Blog

Annual General Meeting 2019

 

 

 

 

(Operating as Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre)

 

 

ANNUAL REPORT

2018 / 2019

 

 

 

“Investing in the Best Interest of each Child in our Care”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VISION

Investing in the Best Interest of each child in our care

 

 

MISSION

To render Professional Child and Youth Care Services to vulnerable children needing alternate care, through their legal placement into residential care

 

 

PURPOSE

To provide Holistic Developmental Care using the Circle of Courage Model within the Life Space of our Children

 

 

UPHOLDING OF VALUES

Generosity                                           Belonging

 

Independence                                       Mastery

 

Honesty                                              Respect

 

Commitment                                        Courage

 

Responsibility                                       Fairness

 

 

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       CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

 

It is my pleasure to present the Chairman’s report for the past financial year for the Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre, also known as Pietermaritzburg Children’s Home.

 

Our staff has a complement of 26 currently. During this period, we officially registered three of our trained child and youth care interns onto our staff roster. We had two Child Care workers resign and move on to other employment, whilst both of our drivers ended their contracts. Our long standing and committed Administrator retired in February 2019. We also ended the post of a full -time general worker and moved this to a contract post. Three new staff have come on board for the period concerned.  I place on record our heartfelt gratitude to Ms Val Vincent for her sterling efforts to offer more than an administrative duty to our children and thank her for her excellent comradeship and loyalty to our home.

 

I want to acknowledge the efforts made by our child and youth care workers to complete their FETC in Child Care and submit all necessary documents to verify their qualifications. Now they are awaiting their hard – earned certificates that vouch for the improved calibre of Child Care work offered to our children. In addition, I thank all the volunteers and interns who joined us during the year to offer further support to our children.

 

Our utmost concern as a Board is to ensure that all children placed at our Home receive the highest level of Child Care services. Our role is to ensure that we are providing support to the Director and her management team to ensure that they are implementing the relevant programmes and activities that will meet this goal. I thus commend the entire PCH team as they are able to sustain relevant programmes and initiate new and innovative ideas that boost the overall development of our children.

 

In the past year there have been many contentious issues in relation to all our NGO’s in the welfare sector. PCH is coping currently, however the foreseeable future looks extremely bleak especially if there are further unanticipated negative changes in the funding allocations for our children –  such cuts in subsidy allocations have been detrimental to the full and positive care of all our children as we cannot separate our children in terms of how we allocate funds for their care! It will require a herculean task to remain in existence if we continue to face such forced reductions in subsidy and decreased number of admissions.

 

Throughout this process, we must commend the perseverance of our kind Donors. We are currently in an impasse with the Department of Social Development in relation to adequate funding in order to continue with the holistic development of our Children. We are eternally grateful and appreciative of the selfless compassion shown by various individuals and businesses not withstanding the poor economic situation that is prevalent, for your unstinting support to PCH. We further appeal to you and others to continue with your support for the benefit of our children.

 

 

 

 

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I further acknowledge the great sacrifice that is made by our Board of Directors and our Trust members. The members of the Pmb CYCC Trust guide and provide financial oversight to the Board.  A special thanks goes to Mike Yeats, Dem Kambouris and Irene Dugmore for their expert guidance.

 

I also acknowledge the efforts of our past chairperson who played a key role in steering our organization for several years and thank Mr Alphonso Jasson for his valued input into the care of our children.

 

I want to acknowledge and commend the services of the Youth Representatives who have to deal with the pressure from their electorate as well as with the added task of being the voice of the rest of the children at Board meetings. They have been actively attending regular Board meetings, and their confidence and ability to represent their peers stands out, as they are growing in their leadership skills. We are proud of these young people and convey our appreciation to the Youth Coordinator of our Home who has a key role to play in ensuring that our team attend relevant forum events and are able to voice their issues at Regional and Provincial levels. Likewise, our developing leaders are a wonderful prodigy of hard work from the entire PCH team.

 

PCH is maintained well by a strong team of dedicated Staff. The beautiful environment and positive ambiance that one experiences when you come through our doors, is a true reflection of the efforts made by the team to ensure that they have created a safe and homely space for children who call this their Home!

 

In closing I wish to thank our key benefactor, the National Lotteries Commission as well as all other valuable donors and loyal supporters of our Home. We have many valued contributors that join us for special programmes such as Heritage Day and Youth day, whilst others who support our fundraising drives, and those who join us over the holidays and throughout the year to engage with our children. Your role in helping to sustain our goals can never be over-emphasized and we Thank you for always thinking of and supporting PCH and our children.

 

Finally, I say this with conviction – I commend and thank our Director and her Management team, all Staff and Members of the Board for your dedication and diligence over the past year.

 

Mr D. Naidoo

Chairperson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT

 

I have the wonderful pleasure of presenting our annual report for the 2018/ 2019 financial year.

 

PCH has continued to stand out as a children’s facility in respect of our prgrammes and activities both within the Home, amongst the community and in the children’s sector. Our core business of serving vulnerable children continues to be challenged against the changing prerogatives on Child Care and Protection Services. Residential Care facilities will always exist as an alternate place of care for our country’s most vulnerable children, however with shifting priorities at National and Provincial levels, we question the Department of Social Development’s understanding of what our core function is, as it is evidently sidelined and unrecognized for it’s true worth! As I always say, our services are more relevant now, in the face of current violations against children, and it deepens our sense of responsibility to advocate for children’s rights to care and protection.

 

Child and Youth Care work is now a relatively new Profession in our country that has started to take its baby steps into developing itself. Yes, the Profession is now regulated, Child Care workers are obligated to have a minimum level of training and be registered with our Council for Social Service Practitioners. New developments have taken place to monitor the regulations, register more Child Care workers with our Council, and to move the FETC level 4 to Level 5. The reality is that this process takes time. A Key factor is to get the profession recognized for what it really is and recognize the role of Child Care workers within the entire children’s sector. We appreciate the efforts made by Naccw as our National Body for making new inroads to develop the Child Care Workspace in the Education, Early Childhood Development and the Health sectors.

 

Child and Youth Care Workers are a growing force that has already made significant impact on the lives of our country’s children and families. I again emphasize that, in residential care, the worth of a Child Care worker can never be underestimated and the power that they hold to make a positive impact on that child’s life, is to an extent – beyond measure! I have come to admire and respect this unique profession that holds children at the heart of what it does.

 

I convey my sincere appreciation to all our Major Donors, Corporate Donors, Regular Donors, Donors in Kind, all our wonderful well-wishers and friends throughout the year, for taking time to be with and offer your time for the benefit of our children.

 

A very special thank you to our dedicated members of our Trust for your continued expert advice and guidance, to our Board of Directors for your generosity in time and commitment to our cause, to all our staff for your loyalty and ever-willing approach to give off your best, and to our strong and steady members of our Management Team for your willingness to accept new challenges, and your continued advocacy and championship for the work we do, in the name of our children!

 

GOVERNANCE

Our updated Memorandum of Incorporation was approved in 2017 and remains valid. Our annual NPO report for 2018 was approved. Of concern is that our current registration with the Department as a CYCC will expire in 2020, as does our funding for the current three-year cycle. New processes will be followed as per direction from Social Development.

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COMPLIANCE

Our priority remains at all times is to ensure that we meet the legal and moral obligations that we have to our children. At all times our overall priority is to ensure that we are creating a safe, secure and enabling environment for children. We have measures in place to ensure that staff have complied with relevant criminal and child protection clearances, ensured that we have complied with the health and safety requirements and put into place a health and safety team to monitor key concerns.

 

We acknowledge the Department of Social Development who play a significant role of monitoring and evaluation our organization to ensure compliance in terms of the regulations and the Children’s Act. Our very first monitoring report was received in 2018! Our challenge is that we are often unclear as to what comprises actual compliance as per the Department’s understanding. Such contradictions in interpretation of the Children’s Act and the Regulations leads to unnecessary disharmony amongst us as role players in the child’s life. Ultimately – neither party should be diverting from what is always in the best interest of the Child!

 

ADVOCACY

We have had a busy year, taking every opportunity that presented itself, for PCH to advocate and lobby for issues that matter to our sector. We have continued to submit written input to change current legislation and regulations that impact on service delivery, debated child care issues at local, provincial and national levels, forwarded concerns to our Head of Department for Social Development and followed up on our  correspondence to the Chairperson of the KZN Portfolio committee, with regard to the funding for our social post being withdrawn, ensuring that our voice was heard as a key role player, advocating for better quality of services to our children. Sadly, relevant stakeholders in the sector do not reciprocate the seriousness of our issues, and often we go by with either no response to our issues, or vague and unclear responses that cannot be acted on.

 

STAFF COMPLIMENT

 

STATUS :  
STAFF COMPLIMENT AT BEGINNING OF FINANCIAL YEAR 26
RESIGNATIONS  6
NEW APPOINTMENTS  4
STAFF COMPLIMENT AT END OF FINANCIAL YEAR 24

 

STAFF TRAINING

We maximize on all training opportunities that staff can attend in order to ensure that we are functioning at our optimal. Staff who attended external trainings returned and in-serviced others on their team. PCH also applied to Council in 2017 for CPD approval on some of our trainings, which was approved. Some of these CPD trainings continued into this reporting period.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Team were exposed to the following External Trainings:

 

1.       DDP Board Governance Training 2.       managing defiant and difficult children

 

3.       Human Trafficking 4.       family reintegration

 

5.       Digital Media and child protection

 

6.       Persona Doll Training

 

7.       Caring for families of substance abusers

 

8.       Human Trafficking seminar

 

9.       data capturing workshop

 

 

The Child Care Team were exposed to the following Internal Trainings:

 

CPD approved:
1.       code of ethics 2.       behavior support
3.       Child care Work in Practice 4.       Ten Principles of Child and Youth Care Work
5.       creating positive moments 6.       Routines in Child Care
7.       PLAY in NOT a 4-letter word
Inservice trainings:
Media Policy Reintegration training

 

Health and Safety Trainings:

 

  • First Aid Training: a three – day training was conducted for all staff by St Johns in February 2019

 

Student Placement and Support:

Child Care 15
Social Work 4
Social Auxiliary Work 1
Counselling 2
Public Relations 19

 

 

 

 

 

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REGULATED TRAINING: FETC IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE

Twelve of our staff began upgrading their training in February 2016. The modules were spread out and easily paced to allow for them to complete their practical work assessments. They have worked hard to grasp the knowledge and complete all written assessments. Over the past year we have worked with Naccw to finalize all assessments for submission to the Hwseta. It is unfortunate that we have no choice but to wait for the Hwseta to validate the process in order for our staff to receive their long – awaited certificates.

 

PARTICPATION IN THE CHILDREN’S SECTOR

The Naccw / CYC – Net partnered World Conference became a highlight as we moved into the second half of the year concerned. PCH was represented by three staff members at the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) meetings planning for this momentous event. I want to acknowledge the active participation of R Mashoko and Z Phiri, who were able to offer their support to the conference whilst continuing with all PCH duties.

 

PROGRAMME CHAMPIONS

 

We acknowledge the support of external ambassadors who have offered us invaluable knowledge and life skills:

  • Pam (St Johns)             First Aid Training for our KZN Cadetts
  • Kelvin (Duzi Canoeing)             Paddling
  • Crickmay             Computer Literacy programme
  • Sarah             Bible study
  • S Maharaj             Study Tuition
  • Mountain Rise Astro League Soccer
  • Community Media trust             Lifeskills
  • One Life Church             Alpha programme
  • Life Changer strengths based programme

 

SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

 

  • Department of Social Development
  • National Lotteries Commission
  • Iqraa Trust
  • KFC
  • NMI (DSM)
  • Ken Collins Trust
  • Pietermaritzburg and District Community Chest
  • All our Corporate donors throughout the year
  • All individuals for your wonderful support of all our fundraising initiatives and programmes

 

 

God Bless,

Fiona Balgobind

 

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SOCIAL SERVICES REPORT

 

It gives me great pleasure to report on the Social Service and Child Care activities for the past financial period, (2018-2019). Our task is to continue making sure that the environment that our children live in, is enabling, safe and secure to ensure that they become good citizens in the future. That is done by continually striving to make sure that every child in our care, is equally important to us, and we strive to achieve this through guidance, wisdom and positive influence. Also, through the utilization of structured programs that take into account the children’s’ needs as a group and as an individual.

 

In the past year, PCYCC accommodated a total of 96 (17 new) children between the ages of 4 and 20 years. Children are placed into four (4) cottages according to their age groups. We were blessed with the children who turned 20 while in our facility, due to the fact that their home circumstances are not conducive for them to be returned back into the community.

 

Our children are being cared for by the professional child and youth care workers (CYCWs), who are responsible for the holistic care and development of every child in our care.

The Pre-interview meetings have been very beneficial to the CYCWs, because then they get to understand the background information about the child that will be coming into our care. The Pre -interview meetings are attended by the Social worker, CYCWs from the unit that the child will be admitted into, the Child Care Manager, the child concerned as well as the designated Social worker.

 

This past year 18 children were reunified with families and some with their extended families through the reunification services which is an integral part of our program. This has been a joint responsibility of the placement agency, and PCH who are the children’s custodians and we are proud to have played a more active role in this process in recent years, and we are continuing to be the champions of this process as we have increased the number of children that are returned back into the community, where they Belong. The reality is that the family home circumstances often take more than two years to improve therefore our children remain in care until permanent reunification is possible. This can be a long process, as relationships are rebuilt by allowing the child and family to spend time together, starting with day visits, weekend visits, then holiday visits and eventually the child returns to the family permanently.

 

1 child successfully completed his schooling from Newton Pre- vocational school. He was successfully placed with his maternal family in Elandskop. He will be continuing with his studying at FET in 2020. Out of seven grade 11’s, 6 successfully promoted to grade 12. Four grade R learners were promoted to grade 1.and 1 child in pre-school.

 

Our children have been actively involved in several programmes, which included:

 

Developmental Program:

This includes 24hour physical care, access to appropriate schooling and education, family reunification and reintegration within the shortest possible time, assistance with disengaging from the program, promotion of children’s rights, mastering of age appropriate tasks, life space work, life skills, casework and groupwork.

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Therapeutic Programs:

This includes a Developmental assessment, Individual Developmental Plans (IDPs) for each child, Case Conferences, individual counseling of children, and referrals to specialized services, home visits, family meetings, dealing with the daily holistic and developmental needs of each child.

 

Individual counselling 122 Court orders were updated 76
Court visits 36 Child line 3
Sections 159 reports 47 Section 176 reports 16
Home visits 24 Case reviews 76
Absconders   3 Transferred to other Facility   1
Mentors /host parents   5 Children being mentored   9
Minor incidents dealt by CCWS 28 Minor incidents deal by Social worker  19
Complaints involving staff   3 Complaints involving children   9

 

-Medical:

A other core function of child care is to ensure the medical well-being of the child. A total of 234 different referrals were made to various other medical, care or counselling services

 

Northdale Hospital    90 Greys Hospital     11
Edendale Hospital (1 operation)      9 Woodlands Clinic     63
Northdale Dentist      5 Northdale Eye Clinic      5
SANCA      4 Greys ENT      5
Psychologists (Behavioral challenges)     15 Woodlands Clinic (speech therapy)      5
Lifeline (Therapeutic services)      3 Woodlands Clinic (repeat medication)     11
Ghandi Assessment Center      4 Harwood Pharmacy     4

 

Educational:

  • PCYCC is privileged to have an outside tutor who is helping our grade 8-12 with their schoolwork on weekends, Mathematics is always a subject of concern. The feedback has been positive.
  • Love Incarnate (group of students from UKZN), is continuing helping our children with homework on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I’m pleased to report that our children have taken full advantage of this opportunity.
  • 4 of our grade R children graduated, they were all accepted for grade 1.
  • One child is attending creche Three Bears.
  • Social worker had 7 sessions with the 7 grade 11 learners.

 

School visits on progress 54 School visits on performance 15
School visits for re-admissions 29 Visits to Special Schools 9
School visits for behavioral problem 9 School visits for placement 17

 

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After care:

  • Astor, is working at the Golden Horse, employed by Vigor & Verve. He is planning to further his studies in 2020, marketing at DUT.
  • Ndlovu passed her matric with Bachelor pass, she is planning to further her studies in 2020, she has applied through Central Applications Office (CAO).
  • D Dlamini successfully completed his schooling at Newton, his core subjects were Building and Plumbing, he received his skills certificate.
  • Nomandindi completed his Matric with a Diploma pass, he is currently working, he is planning to further his studies.
  • Rapitsi is still working for SM Builders, he has been able to find his own place to stay.
  • N Khuse has been accepted at MH Moosa in Bombay for protective workshops.
  • N Mthethwa and N Mhlanga completed their schooling at HS Ebrahim Special school respectively, they will remain at PCH, due to their unconducive home circumstances, will be helped with application to the protective workshops.
  • M Mofokeng is continuing with her schooling at Haythorne after she fell pregnant and discharged to the care of her grandmother.
  • N Khwababa is continuing with her Matric after she fell pregnant during the school holidays, she was discharged to the care of her sister in Catoridge.

 

Some Highlights for the year:

  • PCYCC was fortunate to have partnered with Life Changer Organization and One life Church. They ran an Alpha Program for 12 weeks with all high school children (26 children).
  • PCYCC has partnered with Children in Distress Organization (CINDI) to focus on the issue of Reintegration.
  • A total of 18 children were reunified back into the community during the reporting period.
  • D Dlamini attended a Farewell party at Newton Prevocational school.
  • 9 senior children were privileged to have an opportunity to receive funding from Life Changer to do a Strength Course, a psychology that allows an individual an opportunity to develop a better understanding, and the awareness of self, which helps to embrace the uniqueness of each individual, and in turn boosting their confidence.
  • 14 senior boys attended a day workshop at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall, hosted by Inkuzi Isematholeni Organization. Theme “Unleashing the Potential in a Boy child”. The workshop was run by renowned Motivational Speakers and Radio/TV personalities including professional soccer players
  • 38 senior children attended a 3day Healthy Choices workshop that was run by May’khethele Project, through Community Media Trust. Each child received a certificate of attendance.
  • 19 senior boys attended a 2day workshop that was run by Community Media Trust through Dreams Project “Man 2 Man”, each boy received a certificate of attendance.
  • M Maduna was transferred to the School of Industry in Newcastle. He was no longer benefiting from our program.

 

 

 

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  • One of our children was accompanied to Westville Female Prison to visit her mother who is serving a 5 – year sentence.
  • 7 children who turned 16, were assisted in getting their Identity Documents through Home Affairs.
  • 28 senior children were invited to Bessie Head Library for a “Poetry Extravaganza”, which was hosted by our South African Icon Gcina Mhlophe. Our children were fortunate to interact with International Poets, (Australia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya and Ireland)
  • 24 senior girls were invited to uMsunduzi Library for an annual girl’s talk, which was hosted by UKZN students. “Theme, A Smile is a makeup a girl should wear”
  • Child Protection Week: was a success, and included a visit from NICRO and SANCA who held an awareness talk with our Senior children.
  • 23 children attended an Open Day at Mountain Rise SAPS, where they were exposed to various sections including the Holding Cells.
  • Sexting program was rendered for all senior children, to help them in be more informed with the dangers of social media.
  • Lifeline ran a three- day awareness program with all our children.
  • Grade 10-12 were invited to a Career Expo/Open day that was hosted by UKZN.

 

THE BEST WAY TO FIND YOURSELF, IS TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.

 

 

THE CHILD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN OUR PREMISES.

 

Ntokozo Mhlophe

Social Worker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PROGRAMMES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CHILD AND YOUTH CARE REPORT

 

It is an honour to submit a report on the child and youth care services rendered in the past year. As a supervisor to 16 Child Care workers the task can be daunting at times, but I am thankful that we have a wonderful team willing to make changes and accommodate each other in order to offer the best services to our children.

 

Most often, people underestimate the amount of work placed on residential Child Care workers. We are expected to ensure that all the regulations within the Children’s Act are met, and this results in Administration forming a huge part of Child Care work. To put it into perspective, we have at least 19 books/files/registers that need to be filled in, at some point when a CYCW is on duty. My report will highlight some key aspects of Child Care work that we are involved in:

 

SUPERVISION

 

Individual supervision 192
Group supervisions 37
In service trainings 15
Child care meetings Weekly
Online supervision Ongoing

 

  • CYCWs attend open days, parent’s meetings and sports days at our children’s schools.
  • 4 CYCWs together with the General Manager, Social Worker and Child Care Manager attended the NACCW Conference in Kimberley in July 2017.
  • CYCW month was celebrated at PCH with a team building and braai

FETC TRAINING

The Child Care workers have an obligation to complete their minimum FETC qualification in Child and Youth Care Work in order to continue practicing in the field, as per the regulations. Training only used to take place in Durban, and we are grateful to our manager who advocated to bring this training to PMB so that it was made accessible for all Child Care workers in the city. The first group of trainees for PMB included the majority of staff from PCH, and we also extend our gratitude to the Board for allowing PCH to be offered as a training venue. Without a suitable, approved venue by Hwseta, we would not have started our training in the previous year.

 

  • Whilst our staff members were in training, completing their FETC modules in Child and Youth Care, Supervision also involved monitoring their practical work and completion of assessments.
  • 11 Child Care staff and 1 general worker from PCH were part of this training.
  • We then accepted 12 new students from Zisukumela Community Project in Mphophomeni from February 2018 and are supporting them with on the job training. They are supervised by 4 qualified CYCW mentors and the Child Care Manager and placed within the different Units.

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IN-SERVICE TRAINING:

  • We hosted some valuable trainings at PCH. Majority of these were facilitated by the Child Care manager, however we encouraged those Child Care workers who attended external trainings to provide feedback and workshop their learnings to others on the team.

PRACTITIONERS FORUMS (under Naccw)

  • We had 4 Practitioners Forums with CYCWs from other organizations in PMB coordinated by Ropah and Nhlaka.
  • Topics covered were – Expectations from Professional CYCWs, Ethics in CYCW, Applying CYC Theory into practice, Early Warning Signs of Cancer (CHOC), taking care of yourself: de-stressing.

CELEBRATION DAYS

Each Unit gets to coordinate a different event from the celebration days. Some highlights:

  • Valentine’s Day: was celebrated with a talk about different kinds of love and children decorated their cottages in red and white.
  • Youth day: was celebrated with staff and children who wore school uniform or respective performance attires. There were different activities eg Zulu dance, poetry, Gobisiqolo, mango groove dance, Sarafina dance, gospel music and dance. Children shared their understanding of the day and there was a discussion on what it means to be a youth in this day. They also watched the Sarafina movie.
  • Good Friday programme: ran by the Children – Bible verse sessions were held.
  • Ascension Day: full programme held on site.
  • Heritage Day: is a big day on the PCH calendar with numerous cultural activities and a special meal.

LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMMES

  • Community Media Trust programme worked with boys and girls 12-18 years, under the programme (Stepping Stone) from Mid-May – August. Both groups had 11 sessions each and valuable life skills were imparted on issues such as personal care, emotional care, protection of their bodies and covered broad discussions on sexual behaviour, human trafficking, various forms of abuse and dealing with trauma and pain.
  • A personal development programme was held with seniors based on Johara’s window.
  • One life church hosted a programme where a Professional nurse discussed: importance of finishing antibiotics, constipation, stomach and period pains, and the value of drinking water.

FIRST AID

  • Our children have actively participated in weekly junior first aider programmes and 44 are enrolled with the St John’s Cadet for trainings.
  • 19 young people attended the Comrades on the 04.06.17 with the officers from St Johns and assisted runners in the treatment and wellness tent, which was enjoyed by all then they all enjoyed a movie day the day after.
  • 21 young people attended the annual review in Durban and they did a lovely skit to depict what they have learnt in First Aid.
  • 13/10/17 – 5 First Aiders went to Natal Carbineers to attend an awards ceremony.

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  • This year they started with Save a Life programme, and level 1 and 2.
  • 9 Cadets went for drilling at the army base camp, in preparation for the 2017 National Camp and competition in East London which was in October where 1 of our boys won 2 trophies for best dressed cadet and for being the best drilling commander.

PADDLING

  • Paddling classes continued weekly (except for in the holidays) with 9 learners this term. They practiced racing, running out of the water with their canoes, pulling, dragging, body exercises, swimming, & paddling.
  • In December 2017 they received certificates of appreciation and attendance from the coach.

GARDEN PROJECT

  • The Happy Earth Garden project has continued very well. It is both educational and therapeutic for the children. The number involved in the project is 70 (40 juniors and 30 seniors) who belong to the club. YP cleaned up the gardens, trimmed edges, collected mulch for zones 1 and 3, did watering, weeding, harvested some beans, spinach and beetroot and continuing with the upkeep of the nursery and looking after the citrus trees. We engaged with students from Enactus UKZN and they started a pilot project in November with sack planting.
  • The garden club members had a visit to Botanical gardens and learnt about the value of trees.

RECREATIONAL/ DEVELOPMENTAL/HOLIDAYS:

  • The holidays are planned with developmental activities such as painting of egg shells, hand and safety programme, knitting, setting goals, good hygiene, crafts days (traditional drums were made), picture frames, hanging baskets, talent shows, competitions, environment clean-up day around the community, arts and painting, indoor and outdoor games, sports, movie nights, funny day and staff ran a “friends like these” programme. Also, fitness days, self-awareness days, Human Trafficking Awareness.
  • Recycling activities continued, and numerous recycled toys and crafts were made
  • An activity on trial and error learning was also planned and implemented by the CYCWs
  • Sipho (CYCW) started a choir for young people, he separated juniors and seniors.
  • 39 young people were invited to Eastwood community hall for an event that had motivational talks from prosecutors and music from different performers.
  • 3 children participated in a school cultural event and all of them performed and displayed their talents at our annual awards event.
  • Our young people attended the VIP DAY in Durban, in November 2017 – There was a talent competition and the 2 young people who entered came first in their respective categories.
  • Numerous visitors attended in December to hold programmes and do activities. The children enjoyed a visit to Thornville, an outing to the park and a New Year’s Party at Sunlit Garden’s home with their friends.
  • Several visitors attended in January to hold programmes and do activities.
  • PCH held a sports day. Our children enjoyed visits to Cascades Mall Carnival and to YMCA day camp.

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SPORTS

  • The juniors continued with soccer and attended several events at Mountain Rise Primary School with Nhlaka as their coach. One girl attended provincial netball selections. Several school events were held, and children received many medals for sports. One continued with rugby, attended event at Hilton school.
  • 13 YP attended the regional NACCW sports day to celebrate youth day.

SPIRITUAL

  • All senior children attend 2 different churches (Overcomers- 13 and CRC- 12) as per their choice. 38 junior boys/girls attend Sunday school at AFM.
  • Several churches hosted events last year. Juniors attended Mother’s and Father’s day at AFM church. They performed a mango groove dance for the fathers. City Harvest donated gift boxes and provided 40 workbooks for those who will do the disciple course. 40 juniors attended Woodlands Congregational church for world children’s day.
  • All our senior children attended a Youth Conference at God’s Family church in town, where they enjoyed Christian dramas and music.
  • 10 of our young people attended an international conference at the ICC in Durban invited by CRC Church.

 

YOUTH REPS

  • Our Youth reps for that period were Snegugu, Muzi, Nokuthula and Mandisa.
  • The youth reps attended 5 board meetings. All attended the sub regional youth meetings and regional youth events and all 4 attended the regional leadership camp in October.
  • 1 representative attended the National Youth Conference in Kimberly.
  • Youth reps brought feedback and ran programmes with other seniors on substance abuse.
  • Zonke became a youth coordinator for PMB sub-region.

 

Once again, a special thank you to all donors who supported our programmes, all stakeholders who partnered with us to run programmes, as well as to all visitors and friends who joined us for events and functions.

 

R Mashoko,

Child Care Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING REPORT

 

I greet you all. Nothing gives me greater honor then reporting the first year being with PCH. What makes it more special is the fact that this report is based on the exact time I took over in March 2018.

 

Before I begin, I’d like to thank PCH for giving an opportunity in Public Relations field which is what I studied for but never receive ample opportunity to practice what I had learned. Honestly, I wish I can thank each and everyone but that’s the issue: there’s too many people to mention otherwise I can write a whole book about each and every one of you! To my Manager Fiona Balgobind, thank you for taking time to groom me. I remember I used to be in and out of your office for more than 10 times per day and you never complained even once. Thank you for to everybody who has supported me since my first day at PCH.

 

Social Media Tools

  • Social media updating on our Facebook page continued on a daily basis on events that were held at our home as well as any form of awareness and campaigns which now consists of 950 likes. Our Facebook page is now regarded as a 4.6-star page and remains to be our main awareness and marketing tool.
  • Facebook interaction and post comments from our followers, this was recorded via our Facebook page stats.
  • The twitter page was also updated daily and now consists of a number of 966 followers, our twitter following followers has also showed an increase with Facebook being the more popular social media medium as always.

 

Fundraising Events and Campaigns

  • In the past year, various events and campaigns were held, all of which requires a huge amount of time, planning and publicity to make a success. I took over in March which means that during that month I was promoting Tekkie tax up until the actual day, which was the 25th May 2018 Having missed the training, we started off from March to May 2018 with our Tekkie Tax event, which went well.
  • PCH got an award for being the 2nd highest in KwaZulu Natal for more stickers sold and for being on the top 25.
  • In July our Mandela Day Campaign recruited a higher number of volunteers and more engagement with companies raising a more significant amount. More companies showed an interest in assisting PCH during the street campaign.
  • Our second ever Braai and Dance was held on the 18th August 2018 was well received by the community and did exceptionally well. Notices were sent on Radio stations and more people were calling and showing interest since they heard it air mostly on ECR.
  • On the 16th February 2019, PCH decided to have a Valentines Braai and dance which again was well received by the public. The support was outstanding. During this event we also used Lotus FM as well as Newspaper to promote the event and the turn-out was better than the previous Braai and dance.

 

 

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  • Numerous other awareness campaigns were held at Malls and huge public events within our community such as the PMB Chamber of Business events, as we are active Chamber members as well as The Garden show which was hosted at the Royal show Grounds in September 2018.

 

Students

  • We continue to play a key role in supporting the DUT 3rd and 4th year public relations students annually, accepting them to complete work placements. They were included in or planning and implementing of events and activities. They however also take a lot of time to manage and supervise.

 

Website

  • Despite our google grant coming to an end, many donors report having found us via their search on the website. This implies that our Home does remain high on the list of searches for children’s services.
  • Part of our continued evaluation of social media tools, indicates that we are in need of updating the look of our website and re-channeling more audience to our site.

 

Newsletter

  • Our Newsletter was circulated monthly and on track with the industry average, most of our readers opened the mailed newsletter multiple times as tracked by the Mailchimp report analysis, however more than 50% of subscribers do not click the link to open the newsletter.
  • Our readership as expected drops and picks up at different times for many reasons especially email addresses that stop working or number of Audiences that unsubscribe however we constantly updated our database to ensure that we remain in contact with majority of our donors and friends of PCH.
  • We are proud to know that our current database reaches 1080 people.

 

Publicity Material

  • The name badges that the staff used contained the old logo, and since PCH changed the logo it was needed that we design new gold name badges that contained the new logo. All PCH staff received new name tags and a huge thanks to the Board of Directors for improving this change. These played a huge role in making the staff recognizable.
  • Pull up banner that contained a new logo was also made, this banner assists PCH recognizable as well

 

Gratitude

  • Lastly, we would like to acknowledge each and every single Donor as well as the community for their continued support in kind, or cash who continue to stand with and support us in making sure that our Home is running smoothly and accommodating to the children we serve. The amount of time that each and every one of you put continues to make PCH what it is

 

We are really thankful to you for making that much difference in our children’s lives!

 

Sinethemba Mzobe

Public Relations Officer

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PIETERMARITZBURG CHILDRENS’S HOME NPC
TREASURER’S REPORT – FOR THE YEAR ENDED 28 FEBRUARY 2019
The Pietermaritzburg Children’s Homes (PCH) continues to operate as a child and youth care centre, providing accommodation and care to the children in need.
PCH’s funding is derived from the state subsidy received from the Department of Social Development been the largest contributor, National Lottery Commission for operational expenses and many other donors.

Financial results as follows:

 

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Revenue generated for the period under review been 2019 amounted to R3 963 400 been 4.91% higher than the 2018 financial.  This was largely attributable to income received from the Iqraa Trust and National Lottery.
Expenditure grew by 7.23% for the 2019 financial year in comparison with 2018 year.  This increase was a resulted from higher employee costs, municipal expenses, repairs and maintenance and other expenses. Expenses amounted to R3 920 609 for the 2019 year.

PCH is in a surplus for the 2019 financial year by an amount of R78 478. This was largely due to the National Lottery funds and stringent controls by management in the daily expenditure.

A special thank you goes out to all donors, for their valuable contributions to PCH for this financial year.
Our staff together with the management team and Board members, had played a significant role in ensuring that we continue to sustain the Home and explore ways to generate income.

On behalf of the Board, I want to acknowledge the efforts put by management and staff in going the extra mile for the Home, especially in this difficult economic climate.

 

 

Mr. M Achari

Treasurer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PCH CHILDREN’S HOME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

002 213 NPO

2002/014771/08 NPC

930003017 PBO

 

Banking details:

Name of Account       : PMB Children’s Home

Bank               : First National Bank

Account number     : 50932521351

Branch              : Boom Street, Pmb

Branch Code           : 221325

 

Telephone              : 033 3874004

Fax                        : 033 3874001

Address                 : 45 Teak Road, Woodlands, Pmb

Postal                    : P O Box 949, PMB, 3200

 

Emails

General Manager     : manager@pch.org.za

Administration        : admin@pch.org.za

Public Relations      : pr@pch.org.za

Social Work           : social@pch.org.za

Child Care               : ccmanager@pch.org.za

 

“ANY TASK, NO MATTER HOW DIFFICULT IT MAY BE…

CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY GOD’S GRACE”

 

 

 

 

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