Empowerment

Dignity for Girls – in Gauteng and KZN

It is said that time flies when you are having fun. We at Project Dignity can tell you it flies faster when you are having fun and doing what you are passionate about. Especially for those who need it the most! The first quarter of the year has come and gone! It was only at the beginning of Feb when the team sat and set out our personal and work goals for the term, it feels like we lifted our eyes and BAM, the term was gone! It is with delight and excitement that we share what we have been up to for the first 3 months of #20shineteen and what we look forward to this year! With this, we are hoping to help you experience the love, joy, hardships and fulfilment that comes with being part of the Project Dignity team and with that hoping to inspire you to have hope for the future of our girls and continue supporting them! Enjoy!

Our Activities!

This term we have managed to reach a total of 849 girls in 8 schools, a special appreciation to our partners for making this possible:

  • Fiona Waller
  • 31 Club
  • Dube Tradeport
  • IAHV
  • Rotary E Club

All this work would not be possible without the shared vision and generosity of these amazing institutions and individuals. Project Dignity works to empower young women to reach their full potential. With this we aim to reduce absenteeism and dropout rates in schools and increase opportunities for girls to complete their education.

Through our partnership with IAHV, we visited Quarry Heights High School Where we delivered an educational talk to 115 girls and had an amazing time. The girls were super excited and sang the national anthem with such heart and grace. It is days like this when we are reminded of the impact that our work has on the girl’s lives and where we realize how important it is that we keep pushing to ensure that their future is secure. Imagine missing a whole term of school each year because of something you cannot control.

We appreciate partnerships like this where the educators and community-based organizations come together to work towards a brighter future for their learners, we feel privileged to be part of this amazing work. UPWARD and ONWARDS!

Comfort with Dignity for Girls in KZN

Comfort with Dignity for Girls in KZN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Dignity – Distributed 180 hygiene packs to kids of Cater Primary School in Alexandra, Gauteng.

Project Dignity – Distributed 180 hygiene packs to kids of Cater Primary School in Alexandra, Gauteng.

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Lerato Feeding Scheme

Our 5th annual IAHV Project “Lerato Feeding Scheme” took place at the Lerato Educational Centre in Eikenhof, South of Johannesburg. Lerato Educational Centre s a non-government school for underprivileged children from the ages of 3 -10 years. The school was started by Sister Mary in 2001. There are a total of 22 teachers. The school depends on donations and veggies received and cook daily on the premises for 500 children.

A scrumptious meal for 500 children was prepared by Art of Living volunteers.

We started with a short meditation, thereafter lunch was served along with a fruit, juice and a chocolate to each child. It was heart-warming to see the smiles on the children’s faces.

Thank you to all the volunteers and sponsors for the donated items.

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Breath Water Sound follow-ups with parolees & probationers at the Evaton SAPS and Evaton Sebokeng Zone 7

On Tuesday, 30 April 2019 another 2 Breath Water Sound follow-up sessions were held with parolees and probationers at the Evaton SAPS and Evaton Sebokeng Zone 7 area in the Vaal South of Johannesburg.

Busy Corner

The team Leader Bongani, together with the others in Sebokeng has already started a business called “BUSY CORNER”, where they specialise in car wash, laundry services, ironing and soon garden service (landscaping) as some of the parolees and probationer’s are painters, carpenters and plasterers. This will also give them an opportunity to make use of their skills. We are proud of all their achievements thus far

and all the above was initiated from the first BWS course held in February 2019 in Vereeniging.

They have also taken the initiative to work with the local waste management, regarding clamping down on illegal dumping and collection of waste recycling items.

Moving forward, finally they’re also working on Safety and Security, whereby they want to be trained on how to prevent and deal with shack fires and first aid to save lives until professional help arrives.

The IAHV Vaal project leaders are currently working on a short term goal to open a IAHV Centre in Evaton.

Thank you to our incredible team of IAHV seva warriors lead by Chintz Bhana & Gavin Huber.

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Breath Water Sound for parolees and probationers

Our first Breath Water Sound follow up took place in Sasolburg with a group of 35 parolees and probationers.
They had completed the course in February 2019 with Prison Program teachers Chintz Bhana and Manoj Dayal.

With guidance and assistant from Ms. Melissa and Gavin Huber (Vaal) and Ms. Carla Van Staden from the Dept. Correctional Services they have embarked on a farming project.

They have selected their own team leaders and currently communicating with the Dept. Of Agriculture. The DOA has agreed to assist and guide them with farming skills, and provide them with seedlings to kick start the project.

The team said “Our aim is to move forward and to serve the less fortunate in our community. We want to leave and forget the past”.

A very big THANK YOU to all our Prison Program Teachers, Melissa, Gavin & Team and to our Volunteers for your dedication, time and creating a positive impact to Human Values.

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Breath Water Sound in Laingsburg

17 Supervisors from the Community Work Programme in Laingsburg, Western Cape, completed the very first Breath Water Sound Program in the town, facilitated by VTP graduates Janishtha Gagjee and Vijay Gagjee

Breath Water Sound is a free workshop offered by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), a registered non-profit organization, that seeks to address the challenges of economically and emotionally distressed communities by empowering them. The workshop incorporates simple, yet powerful breathing techniques to help alleviate physical and emotional stress, as well as simple meditation techniques which help individuals to manage stress and to be more effective in their work.

Some experiences shared by workshop participants:

“I feel good. I think I try to understand my body. I’m a very stressful person and I think I learned a lot in this class about myself, and how to handle things from now on, so it was very helpful for me and my Self. I think from now, I only can be a better person, in my house, in my workplace or wherever I’m going.”

“When I was pregnant with one of my kids, I went to the sister for my usual examination, and she asked me when I lay on the bed, “Why are you breathing through your stomach?” That moment I didn’t understand what the question was, what it means, but from the first session you gave us at the office, I started to breathe through my lungs and not using my stomach, and I can feel the difference in my body. Last night, after I do the practice, one of my kids come and disturb me, but I scream at him and say “Go away, I’m busy”, and he wants to know, “Mummy, why? With what are you busy?”. I said “Just go, I will call you when I’m finished”, and then before I start again, I think about all the things we do through the week and that wasn’t necessary to scream at him. I should have ignored him and go on with what I was doing. So I start over and he came again, then the dog barked and I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t do this, but I will carry on and I just ignore it and after that, I’m so calm when he come in. “Mummy, why are you smiling?”. I just smiled to him and I ask him “Give Mummy a hug” and he give me a hug, and you know, I just feel better. I think it will be a very good thing for us to do the practice. I’m a smoker and I try to stop smoking, but I think it will help, if I do the practice more and more.”

“I think it worked quite well. The body has stamina, energy. It works! I used to smoke every 2 hours, but now I’m smoking three for the day.”

“When I first attend this class, I was feeling very stressed, but now after these past days, it feels like I found my inner Self, my inner peace. No more stress. Now I can focus on something else. I’m feeling great, thank you very much.”

“Voor ek na die klasse toe gekom het, toe was ek baie gestres, gespanne, maar ek het regtig peace gevind. Ek is baie dankbaar aan julle. Baie dankie vir wat julle hier gedoen het.”

“The sessions helped me in fact because at night I couldn’t sleep. I go to sleep and then I lay maybe like a hour, half an hour. But after I done the sessions at home, I’m getting sleep very soon. It helped me a lot.”

“Die sessies het vir my baie geleer, hoe om jou eet gewoontes te “handle”, hoe om ander mense to hanteer en nie jou stres op hulle uit te haal nie, en nou weet ek hoe om my gesondheid te sorg.”

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BWS at Barrington house

Barrington house in Observatory is a home towards dignity in Cape Town.

Offering guests who have come out of primary rehabilitation a home to settle back into reality and find their feet
into job and family life.
At the moment the house has a group of guests including a gentleman who we have been sponsoring on his journey
off the streets and out of addiction that were wanting a healthy way to manage their stress in this changing time of their life.
We secured the time and four guests from the house joined. Art of Living teacher, Dani joined us one day inspiring the group with some yoga and Martina joined created a lively group of inspired individuals.

It was a wonderful program and I was impressed with the groups commitment to take the 41 day challenge the manual suggests.

We will be doing a follow up every 10 days to encourage the group to keep up their breathing techniques and meditation.
We had wonderful feedback, Arlene one of the guests ‘enjoyed the Bastrika breath’ while Barlcay said ‘he had never felt at such peace’. Paula said ‘she could feel the healing in the meditation’. The satsangs were upbeat and fun and all had a smile on their face.
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Breath-Water-Sound Sistahood Project

The team facilitated a Breath Water Sound workshop for the Sistahood Project in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay.

It was a great pleasure to do a Breath Water Sound workshop with the Sistahood project in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay. The Sistahood was started ten years ago to keep girls age 14-18 in school, to help them with their schooling after-hours and to broaden their horizons. There was a beautiful transformation in the girls. Now they drink lots of water, eat less sugar and say they feel calm, more patient and destressed. They loved the games, the La La sound vibration and the deep rest they got on this course. It was wonderful to collaborate with the Sistahood and to have their hardworking facilitator, Thuli Nobexe, participate as well. Thank you to Deanne, Judith, Sandra and Delphine for volunteering their time and to Karina for the donation of reusable pads. We are visiting today for a follow up, just in time for exams!

BWS Sistahood Project

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2018 Christmas Lunch

We were overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and enthusiasm that made our Christmas Lunch for the Landsdowne Homeless Community possible. With the huge amount of donations received we were able to provide everyone with a warm meal of macaroni & sauce, soft drink, cupcakes, biscuits, chips and a backpack filled with hygiene items. Additional items such as blankets and clothing were also donated.

Michael, the leader from the Lansdowne community said that he had not seen their community so happy before and that they were very touched by how beautifully the volunteers interacted with so much love towards them! We all feel very blessed to have been able to achieve this and being part of spreading the love and joy of Christmas.

Beautiful photographs of the event taken by our 2 photographers Cam Kellet and Warren Wilson.

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Tree planting at the Three Rivers Christian Academy

On 30th November, tree planting took place at the Three Rivers Christian Academy in Vereeniging organised by Annie Hannekom from the Groenpunt Correctional Services.  The trees were donated by IAHV.

Tree Planting

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