As of today no one knows how long the strike may last. Even the high profile case of Brett Kebble has been halted.

Valuable teaching and learning time has been lost. There are always 2 sides to every story. The timing of this strike could not have come at a worse time for learners. In about a months time the Trials Exams were scheduled to start. But then the workers also have a right to strike if they feel they have been shortchanged in the salaries they are getting. The cost of living have been increasing(petrol prices, food prices even rent prices are on the up).

I have found some teacher humour to lift the spirits.

A teacher asks her class, ”If there are 5 birds sitting on a fence and you shoot one of them, how many will be left?” She calls on little Johnny.
”None, they all fly away with the first gunshot.”

The teacher replies, ”The correct answer is 4, but I like your thinking.” Then Little Johnny says, ”I have a question for YOU. There are three women sitting on a bench having ice cream. One is delicately licking the sides of the triple scoop of ice cream. The second is gobbling down the top and sucking the cone. The third is biting off the top of the ice cream. Which one is married?”

The teacher, blushing a great deal, replies, ”Well I suppose the one that’s gobbled down the top and sucked the cone.”

”The correct answer is the one with the wedding ring on…but I like your thinking.”

Sfiso Zulu and Mbhekeni Mhlongo

A week after the FIFA World cup final had been decided and Spain announced as Champions. We hosted our very own Mpilonhle Football Predictions Awards.

This was a brain child by Musa Khumalo who came up with a concept also assisted by Jonathan van Niekerk.

We had 2 World cup predictions competitions. We had a nice function for the winners on the day and everyone got a piece of cake. Sifiso Zulu and Mbhekeni Mhlongo were the 2 overall winners of the competitions.

“It’s hard to believe it, Hey! I was there at Mabhida stadium. My dream came true, gratitude’s to Sony for donating world cup tickets including meals to us at Mpilonhle”

Having camps was indeed a superb experience. All the camps were basically great but the one that has a different experience for me, was the Maqhama Camp. WHY? Because on the 22^nd of June, 2010 we went to Mabhida in the game of Nigeria vs Japan. We were all on top of the world, coaches and kids that earned ticket to attend the game. Our work pretty went beyond limits though because during the day we had a camp running amazingly, afternoon we were chaperoning the kids to and in the game. That became a serious full time responsibility looking after kids of which it gave us a nice experience and tasted our real compassion of working with kids.

On our way to the stadium we were engulfed by the power and spirit of world cup soccer tournament, we were overwhelmed other kids were crying because of joy and shock of the offer given to them- they couldn’t believe what Sony did for them. Other coaches didn’t sit down in the buses until we reach the stadium at the travelling distance of 175KLM they were singing, blowing vuvuzelas and shouting kilos. That made a mark and became the history to us. We enjoyed the game and there were no challenges.

We went back home and reached our places in the early morning hours 2h00am, at 7h00 everyone was up and ready to meet the kids again at 8h30 we reached camp sites and got to normal duties with full excitement, vuvuzela’s were still blowing in my ears I’m telling you.

The last day of the Richards Bay camp for three sites, Maqhama- Ilembe and Dlangezwa. These sites were at Ilembe primary at Esikhawini on the 5^th day of the camp for kids graduation purposes, WHY? These camps were sponsored by Castrol, RIO TINTO, Richards Bay Minerals and implemented by Mpilonhle in partnership with Grassrootsoccer. There is a lot happened on that day I’m telling you, when we were arriving on site there was a big white tent erected in the soccer field at Ilembe the amazing sound system everything was strictly formal and well organized, the certificates of attendance for the kids made by Castrol were so nice, I felt overwhelmed tears filled my eyes looking at all this and kids being excited and at the same time I felt so shy and confident at the same time Thokozani Hlophe(Camp President from Mpilonhle) and Zinhle(GRS M&E Officer) were running around busy putting us in-charge of the program Nkosinathi Xhakaza (Camp Director at Dlangezwa site from Mpilonhle)was a program director, Khethiwe Madela (Ilembe Camp Director- hosted the whole function) and Mom Dudu(Health Educator from Mpilonhle) thanked everyone for support with a very nice and professional speech. There was a speech from one of coaches, one from kids and other special speeches from community leaders.

I like to give everyone a great gratitude for making these equipping events possible and successful.

Nathi used the vuvuzela to signal the end of sessions.

As you all know that we hosted world cup and we decided to use a horn (VUVUZELA) for change of sessions, which made our participants so excited since there was this soccer fever .The support that we had from the participants it made me forget that we had to eat and rest because we had to be at work by 5:00 am in the morning, collect coaches and go to the camp. During the camp we had to give services like Health education, Health counseling, Social services, Skillz activities and Computer training for the community.

After the camp we had to escort them (kids) to the world cup games and that is also a thing that kids will never forget in their lives and we would come back late at night 2am and we had to go to work at 5am. Wow for me I will never forget camps and world cup.

Camp meeting

The camp took place in the Makhasa Sport Complex with help of local Mayor Mr Khumalo, who gave Mpilonhle a wonderful experience in working with Mduku Kids and adults in furthering and advancing the vision of Mpilonhle in equipping the community with health based information leading to behavioral change, bringing about the vital conversations to kids and adults- talking about those things people don’t want to talk about in their homes, churches or even those who are in relationship don’t talk about.

We had all Mpilonhle services in place running as ever, Computer education, Health Education, HCT and Skillz practices- new curriculum 1.1 it was a wonderful experience for our skillz coaches because it was their first time to perform the 1.1 guide after their training which led to attention to people of GRS who are our partners in this mission.

GRS VISIT- We had visitors in the site that came to see what we were doing: Derik from GRS- trainer and overseer of the curriculum that we are using, He was overwhelmed by the energy and the way our skillz coaches are delivering the practices. The promise he gave to coaches is since we’re the first site to train and perform the 1.1 curriculum in African sites. Our pictures are going to be featured in the third addition guide.

Maputo FM- We were also visited by the media from Maputo land FM and requested to have some interviews with our staff it went well and they were impressed seeing what we are doing and kids are enjoying it. They also promised to broadcast our interviews on their station on the 18 June 2010 at 18h00 to 18h30 on the famous program called Ezishisayo(current stories), and they are also looking forward to have us on their radio station for the live broadcast interviews

DOH-We then had Department Of Health that came with a nice brief session talking about MMC, HCT and TB lessons to kids that were attending Mpilonhle programs.

And everything happened accordingly, kids tested got health education, adults tested and went through health education and computer basic education.

Schools from Umkhanyakude District then selected learners that can attend matches. We also got Mtuba Soccer academy learners attending matches.

I watched my first World cup game back in 1994. It was held in USA, then France 98′, Korea 2002 and Germany 2006. All these I watched on tv with my father.

Sadly he passed away in November 2006. We never attended a single game with him. When I took my seat inside the Durban stadium tears just came to my eyes. It felt like I had fulfilled his dream and mine. I could not concentrate on the game. It took me about 40 minutes to realise that I was watching Holland (The masters of total football) live.

Wherever I go, whatever I do I will never forget this. I have been to the stadium before in December when Kaizer Chiefs played Sundowns. That was great but this is special. I have to thank Grassrootsoccer and Sony for the tickets to the game.

We managed to win the game 5 nil. I scored a beautiful first goal where I went one on one with the keeper. Nathi got the 2nd, Tony got the 4th(Grassroots soccer trainer) and Chris got the final goal.

The game lasted 60 minutes and great fun was had by all except for the educators.  

Hlabisa hospital launched their HCT campaign on the 25^th of May 2010. The theme was “MINA NGIZIMISELE, NAWE UZIMISELE, THINA SIZIMISELE, KWAHLABISA SIZIMISELE” Which means I AM RESPONSIBLE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE, HLABISA IS RESPONSIBLE”

The event was supported by local DoH partners such as Cotlands, Africa Centre, SACBS, Mpilonhle just to mention a few, as well as the Jozini Health District office. Mrs DDL Zungu (Hospital Manager-Hlabisa) explained the purpose of the launch, she stated that by having this launch they are encouraging people to know about their health, this can be achieved by community members visiting their local clinics and hospitals so that they can check not only their HIV status but also knowing about their blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cervical cancer, etc. She further mentioned that Hlabisa hospital is prepared to help individuals to know their state of health.

The speaker of the day was Mr. Fakude (Jozini HAST Prog.)

Mr Fakude mentioned that the HCT launch is not a one day event, but a program that should have started years ago, where Health Counselling and Testing is integrated into all other health services provided within a health facility. During this process 5 things need to be integrated and those are:-

1. Blood Pressure

2. Diabetes

3. Haemoglobin

4. HIV

5. TB

He further encouraged male to go for male medical circumcision.

During the launch we had a play which highlighted the importance of parents disclosing and informing their children about their HIV status, Mrs Hlabisa from Hlabisa hospital mentioned that they encounter a problem when children default from their treatment because their parents did not inform them about the treatment and HIV status.

HIV counselling and testing was provided on site during the launch and hospital management was encouraged to lead by example and go for counselling and testing. All other members who attended the launch were also given an opportunity to go for HIV testing as well.

The day ended with a visit to a local primary school where the local Home Based Carers provided health education to the learners. There was also a business visit to Hlabisa Municipality and in town where there were also tents placed for community members to test for HIV.

Compiled by Khanya Mdletshe

]]> http://www.mpilonhle.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=438 http://www.mpilonhle.org/blog/?p=434 http://www.mpilonhle.org/blog/?p=434#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 08:25:55 +0000 Siyabonga Mavuso http://www.mpilonhle.org/blog/?p=434

A Thief is a Thief

Recently we have had to deal with a few cases of stolen items here at Mpilonhle. Some of the items lost are laptops, 3G Modems, cameras and most recently computer monitors. Now some of these items have been recovered, unfortunately others not. I would really like to attend a court case of someone who stole from me personally or from the organisation.

I have to ask why would someone take something that doesn’t belong to them. How people are able to go on day by day knowing that they have cheated someone or some organisation of valuable items they worked hard for. There are only things that we can assume may be a reason for someone to want to do these things.

The first of many reasons is for money. On the black market you can sell an item for 50% of its value–possibly even more if the item is popular in the community at the time. Right now the most popular items are IT gadgets. Now the strange thing is even if a person does not know how to operate them they still take it. This type of thief is known as a professional.

The second most common reason people steal is obsession. They can’t help themselves and they steal just to get the rush. This type of thief will take anything they can get there hands on because they just do it to see if they can get away.

Last but not least the third most common reason that people steal is for survival. This type of thief steals things that he/she needs to survive. Most of the time they take things like clothing for their children or medicine, baby formula and sometimes food. This type of shoplifting you can understand, but the act still wrong and illegal.

No matter which of the three reasons a person has for stealing, it is still wrong. Someone I know once said “a person not only steals items but trust as well gets stolen at the same time”.In addition to greed thieves also have no conscience. This allows them to steal and not feel guilty about it. They actually believe that they are doing nothing wrong.