Think Toys

Think Toys customers participated in a charity drive to collect toys for Children who are less fortunate. Thusanani went to pick up these donations yesterday. We are blown away by the generosity of people! We are going to be making a lot of children's little hearts SO HAPPY with your donations!
Visit their Website on www.thinktoys.co.za and see what lovely toys they have in store!

Lunchbox on SABC 3

One of our therapists, Rebecca Wang, was interviewed on the midday programme on SABC yesterday. She spoke on the role of Occupational therapy and also answered questions about Thusanani. Well done Becks, we are so proud of you. You did us proud.

Looking ahead at 2009

We have just had our Planning Week for 2009. It is going to be such an exciting year!
Our Vision is that the Vulnerable and Orphaned Children, especially those in Children's Homes in and around Johannesburg develop to their full potential. Our Mission is to give them hand-0n therapy, train their care givers and train community workers to promote their normal development. We will also collect and re-distribute educational toys.

Send in the CV's

Hi guys, thanks for the keen interest in our advertised positions. Please send those CV's to thusananifoundation@telkomsa.net.
Heleen

Our Shed

We keep our material for our Training in the shed just outside our office. This is mainly the materials for our Toys from Waste. So it is the egg boxes, toilet rolls, one liter water bottles, margarine tubs, cereal boxes and the like that we keep there. Over the last two weeks a group of vandals have broken into the shed and trampled our precious waste materials so badly, we had to throw most of it away!

We have now cleaned this out, secured the shed and are ready to receive new waste material for the training of 2009.

We are expanding . . . . it is starting to happen

It is happening. . . .we have secured funding and can employ one more Occupational Therapist. We are so exited! Now we are on the path to going bigger and hopefully even Nationally.

AND our new bags sponsored by Gosiame and QZ Creative have arrived. These bags will hold our files when we go out to the Children's Homes when we visit them to do therapy.

Keep on guessing . . . . . .

One of our trustees, Michelle Rosen attended the Leadership Seminar at the Oprah Winfrey Academy yesterday. She will also represent us there today. She reports that although she cannot confirm that Oprah herself was or would be there, she can confirm that there are high profile VIPs at the seminar.

So much going on, can't keep track

Remember I was on my way to attend the function at Headway on Wednesday? (See the Blog below). Well it turned out to be quite an event. The attendees at Headway (both the branches in Hyde park and Alexandra) had gift wrapped the most gorgeous boxes for 30 children. These were handed over during a small ceremony during which Headway received a vehicle from the Nomads. We want to thank Headway for thinking of us.

Did I mention that we had Fair to attend on the 20 th? We attended the Fair and had an exhibit of our work. At the Fair, we were chosen by the Oprah Winfrey Academy to attend their Leadership Seminar running today and tomorrow. I bet you would like to know if Oprah attended as well! I'll let you know on Wednesday. . . . . .

My School Card

If you're not signed up for a school at present, would you please consider to sign up? Although Thusanani is not a school it qualifies to receive the allocated percentage from your purchases at the retail partners. Read more about this on www.myschool.co.za, download the application form and fax it to 0866 822 833.

We will be so grateful.

Headway

Headway is a non-profit organisation in Hyde Park which provides support to people with brain injury. They are holding a workshop today and their brain injured attendees would like to provide “Christmas Packs” to the children in our organisation.

It's great when NGO's can support each other. We will pick up the parcels at a finger lunch today.

Social Entrepreneurship Fair

There is a Social Entrepreneurship Fair organised by GIBS School of Business for 20 November 2008 and we are invited. To be ready for this we finalised our pamphlet and business cards and we printed some photos to illustrate the work we do.
At the Fair we can showcase our Charity and the visiting Business People can become aware of our work and our needs.
Let us keep thumbs that the impression we make will lead to lasting partnerships between us and the Corporate World.

The party at the Zoo is the big Buzz around here.

We are taking 90 kids from Mashengaville Informal Settlement for the experience of their lives. They will visit the zoo an, see the animal being fed and then be treated to a visit from the man in the Big Red Suit . . . . . . This is happening on the 29 November. So right now we are sorting out and getting ready. Without the many people involved on a voluntary basis we would not be able to pull this off. Thanks guys.

Our website

Want to donate?
Know more about Thusanani?
Get involved?

Our website is www.thusanani.org.za

Baby Oprah

Baby Oprah was abandoned at her creche twelve months ago. In the month before Christmas.

She was one month old and her mother never came to fetch her from the creche. She stayed at the creche with no-one giving her much attention until social services removed her and placed her in a loving and caring Children's Home in Johannesburg. She was underfed and weighed as much (as little really) as a baby of three months although she was nine months at that stage.

Although already suppose to be able to crawl, she had little head control, was unable to focus and did not do anything with her hands except suck her fists. Unable to focus on a toy and unable to hold a toy she was happy just lying in a cot. She only made whimpering sounds. Her legs were as thin as my thumb.

We started with an intensive home programme and follow up for treatment every second week. The care giver at the Children's Home worked relentlessly to help Oprah to practice to roll over, to spend time on her stomach and lifting her head while talking to her and showing her that she is precious and cared for.

Last week Oprah sat for the first time on her own. She has a keen interest in what's going on around her and will try and grab a toy if you bring it closer. She coos and make all the happy sounds a baby should make. She can recognise the people she knows. She has fattened up and looks healthy.

What a lovely miracle. We hope she will continue to make progress and start crawling soon .... and walking ... and running ... and staying happy AND maybe even find a forever family!

The week ahead

Don't you also find that the weeks are flying by and one has the feeling that Christmas will be here much sooner than one thinks? At Thusanani we only have three weeks left of assessments, therapy and training. This is because we dedicate the two weeks of December, before we close for the Christmas Break, to in depth Planning and Reflection. Staff and Trustees and Volunteers will all get together and we will analyse our statistics for 2008, set goals for 2009 and do the planning to make it happen. We will also get ready to welcome two new staff members to our team: a part time senior occupational therapist and a full time junior occupational therapist. All the while we will keep it mind who we are doing this for; children like Nkosi *( not his real name) on the picture above.

Rain

In Johannesburg, South Africa it is raining. After a very long wait the summer rains has finally come. We are as thankful for the rain as we are for the many donations we received during the past year. We have a store room where we store toys until they are distributed to the orphans and other vulnerable children.
Some times the toys need repairing and we use a volunteer James to help us with that. Because we don't want to distrubute incomplete toys, James helps us with checking out the sets of Lego and other construction sets, making sure the kids won't be disappointed. These will go to boys who has never owned a construction set in their lives. One of our other volunteers, Erica, is currently sewing clothes for the Barbie dolls that were donated to us. She has helped with tyding up their hairdo's, sorting out their clothes and accessories. These dolls will go to girls in the township who has never owned a fashion doll.
Thanks to our volunteers who gives so freely of their time.

Goodwill all round

A young boy, Jack Herbert of Craighall Park, donated all his excess toys to Thusanani. What a lovely gesture. When asked why he was doing this, he commented that he knew that there children who will not receive Christmas gifts this year. He wanted to give us something we could in turn give to them. I promise to show you (after Christmas) pictures of the many children playing with the toys that Jack gave us.

Lisa, Jacks mother, is teaching her son the valuable lesson that you receive so much more when you give. Come on all you mothers, join in the fun. Let your children empty their toy boxes of excess toys and lets distribute them for you to where they are needed most! We can even come and pick it up if it is in the Johannesburg area. Phone us on 011 484 3128.

I would also like to put a challenge to the grandmothers out there. Why not buy toys for your grandchildren and add one xtra name on the list. That way somebody without family can get a toy from your family!

Becky

Our part time Senior Therapist, Becky, is unwell and we wish her a speedy recovery at home. You are on our mind and the staff as well as the Children you treat every week are missing you. Be good and listen to the doctor!

Phumelela Gaming and Leisure

A big Thank You to Phumelela Gaming and Leisure for organizing the Charity Mile at Turfontein on Saturday 1 November 2008. Our horse Purple Rain did its best and earned us R20 000. It was a memorable day at the Races.

The money will be well spent...we will be able to do 150 hours of therapy to orphans and 150 hours of training to their care givers!

In the photo you can see our Trustees Lara and Michelle at the luncheon before the races.

Purple Rain

Our best wishes go tho PUPRLE RAIN in the preparation to the Race on Saturday. May you win the Turfontien Mile for us.

Comments and followers please

Hi there to all our faithfull followers! Please register as a follower so our blog can reflect your interest. (It looks a bit bare with the currently just one follower registered.) Thanks Dave. Our current one and only!

Tell me what you want to know more about. Do you want me to take you through the therapy progress of one of our little ones and perhaps tell you every week how she/ he is doing? Do you want to know about our needs, donations, joys?

Let me know and I'll oblidge.

The PARTY

Yesterday the HR Team from Yum (the KFC guys) gave us a party to remember. The pre-school kids from Lambano Sancturay and the toddlers from TLC Ministries were the VIP's for the occasion. The completed two therapy rooms and store room were officially handed over to Thusanani here at the Children's Memorial Institute, Braamfontein. Johannesburg.

We had Chicky come and visit. We had KFC. We had cake. We had fun!

Sunday...and they are still here

Thanks to the HR team from Yum Restaurants International (franchisor for KFC)! What dedication. It is Sunday, but they keep on coming to finish what they've started.

It is seldom seen in today's world that people care so much. Here at Thusanani we notice and we honour you for your dedication,Cathy and Steve.

Saturday, slogging away

Even though we don't work on a Saturday it happens from time to time that a week does not have enough hours....and we work on the Saturday.

Today here at the Children's Memorial Institute where our offices are, you will find Yum (KFC) preparing for our party on Monday and staff working on a Lotto Proposal. Out in Centurion Henry is busy designing our business cards.

Thanks Steve and Cathy for all the painting and tidying up before the Big Party. we appreciate all you guys are doing! Thanks also to Henry who are using precious family time to help us.

WOW

I went to visit the Thusanani premises...OMG I was blown away! They have superb facilities with support from other NGO's in the same building. Even though their facilities are great, it's useless without people. They have some permanent staff, but desperately need more professions to help with the assessments and training. They are doing SUCH AN EXCELLENT job...WOW!!
Things I can see that are needed are more hands to help with moving stuff around and things like fixing up thir shed, more toys to be able to give away to children and children homes, Professional marketing support (current marketing is superb, but support from a professional marketing company would be of SUCH great benefit.
I was almost in tears when I heard some of the stories...and that includes the GOOD ones! wow! So many children's lives have been changed already...and the list of children needing help just gets longer and longer as more people find out about Thusanani...Dave Coates

Slogan

Dear Friends, Family and those who care, we need a slogan. Help us with your comments. Our current suggestions are:

Assisting underprivileged children in reaching their full potential

Our quest: To eradicate developmental delay in underprivileged children and uplift their future

Occupational Therapists with a passion for bettering the lives of the many children orphaned in South Africa

Providing Therapy and Training ....ensuring better outcomes

What do we do?

We Provide Therapy and Training....ensuring better outcomes for Children in Children's Homes and those affected by HIV/Aids.

Khotoso Mokoena

Lara and Michelle, our Trustees, went to the Charity Mile function today – it was great. We were allocated Khotoso Mokoena as our celebrity (only South African to win a gold at the Olympics – in long jump). Our horse is Purple Rain.

It must be a good sign...to have an Olympic Champion on our side! Lets hope Purple Rain can bring home the much needed funds...we want to ensure that the babies waiting to be adopted can be assessed....and for that we need MORE therapists ...which in turn means we need more money to pay these professionals.

A Day at the Races

The Turfontein Mile will be run on 1 November 2008. We'll have a horse running for our charity. Hold thumbs that our horse wins! Why not come and join us at the racetrack, we are ALL going to be there.

THE PARTY!!!!

It is scheduled for Monday 27 October....and it's gonna be finger lickin' good!

Did you Know?

Thusanani is involved with the assessment of babies as part of their medical screening before they are adopted. The occupational therapists assess the babies from 2 months onwards. This is to to determine if the baby has a developmental delay or possible problems with muscle tone. Many of the babies were born prematurely and it is necessary to ensure that we give comprehensive information to the adopting parents.

Those babies that present with a developmental delay, are followed up and given therapy as well as a home programme.

Website

Our new and updated website is almost ready to be "launched". Have you checked out the current one? Better be quick or you'll miss it. www.thusanani.org.za


We are calling for involvement from everyone who follows our blog. Please comment, ask questions and show support. It is a difficult time of the year....lots of baby assessments to complete and pressure to finish the trainings scheduled. We need to hear from those who care!

Wish List October 2008

Ongoing throughout the year
To employ more therapists to enable us to reach more homes, more children, have a greater impact.
To run training workshops for care givers at the children’s homes
To run workshops in the community to teach educators and care workers about development and play.

Once off with regards to Occupational therapy to the babies from an orphanage:
Therapy mats (exercise mats) x 4
Baby doughnuts (x2)
Baby changing station
Baby gym from plastic (x4)
Baby walking push cart to assist in training for walking ( x3)
Large wall mounted mirror

Once off with regards to training of care givers at a children’s Home and training to care workers and educators in the community:

Laminating machine with accessories
Shredder
Colour printer
Binding machine for binding manuals
Urn, small
Trolley (catering type)

Once off with regards to the staff working at Thusanani:
Fridge (small bar type)
Office desk chairs (x3)
Bookcase (x2)

There's a party being organized!

It is still a BIG secret, but there's a party scheduled for 27 October 2008. Ten lucky todllers/ babies and ten lucky pre-schoolers from an Orphanage will be the VIP's. Watch this space for more detail.

Getting ready for 2009

I've been to The Glen Shopping Centre to discuss the coming year. They will once again sponsor the salary of one therapist and an outing a month for a group of kids from a children's home. This is great news and ensures that we can continue to give therapy to children in the Children's Homes and to do training with their staff. The outings to The Glen Shoping Centre with a group is also a highlight to look forward to.

Burglarproofing

Still on the subject of our new treatment rooms:
Transvaal Burgler Proofing ( Tel 011 618 1224) was here to measure the doors and windows. They will do the burglar proofing to ensure our property stay safe. Thanks guys.

New Treatment Rooms

The Children from Lambano Sanctuary were the first to see the new therapy rooms. They were gobsmacked and we took some photo's. The kids just loved the blackboard and the fact that they were allowed to "write on the wall".

The pictures tell the story...you don't need my comments!

A message from Cathy

What an incredible opportunity we all had to contribute to the good work that Thusanani is doing to give orphaned children a chance in life! What an honour and humbling experience. Thanks to the HR team from Yum Restaurants International (franchisor for KFC) for taking time out to transform the rooms into a special place for the children. A special word of thanks to KFC friends and spouses (Andy, Jeff of KFC Braamfontein, Kedibone, Glenn, Steve and Mark) who voluntarily gave up their Saturday to help us!!

Cathy Bishop and the HR Team (Mary, Nthabiseng, Lisa, Nolo, Angela, Vickey, Rob, Javus, Gill, Pam and Gerhard).

The team that did the hard work!

What a beautiful end result!

A Work in Progress

As I type, the staff from Yum, the KFC people, are slogging away doing the transformation. I'll keep you posted! Here are some evidence!

Lyndsay leaves Thusanani

Lyndsay has taken up a position as lecturer at Wits University and we have to say goodbye.

It is with pride that Thusanani bids her farewell. Our vision of making a difference to children’s lives will still be achieved through her. Where she goes now she will reach more students and give training to more individuals that will have the rippling effect South Africa so desperately needs.
It is our wish that the experience she gained and Thusanani will strengthen her on her way forward. We have the highest respect for her knowledge and dedication.
All the best from the Team. We miss you already!

NPO’s take hands

Childline Gauteng and Thusanani are working together to better the outcomes for children. Recently the managers of the two organizations sat down and discussed how better collaboration and coordination between Thusanani and Childline can be implemented. Childline has expressed the need for occupational therapy assessment and treatment for the children from their Sunshine Safe House Project.
Thusanani was more than willing to get stuck in and do the assessments of the babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Thusanani also offered their training program that was developed specially for people working in the community. This is a jampacked, practical 12 hour training spread over three days which includes
· learning about development of the young child,
· the what why and how of Play and
· a session on making inexpensive toys.
The staff of Childline has provisionally booked to do a training course starting 3 November 2008. They are identifying those children who would benefit from therapy and will start referring soon.

News from the States

We have had some great news from the United States. Miriam is an educator and she wants to spend a couple of months at the beginning of 2009 here in South Africa, volunteering for us. We are excited about having her and we are thankful for people like her that will help us make a difference. We hope you get everything organized in time, Miriam!

The Team @ Thusanani

Adoption Clinic

It's Thursday which means it's Adoption Clinic Day.

We will assess the orphans referred to us by BigShoes Foundation to speed up the process for these little ones to have a "Forever Family".

You see, some of these babies were abandoned at birth, or their mother died while they were still very young. They are medically checked by the paediatricians at Bigshoes to make sure they are healthy enough to be adopted. That's where we come in. some of them have a developmental delay. They have just not been developing as fast as one would have expected. (It is understandable, given their history)

So we assess them and give home programmes to the care givers on how they can best help the baby to overcome the delay. Some of the babies need to come for a couple more follow ups until we are sure they are well on their way. Every now and then we identify a baby with Special Needs and ensure they get the best possible treatment.

It will be a busy day, we have 9 babies booked.

Welcome Little Ones, we wish you well!

The Team @ Thusanani

Proposal writing

What an awesome course this was I (Heleen) went to yesterday!

Sandra Miller presented the course on writing proposals for funding through the Lottery Board. She spoke from her heart and from past experience and we were introduced to the written and unwritten "do's and don'ts" of preparing a proposal for the Board.

It's pretty boring stuff, but she was able to bring it to life and gave practical examples and bring perspective to completing the documentation. I left there all geared up to start writing and ensuring we get all the funding to "educate the nation" on how to prevent developmental dealys in children in institutions, especially orphanages.

If you want to read more about the training please go to www.npotraining.co.za

Have an awesome day

The Team @ Thusanani

Tuesday and counting the hours!

Monday came and went. Becky and Jacky were immersed in the training. It was the day of the Toy making. The participants each had the opportunity to make toys from waste materials. They came up with such innovative ideas. We'll have a write up about that on our newsletter in November. so keep on watching!

Today we have Lyndsay's farewell morning tea. She is leaving us to work at Wits University and we are so proud to let her go. Sad too, but mostly thankfull that we will still have her close by and to know that the students will allways come to Thusanani for their practicals and give us the much needed extra hands to treat the kids.

Heleen is away on a course learning more about writing proposals. We hope this will yield benefits for the kids in the orphanages.

Thanks for all the CV's we are receiving for the OT position here. Wish you could appoint you all, there sure is enough work for you all!

The team @ Thusanani

World Hunger Day

This coming week is one of the Big Makeover.

YUM, the people from KFC, are coming to clean out three rooms in the Children's Memorial Institute and make it possible for Thusanani to have a dedicated therapy area for Gross motor activities, Fine Motor Activities and a store.

It has been on our wish list for some time and now it's going to happen! They've come to do the estimations and measurements and Friday 10th October their magic wand will pass over these areas.

Allready the team @ Thusanani want to start saying thank you to the staff at YUM!

See u Friday.

Team @ Thusanani.

Is it Friday allready?

Can't believe how the week flew by!

We had a hectic week with Wits Students doing their practicals at one of the Children's Homes in Yeoville. According to Lyndsay, our Occupational Therapist overseeing them, they were doing pretty awesome work. Thanks to you guys. We always need more hands and especially more professional hands!

Speaking of which ... we are currently shortlisting for the new full time OT (Occupational Therapist) position. Soon we will interview and then we're getting ready for an AMAZING 2009.

Let's get working before this day too is gone. There are so many of those Little Ones out there that need us, we can't hang around and chat any more!

The Team @ Thusanani

Monday came and went...

We managed to complete the session on Play and the importance of play. The ladies (and one man) came up with interesting ideas and input. We learned about each other's childhood experiences of games played and how those without toys bought in shops could improvize.

Next week is the BIG DAY when we make toys from waste materials. It's going to be messy and busy and great fun. Looking forward to that.

We also rushed over to The Glen shopping centre to meet up with the children from Lambano Sanctuary. They were treated to a meal of their choice at the Wimpy where a lovely waitress named Happy took their orders. These kids were so well behaved! The kids did colouring in while they waited for their food, finished their tasty meal and was rewarded with a drinking bottle and toy to take home.

After this we popped over to the Games Arcade. FUN FUN FUN. What more can you say. A very warm thank you to the other youngsters in the Arcade for being so tolerant with our explorers. A special thank you to the young lady and her brother who gave up their reward tokens and made it paoosible for the Lambano kids to go home with prize in their pockets.

The whole trip to The Glen was made possible by the management of The Glen. Again a BIG thank you.

Training

On the second day of training a group of people working in the community of Thembisa:
It is way past nine, they are late in arriving, but are on their way. Transport is not always reliable. They are so MOTIVATED, we'll wait and work through lunch to catch up.

Just before ten they arrive, tired and thirsty. After a quick cup of tea/ coffee we get the group going and start the discussion on Play and the importance that has in the life of a child. Later we will also discuss the various toys in display and how to choose a toy for a chidl.

We'll keep you posted.

A big thank you to all the sponsors that are making this possible!

The team @ Thusanani

New Beginnings

Today is a great day. The day of new beginnings. The day we start serious BLOGGING. Welcome to you all. You've been asking for this, waiting patiently while we got this set up.

We will try and keep you informed of our day to day highlights and also the little things we need to keep on doing the great things we are doing.

Like:

Today we have an outing with kids from Lambano Sanctuary to The Glen shopping centre. Meet us there at the Wimpy for lunch and see us enjoy the spoiling at the Game Arcade. These kids are not used to such an overload of fun.......they will go home totaly exhausted, but happy!

Keep up the communication folks and let us know what you want to know more about!

The team at Thusanani.