Communitarian Work in SOS Children Village

The communitarian work takes place in S.O.S Children’s Villages of South Africa. It is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) located in Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg. This organization is focused on helping orphan children or kids who are vulnerable, abused or not safe. The SOS Children's Villages Association of South Africa is a member of SOS - Kinderdorf International, the largest private welfare organization for children in the world. The NGO receives most of its financial support from European organizations.

The NGO is focused on three areas:

-Family Basic Care (FBC): it consists of the wellbeing of the children inside the villages. The organization also has houses outside the villages under its care. For both the aims are to provide food, take care of, help to build relationships between children and create a family environment.
-Family Strengthening Program (FSP): This sort of program is focused on how the NGO can help the community. It is the contribution of the NGO to the neighbourhood. They established an office in the France community called “The White house” to provide orientation about HIV, nutrition, vegetables gardens and other topics that are required. As I mentioned before, part of the vegetable yield is sold, at low cost, to this community.

-Kinder garden (KG): This is basic education for the little children consisting of 6 classrooms, qualified teachers and didactic material.

I’m going to be working in three areas. I just finished working in the FSP. In this program I worked with a group of ladies interested in learning entrepreneurial skills. The selection and conformation of the group was in charge of Nonhlanha. This lady is one of the managers of FSP. My aim was show this group the importance of work in their own business with feeling and love. I teach about the benefits that bring you if you know how to do price, promotion, place and product.

After three meetings I felt satisfied, because all the ladies were very grateful of me, also they told me about how much they learned. I was incredible, I felt extremely good. At the end of the session they showed me how to dance a typical Zulu dance. Thank you to all the ladies for support me and Nonhlanha to let me do this activity.

The next week I will be working in other area, this time is going to be with children!!!

Week 9

This week I’m focusing on my project at the Permaculture Section of Ukulinga. After I visited the place, I started looking for the people involved in the project. It is not easy when the University is so big. Finally I got to the right people and this moment I got clear understanding of what the research about and the intentions for built. At the end of the project I hope for the place to be used for further research.

Week 8

In this week I received the invitation of the Deputy Manager ofSouth Region of the KZN Agriculture and Environment Affairs Johannes F. Villiers to attend the Annual Research Symposium. I really appreciate the performance of prominent staff in the areas such as natural resources management, soils fertility, crops and livestock production.

The aim of this congress is to expose the last projects in research developed in different parts of KZN with the approach to improve agricultural techniques toward sustainability and improvement of rural areas.

The Symposium started with a realistic and motivated speech about the current position of South Africa in agriculture in the world, the influence of global warming on environment, the urgent necessity to adapt to environmentally friendly methods in agriculture and livestock production.

The presentations were focused on the following topics: planting without ploughing, cover cropping, control diseases, evaluation of varieties of potato cultivator, the potential of cheery research, the contribution of homestead gardens to household’s food security and others.
It was very interesting to be part of this Symposium. It contributed a vision for my research projects assignment. Besides it was a great experience share time with professional people in the agricultural fields.

Besides this Symposium I went for final year student presentations at the Animal and Poultry Science Department. From my point of view the most interesting project was a survey of obesity in dogs, so the student spoke about the source of food and how the human feelings affects the diet of the animal.

I attended one fieldtrip with a group of animal reproduction. We went to place completely dedicated to raise horses for racing. We also saw the veterinarian checking all the females to determinate their fertility status. Also we saw the through the screen of the ultrasound the developing horse foetus. At the end of the fieldtrip we witnessed the mating process.

I was invited for Ms Masefo Mokoma lecture in Bio resources to give a small presentation about Costa Rica and EARTH University. It was in a big classroom, about 40 students. Fortunately everybody could understand me and enjoyed the presentation.

I met the student Nokubonga Mweli who wants to further her studies at EARTH University from next year. She is 17 years old, with a very big enthusiasm for learning and living in Costa Rica. She is planning to leave South Africa at the beginning of December to start a new life in Costa Rica. I wish her the best! She must keep practicing her Spanish! Nos vemos en la U!

Week 7

Visit to the Non Governmental Organization CAP (Church of Agriculture Program)

The visit took place in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal province. It is an NGO dedicated to improve the agriculture practices to insure food security in families. Basically, they are subsistant farmers. The NGO has small staff but each one has designed functions.

In the visit I had the opportunity to be part of a Zulu family. It was an extraordinary experience. I slept in a roundhouse, ate phuthu, learnt Zulu and shared their life style. Electricity service is not available in all the community and there is a shortage of water. From my point of view it is interesting how they organize their lives.

I appreciated the contribution of a German consulter. He came five years ago to see the farmer’s situation especially in animal production. He researched the Unguni beef cattle for production and found that these animals are more resistant to long periods of hunger; tick bone diseases and are good producers of milk and meet.

Owing to the fact that the consulter is in Msinga, the NGO organized different farmer’s days to share knowledge on common problems in cattle, chicken and goats production. Also, the farmers talk about the good practices. It is a excellent way to stimulate the learning.

The first farmer’s day was for chicken raisers. On this day a visitor from a Belgium foundation joined to see the NGO’s work and interaction with the producers. At the beginning the farmer show the feed given to the chicks. It was a mixture between old phutho, eggs and yellow maize. He spoke about his experience and the benefits of his cheap source of feed.

Common problems the chicken raisers face is the control of dogs and goats and other animals that eat the eggs and chicks. For that reason they made special nest for the hens and they put in the trees. Furthermore, the price of the yellow maize is high and in some places the cultivation of this crop is not possible for the lack of water.

The second day was dedicated to cattle farmers. The principal problem is acces of pasture, is a very dry zone and the winter in long. They need to identify a way to preserve pasture for winter or use source of feed. Water shortage is also a trouble. Ticks cause problems because they transmit diseases.

The third day was dedicated to meet the chicken raisers in a different area. This meeting was quite similar to the last, but this day the NGO provided the farmers with vaccinations for the chickens. The vaccination is sold far away from the community, so the NGO supplies the product.

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to attend one meeting with all the staff and see how they organize the activities; resolve the problems and, logistic aspects. They use colours to separate the good and the bad things during the farmer’s day. Each person has to write two good and bad aspects that occurred during the day. Everybody is encouraged to comment.
All in all, it was an incredible experience that helped make me a better person. Understanding how they live contributed to my personal plus professional development. After the days in Msinga, the concept of rural areas in South Africa is clear, also motivates me to learn more about extension agriculture. Thank you Ms Gugulethu Mbatha and the entire CAP staff for letting me live this experience! See you in Lesotho on December 1st !!!

Week 6

Visit of the Camperdown Mkhambathini local projects Municipality
I had the opportunity to visit different projects that promote income for families of the municipality. The Municipality is working with an Integrated Develop Plan for the 2008 and 2009.

To identify the groups with the intentions of starting a business, the Municipality works with leadership from the community. Community leaders are in charge of formalizing the groups, giving support when needed it and are the direct contact with the Municipality.

The first project I visited was beadwork, a group of women dedicated to do necklaces, earrings, belts, bangles and all kind of accessories. They sit together to share ideas and experiences. I had the incredible opportunity to sit with them and starts begin making a belt. It was amazing to share the moment with the ladies. Not even the language was an inconvenience to learn as I so enjoyed the beadwork.

The Municipality through the Rural Development Office give support to the group. They help with transport to sell the beadwork and the obtaining the materials.
The second project I visited was a group of women dedicated to raise chickens. They buy the chicks at low cost and feed them until they have the adequate weight to sell them. The price is between 30-40 Rand ($3-$4). The Municipality provides the materials to build the place where the chickens stay.

In the future week I will have the opportunity to see the vegetable garden project.