Time flies when you are having fun!!
We started our second Early Childhood Development and Education course in August and ended on Wednesday 30th November with our certificate ceremony. We love learning from each other and are very proud of the ladies!
We work closely with like-minded organizations and invite them to join us in the training we provide.
In this course, we invited the following people to share their expertise.
Mersharn Naidu, a speech therapist to talk about the importance of early speech development, ways to encourage late talkers and what to look out for.
Zanne Solomon, a dietician, from TBHIVCARE spoke about the importance of good nutrition from conception to 5 years of age. She emphasized breastfeeding and the value it has on the developing baby.
Karen Ellis Norman from Crafty Chameleons demonstrated how to be creative using recycled and waste materials. We had loads of fun!
Pam Sneddon from Fin Coach Foundation trained on Finance Basics, which opened many's eyes. She was teaching financial planning, debt and how to manage it, budgeting and saving for the future.
Our curriculum training is going well. The 2022 intake of ladies will graduate in March 2023, and we welcome our 2023 intake of ladies in February. The ladies attend weekly sessions and learn about the easy-to-use, themed daily programme. Resources, support, and guidance on how to use the resources effectively are given at each weekly session. We also make resources using recycled materials during the training sessions. We are so encouraged by the initiatives taken by caregivers when trying new activities and sharing ideas with one another. This inspires strong relationships and support among each other.
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n celebrating Mandela Day, we had a Bible Study group from Connect Church upgrade one of the daycares. They got stuck in painting and fixing. It was lovely to see young and old getting involved and doing their bit to help.
Local businesses supported us by making donations towards mattresses and mattress covers for the daycares. Thanks goes to: Hout Bay Curtain Call, Allison from The Hairdresser, Anna from Peninsula Glass, Mark and Janle Biggs from Jack Hammers and various other individuals.
We are blessed to be working with Robyn from Robyn Real Jewelry who very kindly donated a % to Funda Kunye for Women’s Month and 10% of her sales for Black Friday. Thank you, Robyn, for your support and heart for what we do!
Tasja White from Best Buddies Day Care accommodates our training sessions at her school. This is a wonderful training space as it allows the caregivers to see what a professional school looks like and offers something to aspire to.
Community Cookup, namely Tjarla Nortonarranges transport to and from the training venue. This is an essential asset to us as it ensures punctuality, good attendance and safety for our ladies, especially on their way home at night.
Funda Kunye is a Book Dash distributor whose vision is that every child should own 100 books by the age of 5! This enables us to give books to the caregivers to distribute to the children in their care to take home. Thank you Book Dash!
Liz Huckle from the Lions Club initiated sponsorship for some of the caregivers to attend the course. This is a great way for community collaboration, and we thank her for that.
We visited the daycares with a local NPO, Bhabhisana Baby Project, to identify special needs children in the community. Bhabhisana is a group of Occupational, Physio and Speech therapists who work with the children pro-bono and ensure they obtain the help they need from our local government-run hospitals and clinics.
Anna from Made in My Camera arranged for two photographers from the Penda Trust and their Impact Photography Programme to take photographs during our training sessions and daycare visits. These were hugely helpful, and many were used to update our website.
In September we handed out beanies to the children attending the daycares we support. The beanies had been crocheted by the Oddessy church Crochet ladies.
Cammy from Little Libraries donated books 100 brand-new books to 5-day cares for the caregivers to keep at the daycares to read to the children. The children were so excited to see so many beautiful books and the caregivers were encouraged to read to the children daily and show the children how to take care of the books.
Bishops kindly chose Funda Kunye as the recipient of their Sustainable Food Project where the Grade 11 pupils had to do their own fundraising to purchase non-perishable food items which they delivered to the daycares.
We had our first 3-hour, Foundation Phase Parent Workshop held at Disa Primary. We spoke about parenting skills, child development, the importance of play and how to instil values at home. It was well attended, and we had lots of fun making toys using recycled materials. This was a wonderful way to engage with the community in which we serve.
We are thankful to our donors, sponsors, supporters, our team, and the amazing caregivers who work tirelessly at the daycares we support!
Thank you to Samantha Bell for initiating and managing the donation of 88 gift boxes for the children at 3 of the daycares we support. This is a huge undertaking for which we are very grateful! "Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18