Expansion of the Caledonia Rose Centre - and getting TFP on track!
We have focused much of our attention on
getting the administration of TFP organized this year while we make sure that
the services we provide are as close as possible to the standard that we desire. One of the biggest steps we have made is the
decision to build an office and a storeroom at The Caledonia Rose Centre. Previously, we used the 40ft container
classroom as our storeroom, meaning that our children lost almost half their
classroom to donations that have not yet been distributed. Martha has had to do all her work on the
tables and benches that children sit on to eat. But with thanks to The Hand in Hand
Foundation Worldwide, we have built our office/storeroom right next to our
skills development centre so now the children have their classroom back and
Martha can carry out all her administrative work from site.
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Martha stands outside her smart new office where she is setting up the reporting systems and operations of the Caledonia Rose Centre |
In our attempt to formalise TFP and to make us a more reputable and recognisable project, the
founding trustees of TFP have voted in a governing board to help us guide and govern the
progress of the organization. We would
like to welcome our new members onto our board and to
thank them for their involvement so far and their agreement to join us in
seeing the work we do expand and evolve for the better of our children. We are also in the process of finalising an advisory board and look forward to welcoming its members soon too. All board members will have a chance to visit the site and provide their comments and suggestions as they guide us forward and hopefully help us expand over the next few years.
We are very excited to announce the launch
of our website (www.foundationsproject.org) and with this development, we hope
to reach out to many more people to tell them about what we are doing and how,
if they wish, they can get involved. It
is always so wonderful to receive the encouragement we get from outsiders as
sometimes we get so caught up in the work that we lose sight of all the fun that is
happening on the ground! With our
website, we hope to be able to showcase everything that our teachers and
caregivers are doing to give our children a hope for a better future.
It is, in fact, our teachers and Martha who make the Caledonia Rose Centre what it is. It is always so exciting to receive a photo of a child celebrating his or her birthday with their friends and teachers, or children having fun on the jungle gym, or videos of our kiddies doing their sport and learning so much with Auntie Sarah. The love and joy that the staff on the ground bring to our little school is overwhelming and they deserve so much praise for all that they do. Thank you Martha and our teachers – we couldn’t do this without you.
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Teachers dress up to give the children a fun day |
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Our original class when all we had were our teachers and Memory's backyard |
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Dorcas loves and cares for each child, even well into her 70s |
Our skills development programme
participants have been working so hard to develop a portfolio of products that
they will be taking to the Miracle Missions fair in October. The ladies have not just been making goods to
sell but they have also been helping us to resource our classrooms including
our new book pouches that help us to keep our classrooms tiday and
organized. We had a wonderful visit from
Alastair Geddes from Impact International and his enthusiastic, encouraging
team who bought many of our ladies’ products to take with them back to
America. The International Child Resource Institute from San Francisco (ICRI) enabled TFP to buy our first sewing machine and with the help of Impact International and Anthony Haggie, we have been able to buy 7 further sewing machines so that we now have 8 machines and an overlocker
that allows for many more participants in our skills development
programme.
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New machines arrived and ready to be used! |
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Ladies trying out the new machines when they arrived |
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The TFP skills development programme ladies and the CRIZ SWAG girls have been selling their wares at the local fairs including cushions, aprons. hats, artwork and jewellery |
We are also hoping to set up sessions in
horticulture and crocheting and are getting ideas from our ladies as to what
other skills they would like to learn and what other projects they believe that
they could benefit from. From there, we
will work with them to support them in their projects and offer assistance in
setting up any viable projects they might have.
We look forward to updating you on this and hope to be able to report on
the inclusion of the men of the community in this programme!
Our feeding programme has been going very well and with thanks to Tammy from CRIZ and an anonymous donor, we have been able to provide the children with a piece of fruit each day. They love the fruit and it adds a bit of variation to their ePap meal each day.
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Children love having a piece of fruit to go with their meal each day |
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Delicious fresh fruit cut up and ready to eat |
With thanks to Captain Rainer Heufner and ICRI, we are currently carrying out home visits to identify the further
50 children that we are now able to include in our feeding programme. We have welcomed 15 more children as of 1
September to enjoy a meal with us and we thank Vimbai, our new intern, for all the
hard work that she is doing to ensure that we offer this service to the most needy
in our community. Vimbai has been instrumental
in ensuring that all our records are up to date and that we can roll out this
expansion and we welcome her onto the CRC and TFP team and are very grateful
for her involvement.
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Our feeding programme benches have been newly painted to cater for the increase of children taking part this term |
As we march on through the third term and to the end of the year, we are getting ready for our graduation ceremony and Christmas party in December. This year, we have 250 children to throw a party for and to hopefully be able to buy a pair of shoes each. If you would like to get involved in this, a pair of shoes costs approximately $10 and we have truly seen that this gift gives our children so much joy each year as they take off their old, tight shoes and put on new, shiny clean shoes! If you would like more information or would like to contribute to this project. please do not hesitate to contact me on charlotte@foundationsproject.org or Martha on marthadamu@gmail.com or call her on 0772408795.
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A smart pair of new shoes for Christmas - to go with a pretty dress!! |