HISTORY:
Mrs Sophia Dick founded the "Children of Hope Educare Crèche and Pre-primary Centre" in the beginning of 2005 in the Redhill Informal Settlement (Redhill squatter camp), on the mountain slopes behind Simon's Town, near Cape Town, South Africa. Sophia is a trained Educare teacher with many years experience both at the Simon's Town Community Pre-Primary and Crèche as well as in the nearby Town of Ocean View .

Sophia began teaching the children of women who are the at work in her own home as no other facilties were available. These women are often the only wage earners in the family and desperately need a trained person to educate and look after their children while they are out earning a living to support their familiy.

At present Sophia takes care of 30 children aged 2 - 6 years, of whom 60% are Afrikaans and 40% Xhosa or English. These children were taught in her shack untill June 2006.

Two dilapidated ski huts and one ship container have been obtained these must be repaired and renovated so that they can serve as a crèche, pre-primary class room, kitchen and office. This will allow the children to be taught and cared for in an environment more suitable to learning. A roof has been erected over the facility and the buildings have been painted. The SA Navy has played a major role in the establishment of this facility.

The number of children attending the center has doubled since the new facilities have been establised. It is expected that the numbers of children attending will continue to increase as more money is raised and the facilities are improved further.

English is the primary language used at the centre. The children are also taught how to sing and say rhymes in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. The centre currently has two regular teachers who run this on a primarily voluntary basis, Mrs Sophia Dick and Mrs Rene Dick.


ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SITUATION
The parents of the children that attend the centre earn very little or are unemployed. Those that do work are all survive on a very low income (on average the equivalent of R100 per day). The social category and economic situation can be described as very poor for children in this type of informal settlement.

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE
The problem that has been identified is that children enrolling for primary school do not understand English and therefore struggle to cope and are kept behind. Without a good understanding of the English language the chances of success is limited as they struggle terribly during their first years at primary school. A key objective of the centre is to teach the children English as this greatly enhances their ability to succeed in primary school, their future careers and ulitmately their lives.

FOOD:
The children attending the centre are properly fed in accordance with a diet worked out by a qualified dietitian.

PROJECT NEEDS
The project is in need of educational and financial help for both short and long term purposes.

In the short term:

- Initially funding is desperately required to complete the repair, renovating and equip-process of the facility to make it a suitable and hygienic environment for learning and care. The shipping containers have been fitted with doors, windows, flooring and new roof however electricity and water still need to be installed, together with much needed proper sanitation and basins.
- Outside the terrain is rough, muddy and unsafe for children to play. Therefore funds will be needed to level the area, lay some concrete slabs, erect fencing, and provide an area safe for play and movement from one unit to another
- So that the children get at least one proper meal a day it will be vital to equip a kitchen suitable for the hygienic preparation of food. This will require a stove, fridge, table, cupboards, shelving, cutlery, crockery etc
- Educational toys and books are urgently needed to help develop the childrens' English language skills. As mentioned before this is a key skill that will enable them to gain a good education leading to far greater job opportunities in the future.
- Further training aids and educational equipment that will enhance the pre-reading and pre-maths skills are also needed.
- Another goal is to obtain some musical instruments - music is an invaluable medium in learning language and social skills
- Outdoor play equipment would not only provide a fun diversion for the children, but most importantly develop physical ability and confidence skills.
- Basic office equipment such as a desk, chair, filing system etc are needed to support the teachers

In the longer term:

- Funding to provide the ongoing maintenance for the school
- Funds to provide food for the children (at the moment Mrs Dick prepares food with her own very limited means and we also rely on local donations)
- Musical instruments and a piano - this may not seem like essential items when measured against other priorities. However as mentioned previously, music plays an essential part in the development of language skills, and also as part of the cohesiveness of the school when used for assemblies and group activities.

DONATIONS:
If you are interested in any of these projects, please contact
- Koos Louw on +27 (0) 828078056
- Annaline Strydom on +27 (0)21 7863158 or +27 (0) 827863158

THE NEW BUILDINGS BEING ESTABLISHED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE SA Navy

THE IZIVUNGUVUNGU FRIENDS OF EDUCATION PROGRAMME
Article by Lt P.G. van den Berg
Photos by AB M. Venter

Officers from the Naval Engineering services are doing their utmost to give back some of their knowledge to the community. The SA Navy provided them with the opportunity to study engineering at State expense, and now they would like to plough back some of their knowledge into school children in the local community. Lt Bantu Mvovo, who was the first African Engineering Officer in the SA Navy, started the Friends of Education Programme in February 2006.

Lt Bantu Mvovo explaining some of the intricacies of maths to one of the learners

The children are very keen to attend the classes and they believe it is a very good initiative. Some learners expressed their regret that they could not receive this level of tuition earlier in their schooling, but at least they can get it before their final exams in October/November. The learners were quick to see the value of the extra classes, and some of them walk all the way from Redhill Informal settlement to attend the classes, a distance of more than 16 kilometers.

The teachers in the schools confirm that there is a definite improvement in the marks of the learners that attended the FOE extra classes. Learners who attend the extra tuition are also more responsive in class and have more confidence in their abilities to do these subjects, which is generally perceived to be more difficult than other subjects.

Lt Mvovo believes that the final emancipation of the Youth is also possible through education, and that education opens doors to any person willing to exert some effort.

THE SAIL TRAINING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Introduction
Article by Lt P.G. van den Berg.
Photos by AB M. Venter
By far the most well known of the Izivunguvungu projects, the Sail Training Development Programme, is also the longest running.
The SA Navy has been involved in developmental sail training in an unofficial capacity for many years. In this regard PO Mosley, from the sailing centre in Simon’s Town, spent much of his free time in coaching kids on the rigours of sailing.

One of the schools that regularly came to the SA Navy Sailing Centre was Simon’s Town High School. By the end of 2002 Ian Ainsley, South African Olympic sailor and 3 times World Champion sailor and also teacher at Simon’s Town High school, approached the SA Navy to formalise the developmental sail training in Simon’s Town.

This is the scene at the Naval Base Simon's Town Sailing Centre when the Izivunguvungu sailing academy yougsters put their puts to water.

He wanted to establish a Sailing Academy for previously disadvantaged children, and at first he received positive, though informal support from the SA Navy. The Navy launched a sustainability examination into this relationship and after a presentation to the SA Navy Board, the Navy’s commitment to this programme was formalised in the form of the Naval Social Responsibility Programme.

One of the important reasons why sailing was to be the sport of choice was that it is known to be an elitist sport, participated in by the very rich and excluding the disadvantaged. However, the high level of responsibility, teamwork, skill, training and dedication required from the crew of a sailboat make it an ideal platform to teach these, and other life skills, to previously disadvantaged youngsters. Through sailing, other life skills such as self-discipline, self-respect, respect for others, respect for nature and respect for others’ belongings are also made evident.

Sailing levels the playing fields once the same equipment is made available and hard work, a willingness to learn, dedication and latent talent become the yardstick.

Humble beginnings

At the time when Izivunguvungu was formally linked to the SA Navy, Ian Ainsley managed the Developmental sailing without being financially compensated. Mr Ainsley decided to enlarge the programme and bring onboard a long-standing sailing friend of his, Matthew Mentz.

They soon realised that there would be days where they could not go to sea and the children had to be actively engaged. Thus they decided to expand the programme to include boat-building and -maintenance. For this part of the programme they recruited Carder Williams. These three individuals form the heart of the Development Sailing Programme.

The SA Navy has agreed to make the infrastructure required by the sailing academy available in the form of bosun dinghies, as well as three buildings in the West Yard of Simon’s Town. Although the SA Navy wanted to expand on their involvement, they had to limit this to infrastructure that could be termed as “spare capacity”. However, it soon became evident that the running costs of the academy, as well as the salaries of the staff, required a large corporate sponsor.

Ian Ainsley approached a sponsor from his competitive sailing days, Captain Salvatore Sarno from the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), to assist in this regard. Captain Sarno recognised the sterling work produced by the Izivunguvungu project and promised to pay them a monthly stipend and provide a minibus to transport the children.

Current Situation

Currently there are about 120 youngsters from Oceanview, Redhill Informal Settlement, Masiphumelele Informal Settlement and Simon’s Town High School. involved in the developmental sailing project. Up to date approximately 300 youngsters have graduated from the programme, and some of them have even found employment in either the SA Navy or in the broader maritime industry.

The young sailors visit the academy after school everyday. They have regattas on Fridays and on Saturdays they are treated to adventure activities (e.g. sailing across False Bay and hiking in the mountains). The programme also supplies the youngsters with a meal every time they attend the academy. On any given day there are about 20 learners busy with sailing, boat building or seamanship activities. This is about the maximum amount that the Izivunguvungu mini-bus can carry at this stage.

Success stories

The MAC 24 is a sailing regatta that takes place once a year. In 2004, with the Izivunguvungu project still in its infancy, the learners desperately wanted to test their mettle in a large racing event. There was one distinct problem – they had no bosun dinghies of their own, because the SA Navy had also entered the MAC 24 sailing event and provided bosun dinghies to the international teams.

After much effort, the directors of Izivunguvungu located 3 spare bosun dinghy fibreglass hulls in Durban. These hulls had no wooden fixtures, no fittings, no mast – just the raw moulded fibreglass. These hulls were transported to Simons Town by a SA Navy ship that happened to be sailing back. The crew of Izivunguvungu, driven by a determined Cader Williams finished “building” the boats mere hours before the race was to commence. The crew set themselves a goal - to finish ahead of the SA Navy team, but in the end the “Navy ghosts” (thus named because they could only obtain Navy paint) beat all the teams to finish first! Since then they managed to obtain 2nd place in 2005 and 1st again in 2006 in the MAC 24 race.

In the Western Province match racing competition, the Izivunguvungu team managed to finish 2nd two years in a row, having been beaten by Bishops High School in 2005 and Rondebosch High School in 2006.

In 2005 there was an international Youth World “Optimist” race in Germany, and the South African Optimist Association chose 20 youngsters to represent South Africa, 9 of which hail from the Izivunguvungu Developmental Sailing Academy. The South African that managed the highest position in the race (60th out of 120), was Sinetemba Ndzakayi, a youngster from the Izivunguvungu Sailing Academy. Another youngster, Ashwin Daniels from the sailing academy qualified in a selection event of the SA Optimist Association to compete in the African Optimist Championships in Egypt during June 2006.

The “Voortrekker”, South Africa’s most famous yacht, sailed by world-renowned yachtsmen like Bruce Dalling, WO Bertie Reed (ret) and Cdr John Martin (ret), is in the process of being handed back by the SA Navy to its original owners, the SA Ocean Racing Trust. The yacht will be stationed at the Royal Cape Yacht club.

The SA Ocean Racing Trust has, however, agreed that Izivunguvungu can use the Voortrekker for one year in order to give 60 children the opportunity to sail in the Classic Boat event in the Mediterranean in groups of 10 at a time. In addition to this the members of Izivunguvungu use this opportunity to repair the boat to her pristine condition of the past. The last team of 10 will be in Valencia Spain to attend the last set of the 2007 Americas Cup Challenge. Three Izivunguvungu graduates are members of the South African Team Shosholoza in the 2007 Americas Cup Challenge.

After seeing the calibre of the Izivunguvungu youngsters, the directors of the Royal Cape Yacht Club decided to approach Izivunguvungu to incorporate their developmental sailing programme. In the process they transferred 7 O’niner dinghies to Izivunguvungu and they contribute R4000 per month to the costs.

In 2005 there was an IPSA regatta between the Navies of Brazil, India and South Africa. On the last day of the regatta in an open event Izivunguvungu entered 3 bosun dinghies. The end result of the bosun dinghy race – Izivunguvungu 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

The Izivunguvungu Sailing Academy was also instrumental in arranging the Navy Festival Developmental Sailing Championships, which takes place in Simons Town every year over the Navy Festival Period. This year there were a total of 350 Sea Cadets, Sea Scouts and Sailing Academy youngsters present for the event. At any given time there were more than 100 of them on the water!

The positive impact that this programme has on the lives of the young people participating is at the same time both profound and difficult to measure. The fact that they are exposed to events and experiences that they would never have experienced, have provided them with a sense of self-worth and self-respect. Many of the youngsters have been afforded the opportunity to either sail in foreign countries, or to meet foreign sailors on equal footing.

It is obvious that the Izivunguvungu Developmental Sailing Academy aims to create hope and to produce winners!

THE IZIVUNGUVUNGU MUSIC ACADEMY

Getting off the ground

Towards the end of 2004 a Youth Choir from Chissaster in England toured South Africa. They were met by Cdr Oldham who explained that he wanted to improve the quality of life of some of the less privileged children by means of music. Being musicians themselves, the choir members appreciated this goal and donated R10 000 of their own money towards the Music Academy. This money was used to purchase much needed instruments.

A few months later a Welfare Organisation from The Netherlands contacted Cdr Oldham. The directors of this organisation (“Het Drie Werf”) met Cdr Oldham in Simon’s Town and were so moved by what he was trying to do, that they collected €10 000 and bought 68 brand new instruments in Taiwan and shipped them to South Africa. These instruments meant that the Izivunguvungu Music Academy could start living their dream of making music!

Cdr Oldham now had the capacity to go to the schools to teach music to learners that were interested. His visit to Masiphumelele and Ocean View Primary Schools had learners and teachers so enthusiastic about the programme that they decided to make classrooms available after hours. Some of the Izivunguvungu learners living in Redhill Informal Settlement spread the word amongst the kids living there, and many of them were also interested. Simon’s Town High School and children living in Da Gama Park were also catered for. A cadet band has also been started at TS Woltemade at Sandvlei.

The programme received another boost in April 2006, with the arrival of the SAS DRAKENSBERG. It is well known that this ship came to the rescue of a power-stricken Cape Town by delivering a spare part for the Koeberg power station. In addition to this the SAS DRAKENSBERG also transported 120 music instruments collected in Scotland, Germany and Holland, which was packaged in second-hand children’s clothing, for the Izivunguvungu Music Academy. The SAS DRAKENSBERG voyage definitely ended on a high note!

Currently there are some 100 budding Mozarts and Beethovens involved in the programme.
The Izivunguvungu Music Academy is in great demand at street fairs and parades. These children are afforded the opportunity to be tutored by Cdr Mike Oldham, who has a wealth of musical experience and knowledge. They have the opportunity to make music a part of their lives and to use their musical ability to secure a bright future for themselves.

The SA Navy is proud to be associated with this programme and would like to wish Cdr Oldham the best of luck for this worthy cause.

For more information, Cdr Oldham can be contacted on 082 445 6857.