Izulu Orphan Projects - Human Rights 25 and 26

Human Right 25: Food and Shelter for All. Human Right 26: The Right to Education.

In support of Human Right 25 and 26 I would like to introduce you to my friend, Kate Bain - Founding Manager of Izulu Orphan Projects (IOP), a Non-Profit Organization that educates, feeds and supports 1700 rural South African orphans, as well as the children of HIV+ widows.

I met Kate in London in 1998 and had an honor to celebrate Christmas season with her and her family in South Africa upon her final return.

All information about IOP comes from IOP website

http://www.izuluorphanprojects.co.za

Check short, introductory videos:

IOP Sponsor a Child

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lev6BMteRRo

IOP Food distribution

http://www.izuluorphanprojects.co.za/about-us/iop-on-youtube

History:

Izulu Orphan Projects was founded in 2006 by Chadd, Kate and Shelley Bain, the aim of IOP is to school, feed and clothe as many orphan children as possible, starting in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, and to positively impact the locals by offering them firstly education, and then healthy meals coupled with family social support.

Chadd’s vision

A clear word and vision from the Lord brought Chadd back to South Africa in the year 2000, after two years of adventure in the UK. 

He felt a calling to work amongst the people where he had grown up the Mevamhlope and surrounding areas of Kwa Zulu Natal.

In 2001, Chadd became involved with an orphanage called 'Nkosinathi' through building, providing beds and blankets, and organised food donations on a regular basis. He also taught the residents to grow vegetables so they would become self-sufficient.  

In late 2002 Chadd met Kate, and they married in September 2004. 

The first IOP Orphan Christmas party was held in 2002 with a small group of just 80 orphans attending. By the following year, they had 150 children registered, and they educated 17 of them the following year. IOP was officially born in 2006, and the numbers have increased steadily over the years. Tragically Chadd was involved in a fatal accident in December 2009 - but his vision continues through Kate and the team, who feel called to ‘help widows and orphans in their distress’ (James 1:27)

Today IOP takes care of 2435 orphans and widows in 737 households.

Programs:

Education Programme

Izulu Orphan Projects’ primary focus is education. Once the orphans are registered, the criteria for our ongoing support are their continued commitment to their education, as well as maintaining a regular relationship with our support staff.

Sinqobile's Story

Sinqobile (19) lives with her grandmother, younger brother and two other orphans in rural Mevamhlope. The family survives on R1,600 ($135) per month (R meaning South African Rand.) Her mother died in 2002 and her father in unknown. Sinqobile’s school reports were outstanding and IOP obtained a full bursary to a local private school, as well as her tertiary education for a BSC in Accounting in 2014.  She continues to be supported by IOP financially, and is a shining example of what a young rural child with little to no future prospects can achieve with the right mentorship and guidance.

IOP has a mutually beneficial relationship with the heads and teachers at the 68 rural schools IOP orphans attend. IOP representatives visit these schools to follow-up attendance and receive regular feedback from the teachers of 900 school-going orphans on the IOP system.

IOP is annually committed to: 

• The purchasing and distribution of school uniforms and essential school stationary, 
• The payment of crèche, primary and high school fees, as well as bursary and funding application assistance, 
• Teacher training and guidance, 
• Providing finance for educational tours and extra-mural activities.

Early Childhood Development

IOP primary objective is to develop the whole child – cognitively, intelligently, socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually - from birth to six years of age.

The Izulu Orphan Projects (IOP) Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme was formed in 2011 to provide education opportunities for vulnerable, poor and disadvantaged rural children.  

Feeding Program

IOP Feeding program provides for families with an income of less than R1,500 per month ($120) through a daily hot meal kitchen, as well as a monthly food parcel distribution programme for no less than 220 rural impoverished families.

Safe House

The IOP Safe House is a 24hr haven for rural and impoverished victims of domestic violence, abandonment, crisis and disaster.

Situated within the secure confines of Ngqamuzane Support Centre, it is an interim place of safety where community members are offered medical assistance, social support and mentorship through the various – and often daunting - criminal or welfare system.

Separate male and female rooms with lodging for six boys and six girls, a laundry, lounge area, books and toys, and healthy meals from the IOP Feeding Programme will ensure these young children or abused women – often traumatized by their experience – are offered comfort, safety and shelter while IOP support staff work with social workers and police on behalf of the victims.

Orphan Christmas Party

The Izulu Orphan Projects annual Orphan Christmas Party is the highlight of the year for around 3000 of IOP beneficiaries.

Each year IOP commit to provide a new toy, school stationary packs, a Christmas service and nativity play, and a healthy lunch to IOP children and their devoted carers. For many, this is the only celebration they will have for the year. Spreading Christmas cheer is fantastic for hundreds of volunteers who attend to assist in making this mammoth task a reality - but the underlying purpose of this special event is to: Teach the real meaning of Christmas, (Christian Ministry) Raising the funds to purchase approximately 450 school uniforms which are distributed in early January (Annual uniform budget: R120 000 = $9.637) Process the latest school reports of our primary and high school students. This data is inputted into IOP system so that the records for each child are up to date.

How can you help?

IOP receives NO government support, and continues to feed, clothe and educate around 1750 rural HIV/Aids orphans and their carers. IOP relys wholly on the kindness of individual donations to continue this life-changing work.

If you consider a donation go to

http://www.izuluorphanprojects.co.za/support-us/how-you-can-help

Or email kate@izuluorphanprojects.co.za

for further information on how you can assist in one of IOP programmes.

Kate Bain - Founding Manager kate@izuluorphanprojects.co.za

Address:

Portion 19 of Riverview, Lot 11459

Lower Umfolozi

KwaZulu-Natal

South Africa

Tel. +27 83 649 9990

Fax +27 86 551 1246

IOP website

http://www.izuluorphanprojects.co.za

iZulu Orphan Project -Kate's speech

http://www.izuluorphanprojects.co.za/about-us/iop-on-youtube/2-uncategorised/73-kate-s-speech

United Nation, Universal Declaration of Human Rights - List all 30 Articles

 

Let’s refresh out memory and list all 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Simplified Version has been created especially for young people.

1. We Are All Born Free and Equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.
2. Don’t Discriminate. These rights belong to everybody, whatever our differences.
3. The Right to Life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety. 
4. No Slavery. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make anyone our slave. 
5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us. 
6. You Have Rights No Matter Where You Go. I am a person just like you! 
7. We’re All Equal Before the Law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us all fairly. 
8. Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law. We can all ask for the law to help us when we are not treated fairly. 
9. No Unfair Detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without good reason and keep us there, or to send us away from our country. 
10. The Right to Trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try us should not let anyone tell them what to do. 
11. We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty. Nobody should be blamed for doing something until it is proven. When people say we did a bad thing we have the right to show it is not true. 
12. The Right to Privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the right to come into our home, open our letters, or bother us or our family without a good reason. 
13. Freedom to Move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and to travel as we wish. 
14. The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our own country, we all have the right to run away to another country to be safe. 
15. Right to a Nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.
16. Marriage and Family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if they want to. Men and women have the same rights when they are married, and when they are separated.
17. The Right to Your Own Things. Everyone has the right to own things or share them. Nobody should take our things from us without a good reason.
18. Freedom of Thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have a religion, or to change it if we want. 
19. Freedom of Expression. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people. 
20. The Right to Public Assembly. We all have the right to meet our friends and to work together in peace to defend our rights. Nobody can make us join a group if we don’t want to.
21. The Right to Democracy. We all have the right to take part in the government of our country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose their own leaders. 
22. Social Security. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, education, and childcare, enough money to live on and medical help if we are ill or old. 
23. Workers’ Rights. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, and to join a trade union. 
24. The Right to Play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax. 
25. Food and Shelter for All. We all have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people who are old, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the right to be cared for. 
26. The Right to Education. Education is a right. Primary school should be free. We should learn about the United Nations and how to get on with others. Our parents can choose what we learn. 
27. Copyright. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic creations and writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have the right to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that art, science and learning bring. 
28. A Fair and Free World. There must be proper order so we can all enjoy rights and freedoms in our own country and all over the world. 
29. Responsibility. We have a duty to other people, and we should protect their rights and freedoms. 
30. No One Can Take Away Your Human Rights.

Good Book - “Fish in a Tree” by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Fish in a Tree is a fictitious novel about three kids: Ally, Keisha, and Albert, who do remarkable things when they overcome challenges and conflicts.

The scheme begins with Ally, who has been so crafty that she fools many smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her learning disabilities by creating clever distractions. She is horrified to ask for help. When Mr. Daniels, her new teacher, comes along, he doesn’t just send Ally to the office when she creates distractions, but he finds a way to help her. He invites her to play chess with him after school. Ally ends up liking chess, making the plans in her head, and trying to capture Mr. Daniel’s pawns. Mr. Daniels sees Ally as the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that her learning disabilities is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. Along the way, she not only learns to overcome her learning disabilities but also that there are more to people, including herself, than a label.

Mr. Daniels says to Ally “Everyone is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend it’s whole life thinking it’s stupid” (p. 159). She learns a very important lesson, not to care about what people say about her no matter what. “My grandpa used to say to be careful with eggs and words, because neither can ever be fixed. The older I get the more I realize how smart my grandpa was.” (p. 159) Toward the end of the book, Shay’s friends realize they don’t like being mean to Ally so they befriend her.

Two other students from Ally’s class, Keisha and Albert, befriend Ally. It turns out Albert has secrets of his own. He comes to school every day with a few new bruises. Keisha is the brave one, she stands up for her friends when the mean girl, Shay, and her gang come after them.

The main theme of the story is friendship because when Ally and Albert are being bullied by Shay, Keisha stands up for them. One day, on the walk home from school, Ally, Keisha, and Albert are confronted the boys who have been beating Albert up. When Albert tells the boys to go away and stay away, the boys push Keisha to the ground. Albert full on screams at the guys and punches one of them in the gut. “My dad always said violence is something to avoid at all costs,” Albert tells us, “But he has also said that you never hit a girl. And so I had to weigh the two. I just…” Then he stops walking and he’s wide-eyed looking at me. It gives me a chill the way he does it “But really.” he says, “it just made everything hurt inside to see them hurt you two, and I would have done anything in the universe to stop it.” As starts to fitting in, surprising things begin to happen in Ally’s classroom that shows her that there is much more to her, and everyone than a label.  The message in the book is that great minds don’t think alike.

I recommend this book to students’ grades five and up, including adults, teachers and parents. Fish in a Tree can teach how to deal with bullies and dyslexia.

SOLVING THE SECRET CODE:

Mr. Daniels wrote on the board for the students to solve.

Ju jt nvdi ibsefs up sfbe xifo zvp epou ibwf uif dpef.

Hints to find the answer.

Each letter stands for another letter in the alphabet and follows a pattern. So, for example, if I told you that every letter in this word < ALD > was really the letter that is three letters after it in the alphabet,  would really be < DOG >. The code follows a pattern similar to this.

Writing out the entire alphabet for yourself and experimenting will make this easier to solve.

Don’t quit if you find this hard. It’s supposed to be hard and it feels AWESOME to solve something difficult.

From Lynda Mullaly Hunt web
http://www.lyndamullalyhunt.com/books/fish-in-a-tree/

Wisdom quotes from

“Fish in a Tree” by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

There are a lot of wisdom in this book. Here are a few of my favorite quotes, which can be appreciated anytime by anybody.

• “Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid.” Albert Einstein
• "Great minds don't think alike."
• "Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help." - C. Connors
• "My grandpa used to say to be careful with eggs and words, because neither can ever be fixed."
• "I want to give him an answer, but I have both too many words and not enough."
• "Just because someone says it doesn't make it true."
• “A coin with a flaw in it makes it far more valuable than regular coins.”
• "I guess maybe 'I'm having trouble' is not the same as 'I can't.'"
• "I’ve been lucky all along but didn’t see it.”
• “Well…alone is a way to be. It’s being by yourself with no one else around. And it can be good or bad. And it can be a choice…. But being lonely is never a choice. It’s not about who is with you or not. You can feel lonely when you are alone, but the worst kind of lonely is when you’re in a room full of people, but you’re still alone. Or you feel like you are anyway.” 
• “You say that you'll grow up to be nobody. But logically.. if nobody's perfect... well then, you must be perfect.” 
• “One thing's for sure. We're not gonna fit in, but we're gonna stand out" - Keisha” 
• “Alice in Wonderland - a book about living in a world where nothing makes sense made perfect sense to me" -Ally”
• “I believe that the things we put numbers on are not necessarily the things that count the most. you can't measure the stuff that makes us human.” 
• “An older brother is older. A big brother looks out for you and smiles when you walk into a room.”
• “I believe that the things we put numbers on are not necessarily the things that count the most. you can't measure the stuff that makes us human.” 
• “I decide that the craziest, strangest, most unbelievable thing I could ever draw is me doing something right.”
• “You can't make people unhear something. I should be used to this, but it still takes a piece out of me every time.” 
• “I stand tall, but everything inside shrinks. The thing is, I feel real bad.”
• “She doesn't get it. Being funny when you don't mean to be is terrible. Having to laugh at yourself along with everyone else is humiliating.”
• “And I wish I was more like Albert. Seeing him shuffle away in those sneakers makes me want to be better. I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not mean. And then my heart sinks because I realize that I just was. I guess I did it because I was lonely. Now I know that there are worse things than being lonely.”
• “Every word is another shovelful of dirt from the hole I've dug for myself. So I figure my best bet is to shut my mouth.”
• “When I was younger, I loved math. Everything about math. But in school, math now has letters. Like what does x equal? There are also long stories with characters, and although the story is supposed to end with some number, all the words block my path to getting there.” 
• “Rain, rain falling down, Down, down on the ground, All the birds go in the trees, They don't like the rain, you see.” 
• “Reading for me is like when I drop something and my fingers scramble to catch it and just when I think I’ve got it, I don’t. If trying to read helped, I’d be a genius.” 
• “After they leave, I look at the three of us and think about how there are three primary colors. Yellow, blue, and red. Those three colors create every other color ever.”
• “You're talking like a fool saying I don't understand what it's like to be different. But the thing is...I'm only different to the people who see with the wrong eyes. And I don't care what people like that think.”
• “What do you like, then?” “Buffalo wings,” I say. He laughs a little. “What do you like about school?” “Leaving.”

Creating Lifelong Readers - Ways You Can Help

Basia's hiding reading spot

Create a Reading Environment

·       Build a library of old favorites and new books.

·       Visit the public library or bookstore to grow excitement around reading.

·       Create a special reading space or nook.

Read To Your Child

·       Read aloud to your child, no matter how old they are. Think and talk about the book together.

·       Choose books to read aloud together, or choose books that you feel passionate about and you want to share with your child.

Read With Your Child

·     Read with you child, taking turns reading aloud and modeling what good reading sounds like.

·     Explore interests and go together to find books on these topics.

·     Look in books together to find answers to questions.

·     Reread an old favorite talking about what you learned or noticed this time around.

·     Read with your child side by side so they see you as a reader.

By Your Child

·       Encourage your child to read independently every day.

·       Remember that your child should have choice in what books they are reading and may choose picture books even in older grades.

·       Ask open-ended questions about what they have read to spark thoughtful conversations and inquiry.

Reading Journey

1 year old Basia

 “The more that you read,

The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

The more places you’ll go.”

From 

“I Can Read with My Eyes Shut” by Dr. Seuss

2 years old Basia, 2009

“The single greatest factor in reading achievement is volume.”
Stephen Krashen,
The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research By Stephen Krashen

Observations and Reflections from BEHS Staff, October 2004

To read more go to pdf:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/18350766/the-power-of-reading.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1521579570&Signature=MEjephbGADN1BITsZLtj1t%2Bx998%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_power_of_reading_Insights_from_the_r.pdf

Basia reading to her stuffed friends

Access + Choice + Time + Teaching = Reading Volume

Access – create an access to variety of books

Choice – let your child choose books that interest him/her

Time – find time for everyday reading

Teaching – teach your child to think, visualize characters, places, notice, wonder, predict, and compere your prediction with what you’ve read and learned.

Basia's home-library hiding reading spot

Ways to foster “Sneaky Reading”:

• Share moments when you lived like a sneaky reader as a child.
• Model what it looks like when you can’t put down a book! With book in hand, use language like, “Hold on…I need two more minutes…”
• Document your life as a reader.  Think book-selfies on the train or asking a friend to snap a photo of you in a non-traditional reading environment. Show kids when, where, and how to sneak additional reading minutes.
• Talk about the why. Give kids the facts regarding time on text and reading development.
• Flip your reading life! Embrace the power of video, and capture a teaching point or reading reflection wherever you are to show how living like a reader transcends all aspects of your life. 

Basia exploring the New Amsterdam Brunch Library 

Suggestions by Kristin Ziemke “Celebrate Sneaky Reading!” http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/readerleader/celebrate-sneaky-reading

 5 years old Basia reading "Little Red Riding-hood"