Report Of Progress Towards A Chics Model

15 Januarie 2008 0 Comments

2 October 2007 by Bontleng Setote

The first thing I did was to start a process of building a relationship with the children, the crèche teachers, parents and some of the members of the church which participate at the crèche. It was not simple because of a lack of trust; we needed to build trust so that we can be able to communicate.

I compiled a list of names of children for both of the crèches [D.S Tshabangu and Phahameng day care] including their parent’s information.

I also gathered information from the teachers, and tried to found out from them if someone is sponsoring them and how. It was not simple because they thought that maybe I am up to something. But patience and communication make us to understand each other.

I started to attend their classes when they teach the children. That was where I saw a big difference between the two crèches even though they belong to the same church. When coming to the education of the teachers, materials that they use to teach the children. Phahameng doesn’t have any materials and only one teacher has qualifications, the other two teachers don’t have any qualifications. And I talked to Rev Felix about it and he told me that they are still arranging for them to go for training.

My main concern about it was the level of education they, give to the children especially by those teachers who have not received any training. And when coming to study materials for educating the children there is nothing at Phahameng. And children who will be at school next year they have not learned anything to improve their quality of education. At D.S Tshabangu crèche they do have materials to use to the benefit of the children. And at Stanza Bopape they know all places where they can refer children and their families to attend to their needs. [A place called “Ford care”].

The teachers called up a parent meeting so that I could meet the parents, because it is not good to work with the children without knowing or making any contact with their parents. And we managed to setup a meeting with parents and I explained to them who I am, why I am at Phahameng and D.S Tshabangu crèche. And I explained more about the CHICS model. And I met the executive members of the crèches first and they welcomed me and they are willing to work together with me.

I also had a meeting with a member of the women’s league at Phahameng congregation [who is a social worker] because they did have a plan to develop something like what we are doing now, so every time I will brief them with what we are planning to do. Thus, we decided to establish a parent support group for the parents who send their children to the two crèches. And she said the most important thing we can do for the children is to identify the vulnerable ones and to refer them.

She promised that they will work with us to develop the CHICS model. And she was thinking maybe when the CHICS model is fully developed we could maybe include the children at Phahameng congregation.

We talked about the needs of the children at Phahameng crèche e.g. chairs & table, sponges, training for teachers, materials for teaching, and she said it is a start up, especially if we focus on a better education for children at the day care centre.

The teachers told me about the money that the parents are supposed to pay every month, and how difficult it is. And they end up not bringing their children to the crèche because they can’t afford to pay. And I decided to do house visitation and to observe the situation at each house. I recognised that some of the children come to the day care with dirty clothes or even have not bathed at all. But at D.S Tshabangu crèche they make time to bath them or even wash their clothes because they know their situations. At Stanza Bopape there is a squatter camp and most of the people live in shacks.

I further had a meeting with the executive committee of the parents, which represents the parents. We talked about a CHICS parent support group. And they said they would like to discuss issues like: the difficulty and joyfulness of being a parent, how to overcome the challenges we come across, learning parenting skills, talk about nutritional food, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy. And they said they are looking forward to be members of the CHICS parent support group.

Up to now, most of the time I have spent the days with the teachers and children just to observe. I have observed the relationship between parent and teachers the way they communicate. And communication is a way of building a relationship between them. My opinion is that it is lacking. We are trying to involve parents at Phahameng as they do at Stanza, so that they can be able to know and understand each other for the benefit of the children. And Rev Felix told us that he has been trying to introduce something like that. So what they can do is to call up a meeting with the committee and teachers to talk about the involvement of parents in the crèche especially the ones who are not working – like they do at Stanza.

I also visited Derdepoort; I met Mariana, she told me about how the project started, and what they are doing there. And the parent group they have, and how they invite different professionals for the benefit of the group. And she invited me to join them some other time to see how they do things there. She told me that all people which are members of the Derdepoort project or all the clients, they have their duties there; it means they must commit themselves with something there, while they are helping them to meet their needs.

They hand out food parcels but it is not for free; each member must pay five rand for the food parcels, she said is a way of showing their children that nothing is for free. And in the parent group they will do different hand work. And the crèche is free, and it is for the children of whom their parents are members there.

I did house visitation with teachers; especially at Stanza Bopape because most of the parents are not working. That is where we have seen why most of the children can’t afford to pay every month and why they come with dirty clothes. Most of them are staying in a one room shack if it is big – two rooms; in most cases the father and the mother are not working they are surviving with a child support grant which is two hundred rand per month; they must buy food with it and pay the crèche. So they decided to stop the child to attend the crèche, whereas the child must be at school next year. And we talk to them, and Margaret agreed to let the child to attend the crèche, and him to put him on a list of free school uniform offered by Ford Care and to refer them for food parcels at Ford Care.

The other family was a case where it happened that the parents got separated and that caused a problem in such a way that the children started to suffer the result of it. Their father chased their mother away with a five month old child. And they found a one room shack to stay. They were four in that shack. And they were surviving with the child support the father gave for the two children, and paying the crèche with it. And the father decided to stop it because he said the mother was misusing it. And she produced her pay slip showing how much she earns and that she can’t afford to maintain her children. And she told us that she has never maintained the children since they have separated and that is why the children are not attending the crèche; she can’t afford to pay. And the father has a protection order against her. So we decided to go with her where they register for child support grant, and we called her husband so that the matter can be resolved. Now the child is back at the crèche and she is getting the child support grant.

The other child her mother passed away, and she was staying with her grandmother and she can’t afford to pay for the child as she is not the only child in the house, they are seven in a two room shack and unemployed. So we advised her to apply for a foster care grant and told her to go with all the documents that they will need.

And we had a meeting with Montagu, and I told him everything; that is where we came up with the idea of a scholarship, which could be a CHICS scholarship to attend the day care at the two crèches. We have a rough sketch for everything that we want to implement. I have discussed it with Rev Felix and the teachers of the crèche. They are so happy about the idea. And the only thing that we must do is to come up with a way of implementing it.

We did follow up every referral that we have made to check if they did get help. And everybody was satisfied or waiting to be called. Now our main focus is to establish the CHICS scholarship and the CHICS parent support group.