Today Bonnie visited Music Works and I visited Mamelani Projects. Both were absolutely inspiring.
Music Works: From Bonnie: Today I was in the group that visited Music Works which is a non profit organization partnering with communities in Cape Town’s marginalized neighbourhoods. Many children grow up in an environment of poverty, neglect, abuse, violence or substance abuse. Consequently they miss out on the playfulness and freedom of childhood and this impacts their social and emotional development. Music Works uses music to help children develop their self confidence and unlock their potential.
Music Works runs four programs and the one we saw in action is the Music for Life program. We visited Heideveld Primary School which has 1080 students in kindergarten to grade 7. The music program is offered to children in grades 3 and 5 once a week. Each class has a half hour session which consists of a welcome song where each child is acknowledged by name. Then they work on one or two dances led by an instructor and accompanied by drumming. We were invited to join in the dancing and you could feel the joy radiating from these young people. We also all had a lesson on the drums which was very fun.
MoniTwo of the classroom teachers joined us to give their perspective on how the program benefits their students. They shared that the students were calmer and more focussed after each music session. Also that it was a time for the children to express themselves and be recognized among their peers. Several of the music leaders are men and are good male role models, something that is missing in many children’s lives. The teachers also gave us some information about the education system. Most classes consist of a minimum of 32 students and the focus is on academic achievement with very little time for fine arts. Access to support services such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers is extremely limited.
Music Works has three other programs.
Early Childhood Development - this program provides creative music facilitation training to teachers and care workers working with children 2 to 6 years of age.
Music Therapy Program - this program is targeted to children with disabilities and those who have experienced trauma.
Creative Resilience Program - for children in grade 6. This program includes reproductive health, goal setting and enhancing children’s strengths.
The small staff at Music Works are very committed to the programs and were generous with their time with us. They are grateful for the ongoing support from the SLF.
Mamelani Projects (name means Listen Up!): From Laurie: Mamelani started in 2003 with a focus on health care for children and the adults caring for them. The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) has been funding them since 2007. They have other funding partners as well but have never received funding from US AID. A few years ago, when the South African government took over some of the health care initiatives, Mamelani shifted their focus to helping young people transition out of care when they are 18; most of them were just being left on their own to figure out how to adult, ie. find accommodation and work and figure out their lives. “Care” is not foster care; it is court-ordered removal from the parental home to a child and youth care centre (CYCC). And as we have heard many times, they are grateful that the SLF funding is not tied to anything particular and that it was easy to shift their priorities without reapplying for funding.
Mamelani has an executive director, a programs manager, an office manager and five youth transitions facilitators. They partner with 15 CYCCs in Cape Town, some of them private and some of them that receive government funding; each one has between 50 and 150 children living there, some quite young. The focus is on protection and the residents have to leave at the age of 18, or when they graduate from high school if that happens first. All of the girl teenagers are put on mandated birth control. (It becomes their own choice once they are 18.) The stated goal of the CYCCs is that the families will stabilize and be able to take their child back but if they are still there at the age of 18 then that didn’t happen (and mostly it doesn’t). Mamelani’s post-care transitions program is 3 years long with an intake of 30 new young people (by application) every 18 months. The three years actually begins when they have about one year left at the centre. The focus is on interdependent living, help navigating for resources and support, and individual mentoring. Some youth need to finish school, some want to attend post-secondary and some want to go to work. Some are HIV+ and have to be helped to transition from the pediatric care system to the adult care system; the systems are apparently quite different. They disclose their status to their mentor and their cohort when they are ready. There are 11 areas they work during the three years: accommodation and reintegration (there is a housing shortage in Cape Town so they also have 5 residential partners willing to take young people between 18 and 24; Mamelani helps with decreasing rental support), interdependent life skills (develop networks of support), mental health, self care, further study, nutrition, sexual health, work readiness and experiential workshops (cooking, shopping etc). (I missed a couple. ☹) Mamelani keeps good statistics and are very proud that they have achieved 100% accommodation placements and 90% of their grads are interning, studying or working in a sustainable situation (far above the country’s average). 70% of them receive food support of 530 rands (about $40) per month, higher than what the government provides. The youth graduate from the post-care program into an alumni program, and the alumni’s ideas and opinions are utilized for continuous improvement of the program. Once again, I am totally impressed by the methodologies and beliefs that lie at the heart of what they do, a focus on community, collaboration and interdependence. We learned a new phrase, related to UBUNTU. This one is “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” – a person is a person through other people.
In addition to the post-care transitions program, Mamelani has two other areas of important work. 1) They go into the CYCCs and do capacity building with the staff members, both with directors and policies and with youth workers and social workers about the nitty gritty of transitions – getting the residents involved in life skills at an early age for example – helping with laundry and dishes, tidying their rooms, etc. They are also able to do centre-specific training on request. 2) They work on advocacy and research. This includes collecting stories; they have just produced a booklet (which we are bringing home) and have a documentary about to be released. Some of the youth went to parliament to try to strengthen a bill that was waiting for consideration. The bill says that the CYCCs MAY provide transitional support and they promoted changing that to MUST. Three times per year they host a “Pastalani” where they cook and serve pasta and youth and alumni are encouraged to bring their friends and family members.
Our visit started at the new office location and in addition to the staff there was one youth from the post-care program and several alumni present. Despite having all come from traumatic backgrounds, the young people, many of them boys, were articulate, passionate, confident and extremely self-aware as they shared their stories with us. Reflection – in a variety of modalities and after every single meeting, session, workshop or visit – is a huge part of how this is achieved. Mamelani’s approach is that they treat all of their young people as adults. They recognize that young people will take risks and make mistakes but the reflection piece encourages them to share honestly and learn from their mistakes. We are impressed over and over again by the way these partner organizations work.
From the office, we visited a CYCC and were toured around by one of the former female residents and a post-care alumni, 24 years old, who is now qualified as a personal trainer and working as a fitness instructor. She showed a lot of love for this home where she had spent 5 years, from 14 – 18. Our next and final stop was at one of the residence partners for 18 – 24-year-olds for whom accommodation is a challenge. This particular one was built in a church and is called Isibindi which means “guts”; they emphasize bravery and courage in their residents. There are four residence rooms on the stage, and 12 girls live in three storage containers out behind the church that were donated by ShopRite when they were ready to throw them out. There is a house leader that asks “how was your day?” but there are no rules or curfews; the residents are treated as adults. Isibindi also runs an after-school care centre. 20 children attend daily and get help with their schoolwork and a meal. We ate lunch here – chicken biryani, buns, juice and milk tarts for dessert. The meal for 20 of us was cooked completely by Wanda, a Mamelani alumnus who is in the third year of chef school and hopes to own her own restaurant. I asked her if she had a dream and she said she’d like to go to Paris! The food was delicious. The staff members and the young people stayed with us for the entire day, and because our van pickup was about an hour late we had lots of time for individual conversations. When the young people were asked to reflect about the day, one of the young men (who had shared his story earlier of trying to live with his uncle when he graduated from the CYCC but was overwhelmed by the crime, drug use and gang violence that was part of his uncle’s community), said he was surprised that elderly women like ourselves were still involved so much and doing good work. He said he thought that by our age most people would want to just “sit and chill”.
When we returned back to our hotel, we had a dance practice for “Powered by Love” which we are performing tomorrow night and then a dozen of us went out to a nice restaurant on the waterfront. “We will not rest” has taken on a second meaning!
a relaxation room with exercise equipment and a book nook at a CYCC
4 singles and 3 double rooms + 2 bathrooms and the house mother's room in the storage containers
Wanda the chef and Monika the executive director
