, the community leader, thanked ABI and SAB for their ongoing support and commitment to the people of Masakhane.
Ernest Galekile, the Marketing Services Manager of ABI encouraged the community to make good use of the edutainers as tools of education for the settlement

Dennis Thabe, the ANC councillor for the area complimented the community on the progress they have made over the last year and urged the youth to continue their personal development.

The Masakhane Drama Outreach Group, coordinated by Sam Savage had everyone in stitches while effectively driving home a valuable message regarding HIV/Aids and women's rights.

'Teamwork' was the opperative word in achieving this important milestone at Masakhane.

EDUTAINERS ARRIVE

The 25th of March 2009 will always be a red-letter day for the Masakhane community. This is the day on which this settlement received two containers from ABI and the Bright Kid foundation.


Two huge trucks brought the brightly coloured edutainers into the settlement and to the astonishment of onlookers proceeded to lift each container and place it on the foundations which have been put in place earlier this month.
Thanks to the patient advice of Nicolas Jaff, some difficulties in manouvering the two large objects in the limited space available was overcome.

Monica Narsee from ABI was present to share in the exitement and handed over the keys to Beauty Kubu and Standford Sambo - two young people from the community.
THese edutainers mark the beginning of a new era for Masakhane. At last pre-school children will be able to attend and be exposed to stimulating activities in preparation for their school careers. Adults will also have the opportunity to attend Education and training projects such as the SABMiller Life Skills modules which are currently being implemented in Masakhane.
An official launch of the Edutainers will be held later in the month when the ABI Regional division will attend. The edutainers will however be put to use immidiately. A parents meeting has already been held to prioritise logistical issues such as food gardens, possible teachers etc. These issues will be dealt with under the new blogs.

After the edutainers had been opened, members of the community streamed inside to have a look. The amazement on the faces of the children when they saw the brightly coloured plastic tables and chairs and boxes of educational toys was a picture to behold. Several small children promptly sat down at some of the tables and looked arround in anticipation. A little girl named Phalesa asked one of the development workers from Village power when she was going to get her books and pens. Mothers expressed their gratitude for this wonderful gift by singing and clapping hands. Village Power CDP and the Masakhane community would once again like to thank ABI and the Bright Kid foundation for this wonderfull tool for developing the full potential of this community.


This event is also the catalyst for the expansion of this blog. In future friends of the Masakhane Porject will be able to follow the educational progress at Masakhane at two blogs linked to this one. The titles of the new blogs will be 'Children at Masakhane' and Adult Development at Masakhane' Issues of a general nature will still be posted on this blog, which will act as Home Page.

First Aid and Fire Training

Members of the Masakhane community had the opportunity, through funding by SABMiller, to participate in a First Aid Level 1 and A Fire Safety training course. This course was presented by Ben Supke of Firemed. Receiving training in First Aid and Fire Safety is essential for this community especially since they are not able to access emergency services ealily. As has been reported recently, a cooking fire, which got out of hand, destroyed the dwelling of a family of seven people. Basic Fire Safety training could have prevented this disaster and have helped the community to deal with the fire more effectively.

Younger participants like Willie in this picture, helped to facilitate the material to older and semi-litterate people.


The First Aid course was presented in a canvas and plastic structure which serves as a church. Unfortunately the place flooded due to heavy rains and the course had to be completed in one of the sink dwellings in the community. A farmer in teh area kindly let us use his generator to provide the neccesary electricity for the television and video machine which was used in the course. The fire Safety training was held in the open air, under a tree, where most of the community gatherings take place.Despite these challenges, Ben Supke facilitated these courses very effectively, making use of multimedia and interactive learning activities to engage learners in the subject matter. Songs were sung and games were played and young children were encouraged to participate, thus spreading the benefits of this exposure further than just the participants.

38 People in all received certificates for these courses. These will be laminated, courtesy of Melon Rouge restaurant in Magaliesburg and presented to the participants at a special graduation ceremony. This was the first training event for this community and the benefits of attending accredited courses will hopefully soon be experienced and witnessed by everyone in this community.

Relief for family left homeless by fire

Doctor receives some much needed blankets for his family


The family of seven that was left destitute by a fire in January has received donations of corrugated iron, food,clothes and blankets. NGK Welsyn and Village power assisted this family through donations received as a result of a report of their predicament which was sent out via the Masakhane Newsletter. The response from the public was wonderfull and within a week from when the fire happened, this family had a new house and could function again. Assistance for this family will continue and their situation monitored carefully so that they will be helped untill they are able to provide in their own needs once again.