WE CAN ALL MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Everyone can be infected or affected by HIV/AIDS “we are all the same” those are the words of Nkosi Johnson. Dick Scanian is an American citizen who established artsINSIDEOUT, a non-profit organization that is reaching out to HIV/AIDS victims all over the world through the work of arts. Just like any other person Dick was touched by the story of Nkosi Johnson who bravely address the nation during the 2000 International AIDS held at Durban.

Also being affected by HIV/AIDS Dick and his colleagues decided to start this exceptional organization which its mission is to travel all over around the globe visiting areas that have been hit hard by this epidemic disease, working with young people who have been similarly impacted by HIV/AIDS. Through acting, singing, dancing, story telling techniques and visual arts, artsINSIDEOUT inspires its students to unleash their creative energy and communicate their own experience.

Their first visit to South Africa came in 2011, when they visited Nkosi’ haven to spend two weeks with our residents mostly the kids empowering them to believe in themselves and believe that they can make it in life irrespective of their HIV status. They are currently on their third visit to our organization and its always nice having them over here.

This year’s program is slightly different from the past two as they have aimed on expanding it to reach out to more people with the inclusion of more artists than before artsINSIDEOUT hope that they will manage to make a different more children than before. On the 4 of July 2013 it will be the last day of the this year program and we will be witnessing performance from all groups that took part in this program showing off  what they have learn is the past couple  days. artsINSIDEOUT hopes to expand within other regions around the world mostly African in the in the future.

SUPPORT OUR MOTHER

Nkosi Johnson had a dream to establish a facility for mothers and children infected with HIV/AIDS. He did not wish any child to be separated from their parents because of this epidemic disease. In 1999 Nkosi and Gail Johnson his foster mother opened a non-profit organization in Berea for mothers and children diagnosed with HIV. The mission and vision of Nkosi’s Haven is to provide a place where infected mothers and children can live freely without any discrimination, to offer our kids with the best education, empower mothers to become contributing members of the society and ensure a healthy lifestyle for our residents. Even after 12 years since Nkosi’s passing Gail has kept his dream alive with the help of various sponsors and individual donors all over the world.

One of our mothers is currently sewing products on her own to make some income. She has been with us since last year and she has produced very beautiful products by herself, here are some of her products.

We appeal to all our blog readers to support our mother and buy her products so she can generate income for herself and her family.

www.nkosishave.org

THE SPIRIT OF UBUNTU FOR NKOSI’S HAVEN VILLAGE

Qantas crew team donation

“Happiness consists of giving and in serving others” (Henry Drummond). The Qantas Cabin Crew Team (QCCT) is registered as a charitable organisation committed to serve those who are less fortunate. They are a group of Australian flight attendants and the face of Qantas. Very aware of the less fortunate and desperate needs of others in the countries to which they travel, the QCCT was formed to ‘get hands on involved’ with registered organisations in those countries.

Gail Johnson receiving a cheque from Qantas crew



Having met the founding director of Nkosi’s Haven, Gail Johnson, on a flight back from Sydney in 2002, they wanted to do more.

The first property they ‘attacked’ was the homes in Berea (which have since been sold), spending two days painting and refurbishing.  Loving the concept and philosophy of Nkosi’s Haven the team wanted to do more and soon the Nkosi’s Haven Village became their flagship project.   The QCCT successfully raised money to purchase a Wendy house which is now the library at the Village. And in 2011, in memory of one of the QCCT members, Joel, a second wendy house was purchased which is now the music and art room for the resident children.

In 2009 money was raise for the Nkosi’s Haven 4Life Farm (a 12 acre farm just outside of Vereeniging) and the QCCT spent two exceptionally ‘hands on days’ planting garlic, completing the building and tiling of the chicken slaughter facility, as well as assisting in planting over 45 fruit trees.

The relationship between the QCCT and Nkosi’s Haven has grown from strength to strength with firm friendships having been formed and the QCCT’s commitment in supporting the resident children of Nkosi’s Haven has just been further enhanced through the donation of Australian dollars 18 000.00 that the Qantas Cabin Crew Team raised for the resident children’s needs such as computers, art products for the art therapy that has just been put into place at the Village.

In a flying visit, members of the QCCT ‘hand delivered’ the $ 18 000 and had time to spend with the resident children and enjoy a performance by the Nkosi’s Haven Choir.

Baby daycare makeover

Nkosi’s Haven Village baby daycare centre is currently being renovated with the help of Summit Financial Partners staff members, who too, wanted to get hands on involved.

Summit Financial Partners is an organisation committed to bringing positive change to the financial service, by doing exceptional things for consumers. They believe in having the best interest of the consumers at heart and their objective is “to continually impress our clients though delivering exceptional service hopefully at a profit, sometimes at loss, but always impressing”.

 

Nkosi's Haven kids with Summit Fiance employees after baby
daycare makeover



Nkosi’s Haven

has been chosen as one of their outreach programs, coming up with projects that will benefit the Nkosi’s Haven Village and its residents. They are currently busy with the makeover project, whereby they giving the baby daycare a new look. This involves painting the walls, new playground for the kids, laying an artificial lawn, new fencing and new toys.

The aim of this project is to provide a safe, beautiful and fun place for our babies/toddlers so that they can be able to express themselves to their full potential.

Summit Financial Planners are planning other activities at the Village which will include ‘taking over the kitchen’, thus giving the cooks a much needed break, as well as working with the teens and introducing dress codes, make-up and hair styles and most importantly towards the end of the year will be a ‘how to manage your money’ day for the teens of the Nkosi’s Haven Village.

Mountain hiking

On the 1st May, our current volunteers from Germany and Guatemala used the opportunity of the public holiday by taking our residents for a hike. Everybody who was older than 12 years was more than welcome to join. 


20 of the children were joined by the more energetic caregivers and volunteers. Leaving the property at 10 0′ clock in the morning, the Nkosi’s Haven ‘team’ took to the mountains to get to the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve which is situated ca. 3 km from Nkosi’s Haven.

volunteers and the Haven kids
at the hiking

Once in the reserve, they were thrilled to come across Zebras and springbok, within reach of the children. The small stream in the nature reserve was the perfect opportunity to refresh themselves from walking before they went back home. Pretty exhausted and tired but happy, everybody was back 4 hours later for a late lunch. Not only for our kids but also for our caregivers, this was an absolutely extraordinary experience. It was also an opportunity for them to improve their health by getting some outdoor exercise working off a few extra kilos.   Nkosi’s

Haven works hard at motivating the residents to work at maintaining   a healthy lifestyle and this initiative is complemented our vision and mission.

Appeal

 

With winter upon us, the management of the Nkosi’s Haven are requesting the support of Southern Courier’s readers for donations of warm winter clothes, closed shoes (both sexes and all sizes) and should there be a wiling donor who could assist with the supply of walls heaters for some of the cottages and leisure room – that would be stunning.  In addition, we recently admitted two pregnant mothers and we are in urgent need of two prams, baby blankets, winter baby grows and sterilising units for bottles - thank you.







THE PRESIDENT'S AWARDS CELEBRATIONS

Nkosi's Haven log

On the 21 May 2013 until 23 May 3013 the President's Awards will be handing out awards to youth that has done well in their leaders training program. It will be held at Heron Bridge in Four- ways Gauteng, accommodation and meals will be provided at the amount of R400 to each person and you will provide yourself with transport.

This program was first established in 1956 as The Duke of Edinburgh’s award. The aim of this program is to empower youth, it is challenging youth all over the world for the age of 14-25, getting them involved in program of voluntary self-developing activities, which will take them through the potentially difficult period between adolescence and adulthood. At the moment the initiative is running in 120 countries of which 21 of them are from Africa.

In South Africa the program first operated in 1983 and it was called Gold Shield awards which later changed to the President's awards after we got our freedom. The former President Nelson Mandela who was the president when it was changed to the President award was the funding patron in-chief by then.



President's awars logo                                 www.presidentsawards.co.za



The core of this program is based on self-development which challenges aspects like skills development, physical recreation, community service and the adventurous journey. This help to groom the youth in changing the perception of the youth about themselves and their world. It teaches them about important issues such as health, political and social life and the environment they live in. It challenge the youth to become critical thinkers and it’s less likely for them to compromise their future. There are three levels of the Award:  Bronze, Silver and Gold.  At each level, participants should set themselves personal challenges in each activity.

The program is divided into four sections which are:

Service	To learn how to give useful service to others
Skills	To encourage the development of personal interests, creativity or practical skills
Physical Recreation	To encourage participation in physical recreation and improvement in performance
Adventurous Journey	To encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery whilst undertaking a journey in a group
Additional Requirement at the Gold Level
Residential Project	To broaden experience through involvement with others in a residential setting

TPA has committed in making sure that they challenge South African youth form schools, prison, non-profit organizations etc.  This also help them to become youth which make things happen, than waiting for things to happen. And it is made possible with partnerships with organizations like Anglo American Chairman’s fund, the world fellowship (UK), Rand Merchant Bank, Mutual and Federal, Barloworld, The Hilden Charitable Trust (UK), Kinderpostzegels (Netherlands) and other organizations like USAID.

Nkosi’s Haven is delighted to be taking part is such a phenomenon project, as it is helping our kids in becoming self-developed and teaching them about the most important aspects of life. This program complement each other with our mission and vision as our aim is to offer our kids the best education and groom them to become contributing members of the society. We thank the President's Award organization for letting us take part in this initiative.

THE ESSENTIAL TOOL OF LIFE

Kids who performed very good in their first term

Education is essential for everyone, it is the essential tool of life and here at Nkosi’s haven we value and see the importance of education for our kids. Education is something that can never be taken from you; it is the experience that one will carry throughout his or her life. It is the level of education that earns people respect and recognition. It gives people very important tools to make it in life. With education people can stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Education is the key to success and we will continue to offer our children the best education.

The establishment of this facility was brought up by Nkosi’s Johnson, who wanted a place where mothers and children diagnosed with HIV/AIDS to get the best care without any discrimination. This is a boy who was almost denied an opportunity to study because of his status and he did not want any child to be deprived education because they are HIV/AIDS. Since our establishment we have been providing our kids with the best education up until tertiary level.

All of our kids come from different background, with all of them here for various reasons. They have all went through a lot of things in life, a lot has been taken from them and we are working hard to give them something that no single soul can take away from them education. We our kids to become contributing members of this society, we want them to be able to stand on their own two feet and make a living for themselves. We want a bright future for our kids, so they can be able to do the same for someone who is in need of help in the future, so they can be able to teach people out there that even with your HIV/AIDS status and your horrible past you can make it in life.

We have 118 kids in our property, with all of them going to various schools from private schools, government schools, tertiary, special schools and pre-schools. We are catering every need on our children’s education and we appreciate the effort they put within their studies. We have thanks giving programs for children who put in an outstanding performance on their school work. On the 8 of Monday 2013 we are rewarding children who performed very well in the first term at school and the kids enjoyed as they noticed that we appreciate their hard work and effort. And this teaches our kids that in life when you do well you will be credited for that.

We want to see our kids contributing to a good course of this country. We want to see them living a better life form where they come from. In life we cannot change the past but we can make the future. With all the education that we provide our kids we want to provide them with a bright future. Nkosi’s haven will continue being there for its kids and they will always be our kids, we are one big family that cares for each other and willing to keep Nkosi’s dream alive at any cost.

AN AIDS FREE GENERATION IS POSSIBLE

Nkosi’s Haven is a place with so many talents. When this place was first opened HIV/AIDS people where promised a place where they will live freely without any discrimination and we proud to say that we have been doing that all this past

years. Nkosi Johnson wishes was to open a place that can take care of mothers and children, a place where they can live like the rest of us because we are all the same irrespective of our status.

We have been operating for 13 years now and still growing. We have had some good years and rough years but we still prioritise the needs of our resident. We have people coming here for various reasons, the family members rejecting them because of their status, some rapped and infected with HIV. But here it is a place where you will never be judged because of your past. Here in Nkosi’s Haven we are one big happy family. Living together, going through all the difficulties together.

A fun day for Nkosi's Haven children

We value our residents need. The need for shelter, education, water and food, we do all our best to provide our resident with a normal life just like anyone of us. We have kids with a lot of talent from soccer, singing, ballroom dancing, art, netball etc. We get help form different types of organisation and people to nature our kids’ talent. We all deserve an opportunity in life and here we are giving our kids that opportunity. Our mission is to provide a better living condition, best education and a healthy lifestyle for our residents. We would have not got this far if it was not for all the people with a caring heart out there nationally and internationally. We pledge with everyone out to please join hands with us and fight this epidemic disease. Let’s help those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, let’s not laugh and discriminate them. The bible say we were all created from God’s image so let’s not throw hand our sisters and brothers. “We are one”



Nkosi’s Haven children help raise funds

Nkosi's haven kids with thier paintings

Children of Nkosi’s Haven will be having their works of art auctioned at a Gala Benefit in Holland to assist in raising funds for Nkosi’s Haven.  On the 6^th April, KidsRights a Dutch based foundation will be hosting a gala fundraising dinner at Netherlands. Gail Johnson, founding director of Nkosi’s Haven, has been invited as guest speaker for the night. The aim of the dinner is to raise funds for KidsRights and their projects.  Nkosi’s Haven based in Alan Manor, having been a KidsRights project since 2005 when Nkosi Johnson, the young AIDS activist who passed away in 2001 from an AIDS related disease, won the first ever International Children’s Peace Prize, posthumously.

Founded by Marc Dullaet in 2003 the foundation promotes the wellbieng of every vulnerable child across the world and advocates the expression of their rights; it is the voice of the voiceless. The International Children’s Peace Prize was initiated, motivated and organized by KidsRights and to-date they have recognized exceptional children, who have fought for the rights of children, throughout the world.

The gala fundraiser will help the Nkosi’s Haven children showcase their talent on an international platform, as their art goes on auction and sold to the highest bidder at a glamorous up market benefit evening.  The money raised will help us on its path to achieve their educational objectives. Determined to give their children the best education, most of the children attend private schools with 5 of them  have matriculated over the past 4 years, attending college studying sports management, HR and tourism.

 Extramural activities for the children include art, music and, dance classes, all of which need funds for sustainability.   KidsRights support   makes it possible for the children to relish and further develop their talent.  A strong skills development program is in place for the resident mothers as most have not finished their schooling.  In addition, job opportunities exist for the resident mothers who may be employed in positions as cook, laundry manager, child care worker, if they have the skill and shown initiative.  Earning a stipend, the mothers are sent on the relevant training courses.  In addition, Nkosi’s Haven operates a bakery out of a container, run by resident moms; this is seen as in ‘income generating project’ albeit on a small scale.

The Nkosi’s Haven farm based in De Deur produces vegetables for ‘in house consumption’ however, with potential funding; it will soon be producing chickens and vegetables to be sold commercially.   Job creation on the farm will be for both resident mothers and teens who are interested in farming, as well as for young people who have dropped out of school through circumstance and are interested in food security and income generation. 

 Nkosi’s Haven is an organization  depends heavily  on donations to maintain sustainability, however, is also determined to work towards self-sustainability and their children’s talent is without a doubt assisting in achieving this goal.

For any type of assistance vist our website. www.nkosishaven.org

NO ONE ASKED FOR IT

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic disease face by the rest of the world. The fight against HIV/AIDS is intensifying but at the same time the rate of infected people is rising. Even though no one asked for it, there are many way of contracting these disease. Working here at Nkosi’s Haven made me realise how life can be cruel sometimes.

We are a facility caring for HIV/AIDS infected mothers and children and we see off our kids up until tertiary level and have skills developing programs for our mothers as most of the have not finished school. Every single soul here has a story of how they came in contact with this disease and how those they once looked up to or loved turned their back on them because of their status. Instead of turning our backs on our family members, partners and friends we should be supporting them because it’s them suffering from this disease not us and they never asked for it. Some were born with it, some were raped and some got it through sexual intercourse because the partners where not loyal. So were do we get the right to make life more difficult for those with HIV/AIDS when they mostly need us?

Coming to work everyday and seen all this children and mothers with a smile on their face breaks our hearts when we come to think how much they went through before their arrival here, how people turned their back on them when they really needed their support. It becomes sadder when our kids have to come in terms with their status; they find it difficult to accept because they do not know how they contracted this disease. They asked themselves so many questions like why them? And when coming to think that people out their discriminate them for something which is not their fault becomes harder for them.

This is there reason why we have organisations like Nkosi’s Haven whereby we cater for mothers and children infected with HIV/AIDS. This is a place where they live their lives as free as they want to, without no discrimination but love and support. When Nkosi established this facility he wanted mothers and their children to have a place where they can be cared for and provided with fair opportunities just like everyone else and have the share of happiness like every child and mothers out there. Here at Nkosi’s Haven we are a unity a family that looks after each other irrespective of our status. We never discriminate or turn our back on our residents because of their status but hold hands with them through out their journey. Together we stand divided we fall. Let not discriminate those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS but give them love and support. At the end of the day WE ARE ALL THE SAME!!!

We kindly accept any form of assistance.

For more information about Nkosi’s Haven visit our website. www.nkosishaven.org

NKOSI’S 4 LFIE FARM

We have a mountain to climb for us to reach our economic target growth here in South Africa. We are facing a very huge problem of unemployment, with almost two and a half million South African youth currently out of work and not in school. Apartheid is one of the reasons why this problem has escalated so rapidly through the past years, but we cannot live on blame, we must stand up and make things happen. Here at Nkosi’s Haven have grabbed the bull by the horn, we have a plan is process that will come in handy on addressing this problem we are facing.

In 2008 we bought a 12 Acer farm of which we want to create job opportunities for mothers and children infected with HIV/AIDS, around areas in Sebokeng. This is a job opportunity for infected people without education, who are finding it difficult to find a job for provides their families. The farm will provide them with skills on how to self sustain, how to produce, run a business. Our aim is to create 300 jobs 200 children and 100 mothers and we want to make this project broad by including jobs like furniture making, beading and candle making.

We are a HIV/AIDS facility, so we value a healthy lifestyle. Our farm will be producing organic products form organic fruits and vegetables to organic meat. Organic products are very healthy considering that we are an HIV/AIDS organization we will be providing good and healthy products for our organization and other organization that will be doing business with us once this project is up and running. The important of organic food is that:

• Low level of pesticides
• They contain no synthetic additives, they are preserved and sweetened naturally using substance such as honey and grape juice
• They have a significant high level of nutrients
• Organic livestock products do not use antibiotics or growth hormones.
• The are free of Genetically Engineered (GE) ingredients
• They have less cholesterol

This won’t take away the unemployment problem away but it will help the government in a way, it will take more that this project to decrease this high rate of unemployment, but it takes project like this one to give people hope. Hopefully if we manage to acquire more funds we will make this project bigger that this, we believe that we all deserve a far chance this is why we are making it possible for HIV/AIDS diagnosed people to make something of their lives.

You can visit our website for more information or any kind of assistance. www.nkosishaven.org

  

NGO NOT GIVEN MUCH ATTENTION

South Africa is one of the many countries facing an overwhelming development challenges education, health, poverty etc. It’s a problem that will never be resolved now but with the help of Non-governmental Organization we are heading to the right direction. NGO's did not exist in South Africa before democracy. When the new government came in power a pledge was drawn out for South African citizens, to help those who are in need in the sense of "UBUNTU".

An NGO is an organization that survives on its own it depends on the government funds and the public as a whole for surviving. We are very fortunate to have people willing to give their time on helping the less fortunate people in our country; we have seen so many NGO come in the past years. But with the lack of funding we have seen most of them shutting down. Wherever we go NGO's are facing finance problems, now if this goes on how will it help us on meeting the National Development plan for 2030? President Jacob Zuma mentioned in his recent State of Nation speech the need to put more effort on ensuring the survival of NGOs.

What will happen should the government fail to stick to their promises just like in the past years? Are we going to see more of our NGO shutting down what will happen to all the HIV/AIDS infected people, the orphans, abused women, drug addict’s homeless people and elderly people? Every time when the government does not meet its promises is the poor who feel the impact. What has lead to this epic disaster? What happened to the sense of UBUNTU the government has been preaching? It’s difficult for NGO to continue helping the nation if the government is not sticking to their part of the deal.



THE SHAME OF OUR COUNTRY



www.umack.com



South Africa is known for all its beautiful landscapes which have attracted a lot of tourists all over around the country. To be honest we are not only known for that but one of the crime kingpin country. The high rate of crime taking place here has put a dent of the perspective of our country in the International eye. One of the leading crimes in South Africa is domestic violence, from physical and psychological abuse on woman and children.

Each day a women and girls are raped, beaten, burned, trafficked and subject to horrendous sexual violence all around the world. While here in South Africa it is reported that 1 in 4 woman is raped from a one month baby to a 94 years old grandmother. Every 4 minutes a rape case is reported in our country. Rape has always been a problem in our country; it took the horrific rape and murder of Anene Booysen the 17 year old girl from Western Cape to raise voices of many South African. People are now willing to take a stand against this outrageous violence against women and children.

One would have thought that after this horrible incident of Anene  we would see a reduction on sexual abuse but reports show that recent rapes have been  involving babies and older women. Now if you are a citizen of this country you would ask yourself what South Africa is turning into. Are we becoming the capital of sexual abuse? Is this what we want our country to be known about? Is this what we want for the next generation?



www.hypelife.tv



We are all to blame from traditional doctors who feed men lies that virgins can cure HIV/AIDS, to the Government and the public as a whole. We are responsible for each other just sitting and not doing anything about this because you are not affected makes you guilty as the rapist. No one can come to help our country but ourselves. Its time we take a stand against women violence. If one voice can make a difference just imagine what 10 or hundred voices can do. With more close to 100 cases reported in our country, the maximum sentence for rape is life in prison which is 25, but official shows that less than 10% of reported sexually crimes result in a successful prosecution, making many reluctant to rape.  I personally think that life sentence in prison until death would be the solution.

Here at Nkosi's Haven we say NO to domestic violence. This does not just harm you emotionally and physically but healthy wise. Rape is one of the reasons behind the high rate of HIV/AIDS in our country. How are we going to reach an AIDS free generation if we continue to sexually abuse our women? REAL MEN DO NOT ABUSE THEIR WOMEN BUT EMBRACE THEM!!!

KEEPING NKOSI’S DREAM ALIVE

Nkosi Johnson giving a speech at the 13th International AIDS Conference at Durban 2000

“Care fro us and accept us we are all human beings. We are normal, we have hands, we have feet, we can talk and we have needs just like everyone else. Don’t be afraid of us-we are the same” This is what Nkosi Johnson said at the 13^th International AIDS Conference at Durban 2000, he was one of the opening ceremony speakers.

Nkosi took the courage to address the Nation and the world as a whole against the discrimination toward AIDS infected people; he became the voice of the voiceless. At that moment, AIDS was certainly a death sentence prior the availability of Anti-retrovirals. Anti-retrovirals also known as ARV regime which ensure a long fulfilling, productive life. Taking responsibility and with support, being positive about one’s status, the sky is the limit.

Before he passed away, his dearest wish was to open a long-term facility that caters for destitute HIV/AIDS infected mothers and children in an environment of acceptance, loving and non-discriminatory. He proudly officiated the opening of the first Nkosi’s Haven in April 1999, as he separated with his mother at the age of 3 because to HIV diagnosis.  Gail Johnson had an arrangement with Nkosi’s mom to look after him as he was not supposed to outlive her.

Nkosi’s Haven continues to thrive-doing the work Nkosi so badly wanted giving mothers and children (including orphans infected or not) quality care and interaction. Our mission is to offer good care, best education for our kids and skills developing programs for the mothers, as we want to empower them to become responsible and contributing members of the society.

Assist us on working towards an AIDS free generation by joining hands. Together we can divided we fall. HIV/AIDS dose not discriminate why should we. We are one irrespective of out status. Let us keep Nkosi’s dream alive.