March – April Newsletter 2013

It’s not only Valentines Day that should be about LOVE – and we were able to continue spreading the LoVe,

as April took us on a trip to AACOSIDA – where the funds raised from the sale of the Valentine’s hearts

helped finish the floor and painting inside the crèche.. Its looking great! Kheta Masango , a Jozie Nourish

supporter, joined me for the adventure- hopping on a bus and getting Maputo bound for the first time. I

think her experience at AACOSIDA, helping paint all those Valentines hearts on the wall, and seeing our

awesome kids there was great experience.

Negotiating Maputo traffic and collapsing into our

beds at Fatima's backpackers – still covered in paint -

is a sign we worked hard and gave it our all on our is a sign we worked hard and gave it our all on our

short and sweet visit! Thank you to everyone who

bought a Valentine’s heart – you‘ve made so many

little dreams possible. Our crèche is closer to opening

its doors!! Thanks to a voucher from Shoprite we

were able to buy 8 plastic colourful tables and 32

little chairs!

Thanks to Birdsong Enviro for assisting us with transport in delivering a full set of Afrikaans

encyclopaedias and story books to the Jakaranda Child & Family Care Centre.

The Motswari Raffle winner was announced…congrats to Bronwyn Stephenson, who won a fantastic 2

nights at Motswari Private Game Reserve in the Timbavati for 2 people. www.motwari.co.za We hope you

have a blissful time, and enjoy everything the bushveld offers, although we are sure you will! A gin &

tonic, great wildlife, beautiful sunsets, and luxurious camp... what’s not to look forward to! Thanks to

everyone who supported Nourish by buying tickets in the raffle.

And thank you to Motswari for sponsoring the prize!

A Radio Interview with Thobela FM

(conducted by Shoprite) won us some

awesome prizes, including the chairs and

tables for the crèche, a sewing machine for

our crafting ladies, a gazebo for our

educational camping trips! Very very happy!

Thanks Mike Khoza ( a Nourish volunteer) for

conducting the interview in Tsonga – the

local language, and helping us win some

great vouchers! We are already looking

forward to putting them to good use!

Mother Bear teddies are a gift that keeps on giving, as we

distributed the rest of the box to little crèche toddlers in

Keyelane (who had not been present at our last visit) so with

transport from Alet, it was a sunshiny morning of happiness

handing out the beautiful Mother Bear teddies...

We have had the Nourish land almost 12

months now, and our time is ticking to get

started on the community site. While we

may not have the necessary funds, as yet,

to start building the earth-bag library and

computer room, we have decided to start

simple, and green, and happy. We have

designed a gorgeous vegetable garden

illustrating over 4 different methods of

gardening, and have plans for a rainwater

harvesting Jojo tank, and tyre swings and

Our Photography Lessons in Alexandra Township

have been continuing positively despite the slight

confusion a holiday always throws into any schedule.

We have weekly lessons now conducted by 2

volunteers: Rudi Jeggle and Jenna Munro – so its

exciting that we have so much more impact, and as

such input into the youths’ lives! With more of a

presence, we feel we can make more of a difference.harvesting Jojo tank, and tyre swings and

jungle gym for the kids. This will allow our

Nourish site to start being a focal point for

the community. A green space, for kids and

their mothers to work in the vegetable

garden, enjoy the healthy veg coming from

the land, and flourish. If you can contribute

towards this goal – please get in touch. We

need paint, tyres, and mainly VEGETABLE

SEEDLINGS!! Thanks Colleen Wall for

helping with the design!

presence, we feel we can make more of a difference.

Also, we got 2 beautiful SLR cameras sponsored by

Shaun from Arrow Photo www.arrowphoto.co.za

These are awesome for the kids to learn firsthand!

Looking forward to getting more serious and creative

now... Focusing on teaching how and why cameras

work and getting some cool shots with the youth!

Earth Hour: 23 March 2013 Nourish took 14 orphans from

Sihlekisi Primary school Grade 6 class camping at Klaserie Dam

as part of our EARTH HOUR initiative. We decided that an

And EARTH has been the focus for

Nourish these preceding few months:

as part of our EARTH HOUR initiative. We decided that an

hour speaking to the youth would not be as effective as a

hands on lesson on electricity, so we headed to a gorgeous

dam in the area to camp with the children for the night.

Tents, giggling around the fire,

making paper lanterns, doing

educational worksheets on

solar/wind power, stargazing and

singing traditional songs during

Earth Hour - the camping trip was a

huge success!!! As BaBa Dioum

says, “You will conserve only what

you love..you love only what you

understand...you understand only

what you have been taught.” We

hope our actions for EARTH HOUR

have made these 14 orphans love

nature, and want to respect it...

Special thanks to Pick n Pay, Spar, and Spur for supplying food!

Earth Day 22 April 2013 was celebrated in Alexandra Township by hosting a TREE planting event in the

morning - 25 indigenous trees (frost resistant for those cold Joburg mornings) sponsored by the Walter

Sisulu Botanical Gardens. We joined hands with JHB City Parks to plant in Jukskei Park 2 as part of their

urban greening initiative. The orphans from Thuthuzela came to get sandy and help us plant trees. It was a

special morning watching the children & JHB City parks workers invest in their own GREEN space and

future. Then we headed to Ma Afrika Tikkun to teach environmental education through Captain Planet

DVDs to the youth. They enjoyed it (although I think possibly the popcorn was enjoyed MORE! Kids will be

kids!) Thank you to all who made the EARTH DAY such an incredible success!

And as May rings in... and the days and nights start cooling, our Travel Trees project got

some more attention, as we headed off to Kunavalela Community Vegetable Garden, to

plant 4 beautiful fruit trees. Their garden is run by local “gogos” (or grannies) to raise

food for themselves and any family or orphans they look after. These resilient and

incredible women joined us in planting, and were SO grateful – inviting us back for fruit

next year. Backroads Africa, who sponsors a tree for every booking, was able to join us

on the day and see their trees actually making a difference. What an incredible feeling.

Thanks to Ingrid from Backroads Africa, and Harry from Kunavalela Community Project.Thanks to Ingrid from Backroads Africa, and Harry from Kunavalela Community Project.

The end of another busy and

beautiful few months…let’s

keep our voice, ears, hands,

mind and heart doing the

right thing! ☺