GAGAzette Summer 2024

GAGAzette S

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa where we ’ re experiencing a much more mild winter than recent years Southern Hemisphere students are about halfway through the academic year at this point and are preparing for a well-earned winter break after 6 months of hard work. Our Sangobeg Scholarship students continue to thrive and we ’ re excited to feature a highlight on one of our exceptional scholars

News from Tanzania is not so positive as the region has battled severe weather in the Autumn months resulting in heavy flooding. The good news is that Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need School has now reopened after the rains caused roads to close locally and nationwide, and the administrative staff is trying to get the school year back on track.

For further details on this and all of the projects we support, read on

Thank you so much, as always, for your interest in our work It is only thanks to our incredible community that we ’ re able to support so many people in Southern Africa

With warmest wishes

Olivia Van Rensburg Director

Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust

Family Strengthening

As you may know, GAGA UK supports the crucial services provided by the 24-bed Respite Unit at Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust. An important related activity is the HACT Family Strengthening Programme, which is designed to support and empower families affected by HIV and AIDS through various initiatives that promote health, well-being, and resilience By providing essential services and resources, HACT helps families navigate challenges and build stronger, healthier relationships

HACT recently hosted a 3-day Sinovuyo Caring Families Programme for Parents and Teens facilitator refresher training This programme fosters open, caring, and trusting relationships between caregivers (in this context, often grandmothers) and teenagers, promoting healthy interactions and stronger connections

The refresher training upskilled HACT’s committed facilitators on an updated course manual and gave the team an opportunity to brainstorm their implementation plan Equipped with the latest skills and knowledge to effectively support families, the team aims to protect teens from various negative health and social outcomes and empower families to navigate challenges together

Sangobeg Scholarships Programme

This month we want to highlight one of the Sang students who is doing exceptionally well in her stu We’ve told you about Zinhle Zulu before, who is do 3-year teaching course at UNISA (University of S Africa) She is currently undertaking the practical p the year, where she is placed in a primary school w allows her to gain hands-on teaching experience practicals will last for another few weeks at which she will go back to her regular schedule of lectures is what she’s said about her practical teaching experie

“I have been doing my Teaching Practice practica primary school in Pietermaritzburg I’ve been working grade Rs (kindergarten) to grade 3s. I’ve really en being with the kids and the practicals made me de more love for teaching I spent more time with the g 1s where I was given an opportunity to teach the alone. It was really hard getting used to leading the at first but I loved the kids.”

“I got to bond with the children so much In grade R I was learning from the teacher all about how to teach the grade R kids What I learned was that not all kids are the same and in different classes the behaviours of the children can be different, even if they’re all at the same age level. Also they all have different paces of learning - some were quick learners and their writing was advanced whereas others were more slow I learned that I had to focus more on those who were slow so they could catch up with the others because most of the times when you look at their books they are really behind

Teaching practice has been a really exciting experience for me I’m so grateful to be able to be doing this!”

We remain incredibly grateful for our project sponsor, Sangobeg Investments Ltd, for supporting this life-changing programme, allowing students like Zinhle to thrive.

Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need

The rece ool. The months of April and May were historically wet in this region of Tanzania and heavy rains caused devastating floods. The school had to be closed for a few weeks because it was impossible to access the school with the floods affecting Mabogini’s dirt roads Many of the children lost their homes in the floods.

The severe weather has now subsided and the Headteacher, along with founder Anna Kanondo, are focused on rebuilding After the floods, the Tanzanian government decided that the areas affected by the flooding would start the term holiday sooner than usual, with KYGN starting the holidays in late May This gives Anna and her local partners time to assess and fix the damage to the school

The teachers and school administration are spending emergency funds to fortify the school walls and classroom rooves against future severe weather. Many neighbouring areas were destroyed but KYGN held up ok with moderate damage The mood amongst the children is somber, but they’re determined to perform well on their exams and to carry on with the rest of the school year despite this setback

GAGA UK continues to work with KYGN UK to take over the UK-based operations of KYGN UK and begin managing the relationships with KYGN UK donors. We recently gave a talk to 50 staff of the Ireland-based energy company, Electroroute, who has previously supported KYGN with annual donations, resulting in a new partnership between GAGA UK and Electroroute. Thank you Electrotoute for the continued support of this remarkable school

1000 Hills Community Helpers

1000 Hills Community Helpers recently hosted a baby wellness day with guest speakers from the Department of Health and social workers who spoke to young mothers on topics of fetal alcohol syndrome, the importance of clinic visits, mentally challenged infants, and reaching important milestones.

The clinic Sister, Teresa Mchunu, did demonstrations of bottle washing, mixing formula correctly and different breastfeeding techniques. The clinic team also did a quiz at the end of the day with prizes to be won which the mothers thouraghly enjoyed. The team find that there is a constant need to provide young mothers with health education on these topics because there is still a lack of education which needs to be addressed. It gives us great comfort in knowing that we ’ re supporting this kind of education to improve the lives of these young mothers and their babies