Montessori Mag March 2020

MAG *MARCH 2020 *FREE DIGITAL*FREE MAGONLINE *MARCH 2020* EDITION 61

Using Open Ended Questions

The Importance of Imagination

CORONAVIRUS With A Baby

Boosting Family Immunity

50 Ways To Encourage Your Child

Desiderata You are a Child of the Universe, No less than the trees and the stars; You have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, No doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should.

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Coronavirus With A Baby: What You Need To Know To Prepare And Respond

By Karleen Gribble Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University and Nina Jane ChadPost-doctoral Research Associate, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney. Courtesy of www.theconversation.com

If you have a baby, you may be worried about them catching the coronavirus, particularly after media reports of an Australian infant diagnosed with it.

The good news is, the evidence so far is babies almost never get seriously ill from the coronavirus. And even if infected, they may have no symptoms.

However, the coronavirus could affect infants in other ways. For instance, there may be difficulties accessing health care, consumer goods and child care.

Thinking about these possibilities now, and preparing for them, can help you manage what may come.

Health care access may be tricky, but there are ways If the coronavirus becomes widespread, the health system will struggle to cope for a while.

Up to 20% of people who get COVID-19 need treatment in hospital for up to two weeks or more.

Hospitals and general practices may be overwhelmed by others sick with the coronavirus, which may make it difficult to access health care if your baby gets sick for any reason.

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Recognising this, the Australian government recently announced special provisions for parents of newborns to be bulk-billed when consulting a doctor or nurse via phone or videocall rather than in person.

There are also things you can do to help keep your baby healthy so they don’t need medical treatment. By protecting them, you also protect the people around them who may be more vulnerable to serious illness from the coronavirus.

Think about hygiene The first thing you can do is to practice good hygiene yourself. This includes frequently washing your hands, avoiding close contact with other people as much as you can, coughing or sneezing into your bent elbow or a tissue, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

Because babies put their hands in their mouths no matter what, frequently washing their face and hands and cleaning surfaces and objects they might touch will help protect them from any infection.

How about daycare?

It will come as no surprise to most parents that babies who attend daycare are sick more often.

That’s because babies and small children have an immature immune system, are in very close contact with one another, and may end up sharing saliva with one another by mouthing and touching one another and the same toys.

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So, if you can, keep your baby away from daycare. However, if you need to use it, when you pick up your baby from daycare, wash their hands and face, change their clothes, then wash your own hands, before scooping them into that big, warm hug.

Make sure vaccinations are up to date Routine vaccination is the safest, most effective way to protect babies and children from illness.

So, keep your child’s vaccinations up-to-date to minimise the chance they’ll need medical attention while the health system is dealing with the coronavirus.

If you’re breastfeeding Breast milk contains many ingredients to help prevent and fight infection. It is recommended babies be fed only breast milk until they are six months old and continue breastfeeding with other foods into their second year of life.

If your baby is under six months and breastfeeding, offering them only breast milk protects them from a range of infections and reduces their need for medical treatment or hospitalisation.

If your baby is breastfeeding and using formula, consider replacing formula feeds with breastfeeds.

If you have stopped breastfeeding altogether, it is possible to start breastfeeding again if you want to (contact the national Breastfeeding Helpline for assistance).

If you have an older baby or toddler who is still breastfeeding, keeping breastfeeding will help protect them from other illnesses until after the coronavirus pandemic has passed.

If you’re using formula It is easy to accidentally introduce germs into bottles while you’re preparing infant formula. So, because medical care may be hard to access, it is worth taking extra care to prevent this.

Be extra careful about preparing bottles. This means always washing your hands thoroughly with soap, washing bottles thoroughly, sterilising them after every use, and making up formula with hot water.

Remember to cool down the bottle in the fridge, give it a gentle shake, and check it’s not too hot before giving it to your baby.

Shop for supplies, such as nappies Supply chains may be disrupted if lots of people get ill. And you may not be able to shop if you need to self-isolate at home.

It is recommended you have two to three weeks worth of supplies at home to prepare for this possibility. Consider stocking up on nappies for this length of time, or keeping washable (cloth) nappies on hand.

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If you are formula feeding, buy enough infant formula for three weeks but check the expiry dates.

What if mum contracts the coronavirus?

Mothers are more at risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus than their babies.

And if you’re breastfeeding and you’re infected, it is recommended you continue breastfeeding.

That’s because the virus has not been found in breastmilk.

Wearing a mask when you are with your baby (including during feeding), washing hands before and after contact with your baby, and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and any feeding equipment will help prevent your baby catching the virus from you.

If you are are hospitalised or separated from your baby, you can express breastmilk for them.

Think about keeping grandparents safe If you or your partner get ill, someone else may need to help care for the baby or other children.

Babies like to share their saliva with their caregivers and they may be infected with the coronavirus but have no symptoms. So they may easily spread the infection to the people looking after them.

Many parents call on grandparents to help with child care. Unfortunately people over 60 are the most likely to get seriously ill or die from the coronavirus.

So, if your standby carers are over 60, now is the time to think about making alternate childcare arrangements.

Talk with grandparents about how they can reduce their risk of infection if they need to look after the baby.

Disclosure statement Karleen Gribble is a member of the international interagency collaboration the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Core Group. She has been involved in the development of international guidance and training on infant feeding in emergencies and and has acted as a consultant to UNICEF, WHO, and Save the Children on this subject. She is also an Australian Breastfeeding Association Community Educator and Counsellor and a member of the Public Health Association of Australia.

Nina J Chad worked as Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Consultant to Save the Children in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis. She is a qualified breastfeeding counsellor, community educator, and Trainer & Assessor. She volunteers on the National Breastfeeding Helpline. Dr Berry is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia, the World Public Health Nutrition Association, and the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

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How A Second Language Can Boost The Brain

By Bob Holmes courtesy of www.knowablemagazine.org

Being bilingual benefits children as they learn to speak — and adults as they age.

Even when you’re fluent in two languages, it can be a challenge to switch back and forth smoothly between them. It’s common to mangle a split verb in Spanish, use the wrong preposition in English, or lose sight of the connection between the beginning and end of a long German sentence. So — does mastering a second language hone our multitasking skills or merely muddle us up?

This debate has been pitting linguists and psychologists against one another since the 1920s, when many experts thought that bilingual children were fated to suffer cognitive impairments later in life. But the science has marched on. In the Annual Review of Linguistics, psycholinguist Mark Antoniou of Western Sydney University in Australia outlines how bilingualism — as he defines it, using at least two languages in your daily life — might benefit our brains, especially as we age. He addresses how best to teach languages to children and lays out evidence that

multiple-language use on a regular basis may help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the benefits of bilingualism?

I’m interested in the interaction between language-learning and cognition — the mental processes of the brain. The cognitive benefits of bilingualism can begin from experiences very early in childhood and can persist throughout life.

The first main advantage involves what’s loosely referred to as executive function. This describes skills that allow you to control, direct and manage your attention, as well as your ability to plan.

It also helps you ignore irrelevant information and focus on what’s important. Because a bilingual person has mastery of two languages, and the languages are activated automatically and subconsciously, the person is constantly managing the interference of the languages so that she or he doesn’t say the wrong word in the wrong language at the wrong time.

The brain areas responsible for that are also used when you’re trying to complete a task while there are distractions. The task could have nothing to do with language; it could be trying to listen to something in a noisy environment or doing some visual task. The muscle memory developed from using two languages also can apply to different skills.

Where are these benefits expressed in the brain?

Executive functions are the most complex brain functions — the most “human” functions that separate us from apes and other animals. They’re often observed in parts of the brain that are the newest, in evolutionary terms: the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for advanced processing; the bilateral supramarginal gyri, which play a role in linking words and meanings; and the anterior cingulate. Studies show that the bilingual experience alters the structure of these areas.

First of all, we see increases in gray matter volume. The brain is made up of cells called neurons, which each have a cell body and little branching connections called dendrites. Gray matter refers to how many cell bodies and dendrites there are. Bilingual experience makes gray matter denser, so you have more cells. This is an indication of a healthier brain.

Bilingualism also affects white matter, a fatty substance that covers axons, which are the main projections coming out from neurons to connect them to other neurons. White matter allows messages to travel fast and efficiently across networks of nerves and to the brain.

Bilingualism promotes the integrity of white matter as you age. It gives you more neurons to play with, and it strengthens or maintains the connections between them so that communication can happen optimally.

Can teaching children understanding?

two

languages

delay or

confuse

their

These myths about bilingualism date back to studies in the US and the UK from the First and Second World Wars. They were seriously flawed studies involving children from war-torn countries: refugees, orphans and, in some cases, even children who were in concentration camps. Their schooling had been disrupted for years. They may have suffered traumas, and then

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they participated in these studies with tests measuring their verbal language abilities.

Unsurprisingly, they scored very poorly on these tests. Did the researchers attribute the poor scores to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? They probably didn’t even know what that was.

No, instead they attributed it to the children’s bilingualism.

It wasn’t until the 1960s, when a really important study was published by Elizabeth Peal and Wallace Lambert at McGill University in Montreal, that views started to shift. Their findings showed that not only do bilingual children not have a cognitive delay or mental retardation but that their bilingualism actually has some cognitive benefits.

In addition to executive function, bilingual individuals and children show advantages in metalinguistic awareness. This is the ability to think about language as abstract units and associations. A good example is the letter H, which is associated with the sound “he” in English, with “n” as in “nickel” in Russian, and with the vowel sound “e” in Greek. There’s nothing special about H that makes it have to have a “he” sound; a bilingual person understands this more readily than a monolingual person does.

What do the skeptics argue?

The original findings about bilingual advantages to executive function in the 1960s generated a lot of excitement and media interest. Perhaps the advantages were overstated or misinterpreted. Not every bilingual person is going to have a healthier brain than every monolingual person. We’re talking about general, population-level trends.

We see evidence of bilingual advantages in children, but not always. And as we move into young adults, say, in their 20s, it becomes more difficult to detect these advantages. This makes sense in terms of brain maturation: When you’re a child, your brain is still developing, but when you reach young adulthood, your brain is at its peak, so bilingualism doesn’t give you much extra.

Learning languages as a child is different than doing so later in life, right?

It depends. For a long time, it was thought that the only way to really learn a language was to do it early. It was thought that after adolescence, you couldn’t learn a language perfectly. You were always going to be accented. But we now know that that’s not true, because there are many people who learn languages as adults, and they learn them very well. So this has led us to reexamine what it is about learning a language during childhood that makes it different from adulthood.

Is your brain more ready and more flexible — what we call more “plastic” — when you’re a child, and then it becomes more rigid and fixed as an adult? Or is it that the conditions of languagelearning are different when you’re a child, in terms of the amount and type of input you receive, how much slack you’re afforded and how much encouragement others give you? An adult who is working two jobs and going to language classes at 7 o’clock at night has a different type of acquisition than a child constantly receiving input from the mother, grandmother, father or other primary caregiver.

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Is your brain more ready and more flexible — what we call more “plastic” — when you’re a child, and then it becomes more rigid and fixed as an adult? Or is it that the conditions of languagelearning are different when you’re a child, in terms of the amount and type of input you receive, how much slack you’re afforded and how much encouragement others give you? An adult who is working two jobs and going to language classes at 7 o’clock at night has a different type of acquisition than a child constantly receiving input from the mother, grandmother, father or other primary caregiver.

Ultimately, the difference between language-learning in children and adults is probably some combination of the two: plasticity and conditions. There are also individual differences. If you put different people in the same situation, some people will flourish and others will struggle.

Does a bilingual brain age differently than a monolingual one?

We know from studies that starting at the age of about 25, your brain starts to decline, in terms of working memory, efficiency, processing speed, those kinds of things. As you age, these declines become steeper. The argument is that as we get into older age, bilingualism puts the brakes on and makes that decline less steep. Evidence from older adults is the strongest kind supporting a bilingual advantage. (The second strongest comes from children.)

When you look at bilingual individuals who have suffered neurodegeneration, their brains look damaged. From their brain scans, you’d think these people should be more forgetful, or that they shouldn’t be coping as well as they are. But that’s not the case. A bilingual brain can compensate for brain deterioration by using alternative brain networks and connections when original pathways have been destroyed. Researchers call this theory “cognitive compensation” and conclude that it occurs because bilingualism promotes the health of both gray and white matter.

Could learning a language later in life keep Alzheimer’s at bay?

That is a working hypothesis. We’re doing studies where we teach a foreign language to people aged 65 and up with the goal of promoting healthy brain function, even at such a late point in life. What we’re testing is: Can we help people in old age by using language-learning? Does that give you some benefit in terms of a “use it or lose it” approach to brain health?

The initial signs are encouraging. Preliminary data look good. It seems that learning a language in later life results in positive cognitive outcomes.

Because language-learning and use is so complex — arguably the most complex behavior we human beings engage in — it involves many levels. You have speech sounds, syllables, words, grammar, sentences, syntax. There’s so much going on; it really is a workout for a wide brain network. And those areas of the brain overlap with the ones in which aging adult brains show decline or neurological pathological disease. As a result, we argue that learning a second language would be an optimal activity to promote healthy aging.

What advice do you have for parents raising bilingual children?

My advice would be to be encouraging and patient. Bilingual children have a tougher task than those learning only a single language. They’re learning two sets of vocabulary and speech

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sounds. It can be challenging for those of us living in a country with a dominant language to establish a functional purpose for the second language. A child needs to feel that the language is practical and has a use. Grandparents are great for this, and so is living in a community where there are cultural events or schools where children can be immersed in the second language.

Another concern parents bring up is worrying that their child might be mixing the languages.

Don’t worry about what we refer to as “code mixing.” It’s a perfectly normal part of bilingual development. They’re not confused. It’s thought to be a sign of bilingual proficiency or competence to mix up the languages.

What other research are you doing in this area?

I’m interested in trying to understand why sometimes we see a bilingual effect, and other times we don’t. In one article, I proposed that maybe the language pairing matters. If you speak two distant languages, like Mandarin Chinese and English, would that result in similar types of brain changes as speaking two closely related languages, like German and English?

Maybe if the languages are closely related, they’re competing more and you have a harder job of separating them, to avoid using the wrong word at the wrong time. Maybe if they’re more distant, then you can’t rely on prior knowledge from learning the first one to learn the second. In that case, you’re starting from scratch with the second language, and that’s more effortful at the initial learning stages. But once you’ve learned the two languages, perhaps there’s less competition.

Ramin Skibba is an astrophysicist turned science writer and freelance journalist, based in San Diego. Reach him at raminskibba@gmail.com or @raminskibba.

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EASY WAYS TO KEEP SKIN HEALTHY THIS AUTUMN

By Down to Earth

A change in season is upon us again. Here in the southern hemisphere, things are cooling down. Some may welcome the cooler days that autumn brings after a hot summer. But with autumn comes dry air.

Dry air and low humidity dehydrates the skin and can cause sensitive skin to become irritated. Eczema flareups are more common. People may experience dry and flaky skin, rough and itchy patches and in some cases, red rashes.

Autumn is the perfect time to settle into the environmental changes and to prepare yourself for winter.

Skincare tips Keep hydrated Although you may not be as thirsty as you are in summer, it is important to drink plenty of water in autumn. Bulking up on warmer clothes may cause you to sweat when active and heaters can dry out the air even more, which dries out your skin even more. Feed and hydrate your skin from the inside by eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, but most importantly, by drinking water regularly.

Avoid skin irritants Woolly clothes can aggravate flaky skin. Perfumes can irritate rashes, causing a burning sensation. Harsh soaps can disrupt the pH balance of the skin, causing the skin to become more dehydrated. Steer clear of known irritants and nurture your skin with soft clothing and gentle,

natural personal care products.

Exfoliate A gentle exfoliator will help with flakiness and will help you avoid irritations. With your smoother skin exposed, moisturising ingredients can properly penetrate your skin and provide better hydration and nutrient replenishment. It is also excellent for circulation, which keeps skin looking radiant.

Moisturise This is the quickest way to bring moisture to the skin and relieve symptoms associated with eczema and other skin conditions. By using a rich moisturiser, the skin barrier is protected and water loss through the skin is reduced. Itchiness and irritations are subdued.

The African Potato Cream is perfect for dry skin and conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. It contains a combination of rich oils and beeswax to moisturise and feed the skin with vitamins, antioxidants and fatty acids. The plant actives, which include African potato and aloe Vera, contains phytosterols with potent anti-inflammatory properties to reduce redness and soothe irritations.

The Revive Moisturiser is a nourishing face moisturiser that restores dry skin through a combination of shea, avocado coconut and evening primrose oils. It can be used day and night, so for a healthy and radiant complexion, introduce it into your daily routine.

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Looking for Eco-Friendly Wipes?

Check out the Cherubs Eco Cotton Range

We spoke about the Cherubs Eco Cotton Range last month and why we love it. In a nutshell, it is as gentle to the earth as it is to your skin.

Made from 100% pure cotton, the Cherubs Eco Cotton range is soft, absorbent and gentle enough for everyday use. And, it is not tested on animals.

If you are looking for awesome, flushable, eco-friendly on the go wipes, try the Cherubs Flushable, Eco-Friendly Wipes available in store in the baby section. Primarily made for toddlers to help with toilet training, we think they also make a great option to carry with you and help keep your hands clean throughout the day.

They are alcohol, chlorine and paraben free, pH balanced, available in fragrance free & lightly fragranced variants.

Look for them in store in the baby section.

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The most helpful thing that you can do in the face of hardship is to keep a positive attitude. There's always some blessing within all circumstance, even if you can't immediately identify it.

By holding on to faith, you can elevate everyone around you, along with the situation itself...

A positive mind-set keeps the body relaxed, which in turn helps you think clearly and creatively during intense situation. Your bright outlook inspires others and may avert a cycle of downward spiraling energy.........

Vow to stay optimistic today no matte what. Always be honest about your thoughts and feelings, yet do call upon us angels and your higher self to gain the best perspective on every situation. In this way, you work through any upsetting emotions very quickly, keeping a high level of energy and a positive attitude.

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By James Colquhoun Courtesy of www.foodmatters.com

There is a lot of fear, stress, and angst rapidly spreading around the world at present. The World Health Organization (WHO) has just recently declared coronavirus a global pandemic and while adding to media hysteria is the last thing on our agenda, we have been talking with our wider community about ways we can protect ourselves from any virus by doing what our bodies do best; boosting our natural immunity system. What’s really scary about COVID-19 is the unknown, but giving in to fearmongering and panic should be the last thing we’re doing.

First of all, let’s talk about Fear & Stress. These emotions, according to Bruce Lipton in Episode 2 of Transcendence, serve to suppress our immunity and also make us less intelligent and easier to control. While we cannot control what is happening externally, preserving your own mental sanity is of critical importance at this time and we have some tips on that below.

To help you remain calm during the fear we’re holding a free screening of all 5 episodes of

Transcendence starting next Monday to help you stay calm, healthy and strong amidst the chaos.

While the numbers are fluctuating, scientists, experts, and health officials are saying that if you do happen to contract coronavirus, the chances of it being a fatal case are, according to WHO, currently around 3.4%. However, what needs to be considered when we read these statistics is that it is based on total diagnosed patients to deaths. And it is reasonable to assume that there are many people who have not been formally diagnosed so this would serve to reduce the death rate significantly. This is highlighted in a recent article from The New York Times with a mathematician who studies disease outbreak.

What we can’t quite understand is why everyone is bulk-buying toilet paper, to the point of chaos in supermarkets, but not stocking up on Vitamin C. So here are 11 ways to boost your immunity during the coronavirus outbreak.

1. Reduce Stress & Fear Bringing calm to your inner environment in a time of panic and fear is a critical strategy. The easiest way to do this is to regularly practice deep diaphragmatic breathing and extend the exhalation of your breath. According to Dr Libby Weaver from Transcendence, Episode 2 this is a scientifically verified practice that will help calm your nervous system and bring peace and calm to your mind and body.

2. Replenish Your Stores of Vitamin C Let’s start with the basics, when was the last time you had Vitamin C? You might have had an orange for breakfast, or a tablespoon of our favourite Camu Camu powder in your morning smoothie, but when boosting your immunity a little extra never hurts. This essential vitamin is a potent antioxidant that supports epithelial barrier function against harmful pathogens at a cellular level. Impaired immunity and susceptibility to infections is a common symptom of Vitamin deficiency, so whatever you’re protecting your body from this season, it’s wise to up your dosage. There’s plenty of sources for the water-soluble vitamins, so we've broken down a few that we love to absorb.

3. Up Your Zinc Intake Our bodies require minerals, organic materials that cannot be synthesized within our body, for essential functions. Zinc is one of these minerals, important to the body in a wide variety of roles. It is needed to make proteins and DNA, our genetic make-up, but also aids the immune system in fighting off invasive bacteria and viruses. Zinc can come in tablet or supplement form, but there are great sources of the mineral available in our diets, such as sustainably-caught fish and legumes like chickpeas, lentils, and beans.

4. Dose Up On Immune-Boosting Herbs Instead of panic-buying the country’s supply of protective masks, why not add a few of these tried-and-true herbal remedies to your cabinet. Echinacea, Elderberry, Andrographis, and Astragalus have all been praised for reducing the severity and duration of illness when a disease takes over, however, it is vital to note that no research has currently been conducted in regard to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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5. Serve Nourishing Meals To Make Your Immune System Flourish Hippocrates famously said, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” and we don’t disagree. By eating nourishing foods rich in all the essential nutrients for boosting immunity, our bodies can develop the tools they need to ward off sickness. Turmeric-based recipes are great to use for warding off any nasties. We also love this Immunity-Boosting Strawberry Smoothie as a healthy dose of superfoods and tonic herbs for breakfast, or our Immune-Boosting Hearty Root Vegetable Soup for the whole family to enjoy.

6. Revitalize Your Hygiene Habits Did your mother ever drum into you to cough into your elbow rather than your hand? Now’s the time to brush up on that. Make sure you wash your hands, regularly, as disease is often passed on through touch. Do not use a hand-drier, but opt for a paper towel or clean cloth. WHO advises staying at least 3 feet away from anyone who is coughing or sneezing, and avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth - this is habitual and hard, we know! Australian authorities even recently recommended using your EFTPOS or credit card where possible, rather than manually handling cash. If you are showing signs or symptoms of any fever or illness, it’s best to get checked out by your doctor or local fever clinic.

7. Knock Back A Glass of Fire Cider Jalapeno, horseradish, onion, and apple cider vinegar isn’t my cocktail of choice, but the immune-boosting benefits of this nutrient-packed fire cider are worth drinking. It has broadspectrum antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, praised for centuries for warding off colds and cases of flu. A shot a day keeps the doctor away, so make up a big batch of our recipe to keep in the family fridge.

8. Channel Wim Hof and Embrace Cold Exposure There is no evidence to suggest that cold showers will cure coronavirus, I must stress that this is a preventative measure for general conditions, but channelling your inner Wim Hof can do wonders for your immune system. What may begin as 30 seconds of a cold shower first thing in the morning can build to running Mount Kilimanjaro in nothing but your shorts. The Iceman, as he is otherwise known, has been the subject of many medical trials that show his combination of cold exposure and breathwork influence Autonomic Nervous System activity and innate immune response.

9. Meditate to Avoid Stress and Anxiety Meditation is a wonderful tool for avoiding stress and anxiety, this is becoming common knowledge. What is less known, is that long-term stress and anxiety can have disastrous implications for our immune systems. When we are stressed, our bodies release adrenalin into the bloodstream but lose efficacy to fight off antigens like viral infections. No studies have been conducted to measure if this will have an effect on COVID-19, but the range of benefits coming from meditation makes it a practice worth adopting all the same.

10. Embrace Old Wives Remedies They’re tales passed through time, that you probably picked up from your grandmother, but they’re still around today because they actually work. Include a tablespoon of Manuka honey

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and coconut oil in your daily routine for powerful antibacterial and antiviral properties, just as you would drink hot lemon, honey, and ginger drink when you’re feeling under the weather. A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water before your meal is good for probiotic gut bacteria, which in turn can aid in immunity. You can even make your own essential oil spritzer with eucalyptus and tea tree or lavender to spray on yourself and your kids in public areas. This natural concoction is strong enough to destroy pathogens and viruses.

11. Avoid Hysteria and Fact-Check Your Sources With the global population swept up in the distress of coronavirus, and many media outlets doing little to help, it pays to avoid the hysteria at any costs. Fact check any information you see online with reliable sources, and if you’re seeking out information make sure you return to these same places. The World Health Organization has up-to-date information, advice on self-isolation and mask-usage, an entire section dedicated to myth-busting, and every other piece of information you may wish to know. If you’re traveling anytime soon, make sure to check out advice and restrictions from your local border authorities.

Take caution, plan carefully, act responsibly, and look after yourself and keep calm!

James Colquhoun, filmmaker of Food Matters, Hungry For Change and TRANSCENDENCE - Live Life Beyond The Ordinary and founder of FMTV. Along with Laurentine ten Bosch, James founded Food Matters, giving people the tools (films, books, website, TV) to take charge of their own health. Food Matters is an internationally acclaimed widely popular documentary about the medical and healthcare industries. His latest documentary, Hungry For Change, reveals how the diet and processed food industries are the enemies of permanent weight loss, vibrant health, and natural living. From here, FMTV was born! A place where we can access vital information by watching all of your favourite inspiring documentaries, expert interviews & recipe videos in one place.

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Develop Your Dream Morning Routine

By Tess Patrick Courtesy of www.foodmatters.com

Some morning routines may look like chanting the sacred sound of om or smashing out a 10k run before the sun rises. Others may look like a pot of green tea or an energizing yoga flow by candlelight. Mine looks like dancing around in my bathroom while singing Hot Chocolate’s You Sexy Thing and sipping away at three cups of black coffee. There’s no healthsignificance to the three cups of coffee, and it’s just as many as my Chemex makes in one go, and I’m someone who needs all the coffee I can get to start my day right. You see, finding your dream morning routine is about finding those things that make your heart sing and setting yourself up for a beautiful day. And if you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that we’re the most prominent advocates for a morning routine to help you thrive.

1. Get Psyched To Get Out Of Bed I’ve been a list-lover from as long as I can remember, so I always find ways to bring them into my everyday. But this has helped when finding ways to navigate my life. I have a list of things that make me feel good when I’m having a crappy day, and I have a list of groceries I need to grab each week… So when 2020 suddenly appeared, and I realized I needed to get in control of my sleep-ins, I had a huge brainstorm and made a list of things that make me want to jump out of my snuggly sheets in the morning. Some of these included; going to a yoga or pilates class, walking to the beach, getting a coffee, clearing my mind by either meditating or listening to music, getting cleaning done while everyone else was asleep and emptying the pool filter before the Robo-cleaner came on at 7 am, making a big, delicious breakfast and reading a book if I had any spare time before making my way to the office on my bike… They’re not the traditional makings of a morning routine, but that’s what makes it so unique.

2. Make The Most Of The Clock Let me start by saying, I’ve always been a night owl. I work best when everyone else is fast asleep, and when it’s dark out, I can light a candle and start a spring clean at 10 pm. But when you live on a Coastline where the sun rises early, and so does everyone else, you learn to make small changes. I’ve realized in the last two months that the more I fit into my morning, the better I feel about my day, so when that 5 am alarm goes off I’m rolling out of bed with no hesitation. I leave my phone on charge and don’t pick it up until I head out the door. This may not be the case for you, but once you map out what you want to get done before you head out the door each morning, and just how long it’ll take you to tick them all off, you can begin to re-adjust your body clock.

3. Let Your Routine Be Fluid As much as I thrive in routine, I’ll admit I get bored quickly, so I live for shaking it up. On Monday, I’ll go for a beach walk and listen to a podcast, but on Tuesday, I’ll go to a friend’s yoga class at my favorite studio. On Wednesday, I start work early, and on Thursday, I get stuck in around the house before everyone gets on with their days. But I have my non-negotiables each morning.

Meditate and move. If it’s an early start, I work in a 10-minute yoga flow, and if I’ve got longer, I’ll get down to the ocean. I always make time to breathe, because that’s important to me.

4. Wake Up & Do It You’re fresh out of excuses, and you know that your day will be exponentially better when you have a beautiful morning. Go to sleep with a plan for the next morning, even if it’s just one thing you’re itching to do before you start your working day. It could be as simple as a glass of lemon water and expressing gratitude. Then wake up and do it.

Developing a morning routine can help you feel ground with a purpose for your day so you can take on whatever the day might throw at you, with ease and grace. This is something we dive deep into throughout the TRANSCENDENCE: Live Life Beyond the Ordinary DocuSeries. Available to watch FREE the Worldwide Online Screening from March 16. Save your spot here.

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7 Things Healthy People Do Before Bed We have all read the articles on what healthy people do in the morning, but how about what they do before bed? This is just as important as it helps wrap up the day and sets the tone for a fresh start in the morning.

By creating a nightly routine out of these simple steps (you might even be doing some of these already!), you will be sure to notice a change in both your health and happiness.

1. Plan For Tomorrow One of the keys to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to always be prepared; you will feel organized and won’t need to stress in the morning. Lay out your exercise gear for the next morning (socks, underwear and shoes included), iron your uniform if needed, gather any important paperwork and most importantly, prepare your lunch for the following day. Whether you just pack up some leftovers from dinner or spend an extra 20 minutes making something else, being prepared when it comes to lunch stops you from making rash and unhealthy choices the next day. You could be so busy that you just grab some takeaway on your way back to the office or you might even skip lunch altogether. Best of all, you will even save some cash in doing so! It all adds up.

2. Switch Off Technology One Hour Before Bed How many of you say goodnight to your loved ones and head to bed only to spend the next hour laying there checking Facebook and Instagram? Now how many of you have then realized four hours have passed, it’s now 2 a.m. and you’re on YouTube watching a dog dancing in perfect sync with its owner to 'Greased Lightning'? Yeah, we’ve all been there. By switching off the technology an hour (or two!) before bed, you have time to wind down without distractions.

Not only can the artificial light emitted from phones and computers have a serious effect on your body clock and encourage sleep disorders, but putting the phone away will give you more room for quality time with your loved ones. What could be more important than that?

3. Keep a Gratitude Journal A great way to bring further happiness into your life is by actively and regularly expressing gratitude. Studies have shown that keeping a gratitude journal not only increases happiness but reaps other benefits including better sleep and fewer symptoms of illness. What do you have to lose? By setting a small amount of time aside each night (or even every few nights if that works best for you- you don’t want it to become a job) to jot down some things from your day that you are grateful for will not only remind you what a blessed life you lead but will also get any negative thoughts out of your mind, making it less likely that you will dwell on issues that can keep you up at night. Best of all, by keeping a record you can look back over them every now and then if you are having a bad day and it will be sure to turn that frown upside down.

4. Stretch it Out How many times have leg cramps or a sore back made it difficult for you to get to sleep or woken you up throughout the night? Stretching helps lengthen tendons and muscles and can reduce the frequency and severity of cramps ensuring you get a better night's sleep. Not only does stretching the sore muscles help, but by giving your whole body a good stretch relaxes your muscles and body and releases any built-up tension. Your body will feel like it’s melting onto the bed afterwards.

5. Meditate We live in a crazy world, don’t we? We are constantly being bombarded with information via the television, social media, the internet, friends and work- it’s no wonder so many people feel overwhelmed, stressed and anxious! By meditating before bed, you are slowing down your brain activity which results in a deeper and more peaceful sleep. This is perfect if you do have issues falling asleep; before you know it you will be sleeping like a small, well-fed child. Even if you already incorporate meditation into your day, give it a go before bed and see the results yourself. My bet is you will wake up feeling well rested, energized and ready to take on the day!

6. Curl Up With a Good Book Reading before bed is good for you in so many ways. First of all, it calms the nerves by eliminating excess sound and visual stimulus (exactly the opposite of what you get from watching television!). As we discussed earlier, television has noises, flashing lights and far too many distractions for when it’s meant to be time to wind down for the night. Reading a good book before you go to sleep helps you escape to another world without the need for dramatic television shows. Aside from reading helping you to wind down and sleep better, it also improves brain function, your memory and the thinking process overall. You don’t have to get

deep into a fantasy novel, just switching off the main lights, switching on a Himalayan salt lamp and curling up in bed with the newspaper, magazine or a short story will reap benefits far beyond a good night's sleep.

7. Get Enough Sleep I’ve gone on a lot about the benefits of aiding sleep, haven’t I? Well, it’s true. One habit you should be committing to every night is to simply make sleep a priority. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? But with stressful jobs, busy social lives and children to look after, ensuring you get enough shut-eye can be difficult and there have been many articles written on the dangers of sleep deficiency and its link to increased stress, weight gain, and productivity loss. An easy way to do this is to consistently go to bed at roughly the same time every night.

Work out when you need to wake up and count back 8 hours to ensure you get a solid night's sleep. Going to bed late, getting 5 or 6 hours sleep and snoozing your alarm three times in the morning is the worst thing you can do and sets a bad tone for your day. Incorporating the above steps into your nightly routine will help let your body know it’s time to slow down and get you in the right mindset for sleep so you won’t be laying on your back staring at the ceiling for hours.

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Full Range

How To Make Your Own Natural Food Colouring at Home Article by Tess Patrick courtesy of www.foodmatters.com

There’s no denying that brightly coloured food is more fun to eat, and undoubtedly more delicious. Yet as we start to learn the ingredients that make our foods these beautiful colours, some stomachs may start to turn.

Traditional food colourings used in everyday foods are often derived from petroleum and coal tar, are manufactured in test tubes with harsh chemicals and don’t contain a single nutritional benefit. It’s alarming, to say the least.

But with the kids home on school holidays and time to be spent creating in the kitchen, we’ve found new ways to get our food every colour of the rainbow while bringing even more veggies onto our plates. Here are our tried and true ways to make your own natural food colourings. And when we say natural, we mean as nature intended.

Red Have you ever tried to de-seed a pomegranate for a salad or cake and ended up with blood-red fingertips? Now you can harness the natural dye for good. Pomegranate seeds make the perfect red food colouring. Traditionally, red is one of the artificial colours most associated with irritation and carcinogens, but by simply using pure pomegranate juice, you’ll have healthy and exciting food at your fingertips.

Orange Use your favourite cold-pressed juicer to extract the goodness from the brightest carrots you can

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find at the market. Try to resist drinking your freshly squeezed fruit juice, and bring to the boil with 1 tbsp of paprika and 1 diced and peeled orange sweet potato and ½ a diced and peeled beetroot. Once the sweet potato is tender, let the mixture cool and place into a blender. Store this mixture in an airtight jar in your fridge for up to two weeks, but remember to use this colour sparingly as the flavours can be quite intense.

Yellow We all know how much turmeric stains; from benchtops to our favourite white tops, but we love it anyway. This spice has been praised for it’s healing properties, so it only makes sense to include it into our natural dye dispensary. Simply boil ¼ cup of water with ½ tsp ground turmeric on the stovetop for 5 minutes. Allow to fully cool before storing in an airtight glass jar in the fridge for two weeks.

Green The most potent (and iron-rich) green of all makes the most vibrant colour for food. By simply using 1 cup of fresh spinach, boiled for five minutes and blended with 3 tbsp of water, you’ll have a mixture to make Popeye proud. You can strain the blend if you wish, but those extra little lumps are a good source of dietary fiber! Cool the mixture and put it into an airtight jar. Your natural green colouring will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Blue It seems counterintuitive, but the best blue comes from red cabbage. Shred 1 cup of the vegetable and bring it to the boil with 4 cups of water. Once reached a rolling boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Once cool and strained, add 2 tbsp of white distilled vinegar.

This dye is great for homemade Easter eggs, known for turning brown eggs into a lovely shade of blue. In an airtight glass jar, this blue dye will keep in your fridge for two weeks.

Purple An antioxidant delight, loaded with beautiful natural sugars to add as a sweetener to any baking.

Blueberries make the perfect purple. Simply blend ¼ cup of blueberries with 2 tbsp of water, strain the skins (and save these for another baking project) and store in the fridge in an airtight jar for up to two weeks.

Pink In your favourite high-speed blender, mix up ¼ cup of canned (BPA-free) or fresh, lightly steamed beetroot, with 1tsp of its own juice. Strain, pour into a glass jar and store in your fridge for up to two weeks.

Have you tried making your own food colouring at home?

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Immunity-Boosting Strawberry Smoothie Recipe by Yoko Inoue courtesy of FOOD MATTERS

Smoothies and shakes are a great way to add incredible herbs and superfoods into your daily life.

Conventional berries are high in pesticides, so use organic berries if you can. There are two main superfoods and tonic herbs in this drink. Baobab is often referred to as a longevity fruit. It is high in Vitamin C, iron, potassium and calcium. Astragalus is a Chinese herb that is well known for immunity boosting ability. The addition of kefir or kombucha is a very rich and diverse probiotic source.

Ingredients • • • • • •

•

Method:

1/2 cup plant-based milk of your choice Blitz all the ingredients in a blender until 1/4 cup kefir or kombucha smooth. Pour into a glass with an option of ice A handful of frozen strawberry 1 tbs Lucuma powder 1 tsp baobab powder (longevity fruit, high in vitamin C. iron, potassium and calcium) 1/2 tsp astragalus (immunity-boosting, Qi herb) Add sweetener of your choice if needed

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Immunity-Boosting Hearty Root Vegetable Soup Recipe by Stacy Thewis courtesy of FOOD MATTERS Fall to me means vibrant colors, cooler temperatures but heart-warming foods.

For me, that’s soup! I declare fall the start of soup season despite the fact that soup is something I love all year round. When you’re eating with the seasons it is important to incorporate a variety of root vegetables into your daily meals. I decided to take it a step further and make a root vegetable soup that would be hearty and in abundance of health benefits that root vegetables offer.

Root vegetables are so special because being below ground they absorb nutrients from the soil making them a powerhouse for anti-inflammatory vitamins such as A, B, C, and iron. Plus they are chock full of antioxidants. Being the gut-health guru I am, I have to put in my plug that they nourish our gut with gut-friendly fiber our good bacteria need to survive. Let’s face it, they aren’t the prettiest of vegetables, but they do clean up very well, so get scrubbing and prep for this beautiful, flavorful root vegetable soup that will keep you fuelled and armed for a healthy winter.

Ingredients

Method:

• •

Heat the oil in a large soup kettle over medium heat. Toss in onion and saute until onion is translucent in appearance (approx. 3min.) Then add in the garlic and saute for approx. one minute.

Toss in the rest of the root vegetables and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Next add broth, parsley, bay leaves.

Simmer for approx 30 min.

Toss in spinach and simmer until vegetables are tender (15-30 min.).

• • • • • • • • •

2 tbsp. Olive oil 1⁄2 large celeriac (celery root) peeled and chopped 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped 1 large rutabaga, peeled and chopped 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped 1 clove garlic, peeled and grated 2 cups spinach 2 bay leaves 2 tbsp. Minced fresh parsley 8 cups vegetable broth Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

*Additional notes for adaptatipns to this soup can be seen in the original post. Click Here Conscious Life Magazine

EVERY HOME NEEDS A LOVING PET! THERE ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS WAITING TO BE ADOPTED – PLEASE REACH OUT! WE ALSO ENCOCURAGE YOU TO REACH INTO YOUR HEARTS FOR THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE AND REALLY NEED YOUR HELP.

Help us Fight the Dog Meat Trade URGENT: Our Animal Rescue Team has identified a dog meat farm in South Korea where more than 170 dogs are in desperate need of help. Please make an urgent donation to help us rescue these dogs and save them from a brutal death.

Stolen from the streets, shoved into trucks, locked in cages. Then slaughtered and sold to be eaten. This is the horrifying fate of the millions of dogs caught up in Asia’s dog meat trade.

Please join the fight to shut down this brutal industry for good. With your help, we’ll shut down farms in South Korea, assist farmers as they transition to more humane livelihoods, support our local Chinese partners in intercepting dog meat traders’ trucks, fund the care of confiscated and rescued animals and lobby for better laws throughout Asia.

You can help stop this cruelty. Please give today.

Act Now Please fill out the form (link) to add your name to the petition calling for vital legal protection for cats and dogs in South Korea.

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Who we are: The Monkey Helpline, started in 1995, is a volunteer group, based in Westville near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, but operating throughout the province and also anywhere else in South Africa and abroad where our assistance and advice are requested.

Our team of dedicated rescuers and rescue assistants, veterinarians, educators, monitors, fund-raisers, administrative assistants and supporters is what makes this project the success that it is today.

Monkey Helpline is a registered NPO. 130-166 NPO What we do: As a team we devote our time to educating people about the reasons why the monkeys are here, why monkeys behave the way they do, the things people should do or not do when monkeys are around, and how to humanely keep monkeys away from those places where they are not welcome. Just knowing that monkeys will NOT attack and bite people, and that they DON’T carry rabies, is usually enough to change antagonism and fear into tolerance, and frequently into appreciation.

We also run a rescue operation and a “high care” unit. We rescue an average of three monkeys every two days, and their injuries range from wounds sustained during fights with other monkeys, dog bites, being run over by motor vehicles, electrocuted, snared, trapped or poisoned, shot with airguns (pellet/BB guns), catapults, paintball guns and firearms, as well as being caught or injured on razor-wire. Many are babies who are orphaned or injured when mother monkeys are attacked by dogs or other monkeys, or are severely injured or killed in human-related incidents.

Over eighty percent of the monkeys we rescue, irrespective of the reason why, have got air-gun pellets lodged in their bodies. Lead pellets cause terrible pain, suffering and a lingering death and no person, adult or child, should ever shoot monkeys, or any other animals, with an air-gun.

As the only dedicated monkey rescue project in KwaZulu-Natal, the Monkey Helpline is available to do rescues 24 hours a day, every day! On any given day we are treating ten or more monkeys in our home-based high care unit – frequently in excess of twenty monkeys! Once they have recovered from their injuries these monkeys are released back into their home territory, transferred to a rehabilitation facility or placed in a sanctuary.

Education is a vital tool in our hands and we distribute thousands of information leaflets, and visit many schools (at least two schools per week) to do educational talks about the monkeys. During 2009 we spoke to over 40 000 school learners and their teachers. We also do talks to many other interest groups such as police cadets, garden clubs, public service groups, conservation bodies, body corporates, etc. In addition, we advise farmers, businesses, hotels and casinos, housing and golfing estates, botanical gardens etc on the best ways to manage human/monkey “conflict”.

Monkey Helpline networks with a number of other Vervet-related individuals, groups, and general primate- and animal-care NGO’s.

NB. There is no charge for the services we offer, but donations towards the cost of running the project are welcome. Without your support we would not be able to change attitudes and legislation in favour of the monkeys nor would we be able to rescue the hundreds that we do every year and alleviate their suffering.

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Hotel Hope Ministries is a fully registered South African non-profit organisation established with aim of ensuring that each and every child is brought up in a safe, happy and healthy home so that they can grow up and develop into responsible and positive adults. Although children are our main focus, we have a holistic approach to the problem of orphaned and abandoned children. We realise that we need to focus on the cause of the problem too and not only the symptoms. So we have projects to focus on assisting Mothers and Fathers, so that they can look after themselves and their children.

We group our projects under three focus areas:

BABIES IN NEED Creating and supporting several small family style foster homes for orphaned and abandoned babies.

MOTHERS IN CRISIS Providing young mothers facing unplanned pregnancies with counselling, guidance and practical support.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE Helping Mothers and Fathers to help themselves by providing jobs and skill development opportunities through our fundraising and trading projects.

As a fully registered South African charity we are registered with the following authorities: · Section 21 company without share capital - 2010/006792/08 · Non-Profit Organization (NPO) number – 084 289 · Public Benefit Organization (PBO) number – 930 034 387

Mission statement: To engage the local Church Worldwide to embrace its God given responsibility of taking care of destitute mothers and orphaned and abandoned children.

Vision statement: To see a full service (either ourselves or in partner with others) covering: •Children’s homes •Adoption advocacy •Mothers in crisis •Counselling centres •Training Academy •Charity shops / trading

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Our fundraising model: We have a unique funding model in place where we are able to generate funds to cover 100% of our administrative costs through our Charity Shop(s) as well as the output of our carpentry workshop and sewing workshop. We are extremely committed to Social enterprise as it creates employment in South Africa, funds for the Charity, volunteering opportunities as well as a lowpriced outlet for customers from low-income groups. Furthermore we can assure donors that 100% of their support will directly benefit the children in our care as well as mothers in crisis pregnancy situations.

Thank you to our donors and corporate sponsors: As an organisation we are incredibly blessed to have many active supporters, individuals and corporates, who make it possible for us to do what we do and to make a difference. People often comment that it must be difficult to work in our environment hearing sad stories all the time, and it is sometimes hard, but it is also so rewarding to see those stories turning into stories of hope and it is so inspiring and such a privilege to witness people, like our supporters, coming forward to help and to give so generously. There are amazing people out there in the world, click here to see who some of them are and how they have made a difference‌ Click here Our Sponsors:

DONATE FINANCIALLY Deposit or Electronic transfer directly into our account First National Bank Account name: Hotel Hope Account number: 62194003382 Branch: Melville, Johannesburg Branch code (sort code): 256505 Account type: Cheque account SWIFT code: FIRNZAJJ (For international deposits) Reference: Donation (your name) OTHER WAYS TO DONATE/HELP US Conscious Life Magazine

At Operation Smile we believe every child suffering from cleft lip or cleft palate deserves exceptional surgical care.

EVERY 3 MINUTES, a child is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and may suffer from torments, malnourishment and difficulty with speech.

How you can help A child’s cleft lip or cleft palate can be repaired for as little as R5500 and in as few as 45 minutes, but your gift is more than a surgery. All of our supporters give renewed hope to children and families around the world.

The Company's Garden 19 Queen Victoria St, 8001 Cape Town, Western Cape 10h00 – 14h00 Operation Smile South Africa Building 17, 103/104, Waverley Office Park 5 Wyecroft Rd, Observatory 7925

(+27) 021 447 3608 infosa@operationsmile.org NPO number 083-117 NPO

Help us bring hope to girls without and choices to those with none.

Founded in 2000 by Khanyisile Motsa, and run under her diligent care ever, Home of Hope for Girls is an autonomous, self-started initiative to provide real care for exploited, trafficked and abused children in the city of Johannesburg.

It is more than just a residential shelter; it is a loving home where dignity is restored, the past is healed and the girls are given the tools to take control of their futures. Home of Hope also reaches out to the community offering the most vulnerable members support, practical help and a lifeline.

The Background to Home of Hope An estimated 10,000 children are prostitutes in Johannesburg and this figure is increasing.

When Khanyisile Motsa relocated to Hillbrow she was shocked to observe girls as young as nine working as prostitutes and selling drugs on the streets at night. The truth about these forgotten children is: • • •

• • •

Child Prostitute. Photo by Tseliso Monaheng

Criminals pay agents to recruit children They usually target often orphans or/and those from very disadvantaged rural communities Victims are trafficked or seduced to leave with lies about a life in the city Their IDs are frequently taken from them to make escape and identification difficult Their IDs are often sold on the black market ‘Owned’ by their exploiters they are prostituted, abused, made to sell drugs

Email: info@hopehome.org.za Mam Khanyi: 073 250 2086 Telephone: 011 614 0861 Conscious Life Magazine

Call 012 430 7775 Lines open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In South Africa and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

We need your help to ensure that no child is left behind.

In a tough funding environment, we have ensured we have multiple avenues of funding and are proud to have 11,000 generous individual donors contributing monthly. We will continue to be innovative in securing funding to enable us to reach more children and will work on increasing unrestricted and consistent funding streams.

You can help us make a difference. Even just by becoming aware of our work by reading our annual report.

To download and read the full annual report, click here.

Help us do whatever it takes to save the children.

Thank You Gugulethu Ndebele CEO

www.savethechildren.org.za Conscious Life Magazine

with much appreciation to our advertisers, contributors, endorsers and our readers namaste