Singakwenza, which means “We can do it” is a Non-Profit Organisation providing Early Childhood Education to economically disadvantaged communities.
We made “shoes” from cereal boxes and bread bag ropes to help our kiddies learn to tie their laces this week. The skills involved in this activity include eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination (using both sides of your brain and both sides of your body at the same time), motor planning (telling the right muscles what to do at the right time) and perseverance. It is little wonder it takes lots of practice to master!
What a privilege to have such incredible people swimming 8 Miles for Singakwenza at the 46th aQuelle Midmar Mile. The weather was quite erratic, with clouds, sun and rain, all in the space of 4 hours each day, but the water conditions were pretty kind, and the spirit and the camaraderie was top notch.
Thank you to all the swimmers, their faithful supporters and all the donors that helped them to raise their funds for this event. We are humbled by your dedication and generosity.
Our team is back from an enormously successful trip to Swaziland. They ran training on how to use household packaging to provide opportunities for purposeful play at 4 Waste2Toys workshops with 117 adults.
2 367 young children will now have access to educators and caregivers who have a better understanding of how to develop foundational skills through play. We are so grateful to the Solon Foundation for their assistance with sponsorship and to all the NGOs we worked with for all their coordination. It was a wonderful way to start 2019!
What a fun way to start the new school year! Reddam House Umhlanga ELS teachers and teaching assistants got fully involved in our Waste 2 Toys workshop yesterday. They were reminded of how important they are in setting up learning opportunities for their children and how they can ensure that their activities develop the foundational skills needed for formal education. They discovered that toys made from recycling are just as much fun as ones that have cost a lot of money! Their donation has now sponsored a workshop for their outreach community too.
As 2018 draws to a close, our team would like to thank each of you for making it such a successful year. Thanks to your incredible generosity in so many ways, we have implemented our training and mentorship programme in 18 creches this year, meaning that almost 50 practitioners have received training and almost 700 children have had the chance to experience the fun of learning through play every day.
In addition, we have run over 60 Waste2Toys workshops in 3 countries, enabling parents, educators and community workers to provide early learning opportunities for more than 30 000 young children. We are so grateful to every one of you, and look forward to the opportunities that 2019 brings.