MALEALEA DEVELOPMENT TRUST ANNUAL GENERAL REPORT 2013/2014
The Malealea Development Trust is a Registered Charity: Registration number: 26610
Contents
1. Foreword from the Chairperson 2. Acknowledgements
3. Summary of the activities of the Malealea Development Trust
Focus areas:
3.1 Health and well-being
3.2 Social Care
3.3 Education and Training
3.4 Community development
4. Financial statement
Foreword from our Chairperson Acknowledgements
The Malealea Development Trust would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of the following organisations and generous individuals who have made a significant contribution and had such a positive impact on the lives of the communities of Malealea over the last year:
The Steven Lewis Foundation, for unwavering financial and moral support for our HIV and related programmes, in particular village-based development work, transport stipend and e-pap provision for HIV+ people, and most gratefully, organisational development.
The owners and management of the Malealea Lodge and Pony Trekking Centre for their generosity in the use of office and storage space and for facilitating positive interaction with visitors and groups.
EAF for funding enabling us to continue our scholarship programme for students attending Secondary and High school.
SOLMA and Gerard Heijkoop in particular (Holland) and all their generous donors and contributors for their consistent and generous support for development projects in the area of education and water.
To GIZ and Marcel Goeke in particular, for a donation which enabled us to have solar power in our two new rooms at the community hall complex
The German Embassy for the funding of a new two-roomed building at the community hall, and the fencing of this area.
Australian Volunteers International for giving us the indispensable Andrew, our financial and planning master who sadly completed his term with us and has moved one. We wish you well in the future Ntate, rea leboha.
The British High Commission, and Anne Macro in particular, for the funding to allow us to project manage the building and fencing at the community hall.
Ib and Louise Margre and Amatola Foundation in Denmark for the funding of mattresses, blankets and eating utensils for identified HIV+ children.
John Sames for the funding to build a reception class at Malealea Primary School.
Building a Global Community, Angela and Jennifer, our new partners, for funding the new pre-school at Makhoseng village, a fence for the school garden, a tank for water harvesting and for support for Ntate Isaka’s nursery.
Michael Schultze and the DAIMLER AG group for their most generous donation of food vouchers to feed 30 orphans and their guardian families through two harsh Lesotho winters and for clothing, stationery and first aid materials in beautifully packaged parcels. Thanks to the whole team and all who contributed back in Germany.
Johanna Haanstra for her generous donations to help orphans to be able to attend pre-school, and for funding our social care worker.
Janet Tyler for her generous donations towards and on-going interest in the care of our orphans.
Tessa Bell for funding for orphans and ZumKaliKali for 2012.
Jessica Huntingford and Correnti for fund raising in support of our orphans projects.
KitAid, and the Fidler family in England for the generous donation for funds to equip our football teams.
Clongowes Wood College for their consistent hard work out in the community and excellent fundraising for the ‘tsoha o iketsetse’ food gardening project, for the support of 4 orphans and to Father Mockey for the establishment of his scholarship fund.
Bill Roebuck and his students from Dartmouth University, USA, for their regular constructive working visits on community development projects in particular the Dartmouth Donga.
Windsor Mountain International for their visit and positive interaction with the children at the community hall.
Ken Dunn and Africa’s Gift and his colleagues for their regular visits and hard work in a range of community projects, for useful donations of all sorts, all of which make a significant difference.
Alice Ward for her ongoing donation of funds towards staff salaries.
M’e Felile our local environmental health nurse for her constant support and enthusiasm in working with us on water and health related projects. We will miss you very much M’e, tsamaea hantle!
Pieter Mierke for starting and leading our pottery project, ‘Letsopa’. Pieter has also been a great source of support for orphans and old people in his work as an MDT affiliation. Kayla Mierke, for tireless work with the young woman’s sewing and HIV education group, ‘Thusanang Bacha’. To the whole Mierke family for help in a myriad of ways and for endless support and encouragement. To Ntate Hlapisi for assisting us so well in our orphan’s feeding programme at his shop, and for the donations for our King’s Birthday Celebration. Ntate we appreciate your support.
To the staff of the Malealea clinic for on-going collaboration and support.
M’e Manyanesu, our local community councillor for her support of our work and providing us with the opportunity to work together.
Jacqueline Heijkoop our hardworking treasurer for all the hours of voluntary work that she puts in on our behalf, our very grateful thanks
Casper … for his invaluable assistance with updating our web-site.
All our volunteers, Andrew who has just left us and Jocelyn Powleson who is currently providing much-needed help with the children’s library, the ‘Letsopa’ pottery project and with our HIV+ people’s survey.
To each and every visitor who has made a donation of whatever amount or of whatever kind we thank you for your open-handed generosity. It is a constant source of inspiration to cross paths with people like you. We feel privileged to have met, for however brief a period of time. Even the smallest contribution makes a real difference to the people of Malealea in myriad ways. You not only provide much– needed financial and material and support to us all, but give us encouragement, continued motivation and inspiration to continue the work of supporting the people of Malealea.
To our Board of Trustees for their guidance and support, and last but not least, to the dedicated and hard-working staff of the Malealea Development Trust, our social care worker, M’e Maphakiso, our fieldworkers Ntate Motseko and M’e MaTsepo. Our dedicated book keeper and office administrator Manthabiseng, our cleaner M’e Marelebohile, our night watchman, Ntate Thabo Kolobe, and our dedicated and wise chairperson and part-time projects manager, Ntate Tello Moeketse. Without the commitment and dedication of this group of people, none of the work of the Malealea Development Trust would be possible.
Activities of the Malealea Development Trust
The Malealea Development Trust works in four main focus areas. Each of these is reported on below.
Health and well-being
HIV/AIDS is one of the biggest challenges facing people in the villages of Malealea. Currently an estimated 27% of people are infected with the virus, and many more affected in a number of ways. As in developing countries all over the world, it has hit hardest in the most vulnerable groups which are young people, and in particular young women, but its effects are felt by all people living in the valley. The MDT’s support in this area is intended to take into account the far reaching consequences of the disease and to provide a range of support. This support has taken the form of:
1. To continue to provide direct practical assistance to sick people through:
(a) the provision of a nutritional supplement, E-pap, to those whose CD4 count puts them in the category of a severely compromised immune system, and thus most susceptible to opportunistic diseases such as TB.
(b) the provision of transport stipends to enable people to access treatment, CD4 and viral load testing, and to undergo procedures not available at the local clinic such as testing for TB and X-rays.
2. The MDT continues to support the activities of the local primary health care clinic and its staff. We have done this through regular meetings where problems have been shared and discussed, and through direct support such as materials for the village-based health care workers’ first aid kits. We have also collaborated with the environmental health nurse on projects related to environmental waste and water and water-related hygiene, both of which meet basic human needs in the villages, the need for safe clean water and for a clean environment.
3. The ‘Letsopa’ project aimed at generating income for interested community members, foremost, HIV+ people. The project, still has a core group of regular attenders, with some newcomers, and has extended to a children’s afternoon once a week. We now fire pots in clay and dung kilns, and are experimenting with different decoration techniques. All clay is sourced and processed locally to reduce overhead costs.
Orphan support
Our programme has many aspects to it:
(i) We place orphans with guardians rather than in an orphanage, as we believe that children thrive better in an extended family situation and in this rural area it is more culturally appropriate. These orphans come from a number of villages in the valley. We provide a small monthly food stipend to supplement the family income, we also cover the necessary medical costs, including those children who have tested HIV+, and we cover school related costs such as school uniforms and books at primary and secondary level. Our social care worker offers physical and moral support through regular visits to homes and schools.
(ii) The MDT social care field worker monitors and provides support for 28 orphans and their guardians through regular visits to, and interviews with the children themselves, their guardians and their teachers. The children currently attend the four primary schools in the valley, Malealea Secondary School, Mathula High School, St. Thomas High School and Motsekuoa High School. In this way we try to work with the children and their families to identify difficulties and needs and to solve problems on an on-going basis. Our aim here is to care for children and their families in an holistic manner, so we concentrate on health, education and school performance, and the quality of peer and adult relationships.
(iii) We continue to have a growing waiting list of 30 orphans. We offer what support we can as often as possible through second-hand clothing distribution and donated food parcels. We used a generous donation of food vouchers to feed these children and we regularly distribute clothing, uniforms when we have them, and school stationery.
(iv) We have continued to hold regular meetings with guardians to discuss such issues as food security and the testing of children for HIV which is now under way.
(vi) Our Orphans’ Day has been renamed Children’s Day as we feel that every child in this valley is vulnerable. This programme runs every month and continues to be a success for those children who attend. This involves bringing together children from all over the valley. On this day we offer the children an opportunity to speak privately with our social care worker, and an opportunity to play games and enjoy themselves in the company of other children. We offer activities such as singing, dancing and art making when people with these skills offer to work with us. We are encouraging networking and friendships in this group to promote stronger peer interaction and support.
(viii) Our children’s library, begun in 2011 with donated books from Biblionef, has grown from strength to strength. Starting out in a few boxes in the corner of an office, we now hold library sessions twice a week in the community hall. We have a paid librarian and 1 volunteer assistant one of whom is one of our orphans, and we try to include structured games such as chess and card and board games to provide some stimulation for our children who have little at home.
Education and learning
The Malealea Development Trust believes that access to useful and productive learning is one of the cornerstones of human development, and is an important, if not the only, way out of poverty for the children of the valley. We therefore actively support education and informal training activities in the schools in the valley, as well as informal groups.
The Malealea Development Trust continues to extend a helping hand to orphaned and vulnerable children whose parents or guardians are unable to afford school fees. Our ability to do this has been compromised by the difficulty in raising funds to support children at Secondary and High School level, but we continue with fundraising efforts for this important activity.
1. Pre-school level
In 2011/12, the MDT has continued to offer support to pre-schools. We provide school fees for 5 orphans and vulnerable children in each of our seven pre-schools. Our teachers write quarterly reports on these children, and have learned how to keep simple financial records of donated monies. The MDT holds regular monthly meetings with the teachers, where both business matters and teaching activities are discussed. We regularly share donations with all our schools and this year we had an informal programme of materials making this year with the group.
2. Primary School level
The MDT has continued to offer support over the last year to 4 primary schools in the valley. This support has taken the form of:
The channelling of donated stationery by visitors to each school
Assisting with school gardening.
The channelling of received funds for self-identified projects.
3. High school level
During 2011/12 the MDT Scholarship Fund continues to support orphans and vulnerable children on a scholarship programme allowing them to continue their studies at secondary and high school levels. Owing to difficulties raising funds, we have not been able to take on any new children entering Form A during 2013. Students on the programme have been supported with books (rented/loaned) school fees, computer education fees and examination fees.
Informal learning
The MDT has continued in its efforts to support informal education. This is intended to supplement the work done formally in schools, as well as to promote life-long learning in adults. 1. We have a pottery project mentioned above. ‘Letsopa’ has opened up to any member of the community and are working on consolidating work done to move more strongly towards income generation.
2. Our young women’s sewing group, ‘Thusanang Bacha’ aims to explore with this very vulnerable group, issues around sexuality, HIV/AIDs and self- protection. The sewing activities have now produced products that are being sold, and it remains open to any young woman in the valley.
Community development
2012 and 2013 have seen the Malealea Development Trust engaged in a number of community projects: The valley-wide survey of the villages we work with has proved to be a very useful tool both for identifying and prioritising community development projects by the villagers, and for fundraising purposes. Work now concentrates on water projects and the ‘tsoha o iketsetse’ vegetable gardening projectIt covered aspects such as health, water and sanitation, education, women and child-headed households, transport and access to basic amenities. This survey has proved to be very useful in identifying important village-based issues that need addressing. Phase two of this work involves prioritising needs with the community and meeting those needs wherever possible with the support of the MDT. We have worked with communities on installing community toilets at Khorong, Haphathela and Makhakhane villages. The difficult work of tackling waste management has continued, with villages working to collect, sort and process village waste. We aim to include local businesses and taxi owners in the village of Makhumalong in particular.
We have built closed and open ponds in 5 villages to improve the hygiene at water collection points. This was done with our visitors Clongowes Wood College from Ireland. Repairing the road to Tseanku village (also with Clongowes Wood College).
We are reclaiming a very deep donga at Haphathela. This work is on-going with our visitors from Dartmouth University in America. It takes a lot of tyres and stones to fill a donga
We have started a family-based keyhole food gardening project, ‘tsoha o iketsetse’ aimed at supporting families in their efforts to grow a nutritious and diverse range of vegetables. This project has extended into helping small-scale vegetable growers to buy seeds for income generation. Our series of workshops aimed at exploring issues related to food gardening are well attended and a Garden Committee has been formed to take advantage of Government schemes in future. A teaching/experimental garden is also attached to this project where new techniques and plants are experimented with. The whole project is run along permaculture principles as a means of maximising sustainability of food production, and care of the environment.
Participants on our 2-day permaculture workshop and a successful keyhole garden at Letlapeng village Two new pre-schools have been funded, one opened earlier this year and one is still under construction. A footbridge has been constructed for the children of Litsoekeleng, with funds raised through SOLMA. Road work continued at Moreneng village, also with the help of the Dartmouth students. We supported a number of individuals who approached the MDT for support in terms of income-generation projects. This included tanks and piping for agricultural activities, roof repair, shoe mending and uniform making. Choosing the next book to take home
Football activities for all 5 teams in the valley were supported through the funding of the English charity, KitAid and Julia Childs. Nets, cones, boots, balls and storage facilities were bought for the teams to share. Two teams have done particularly well in league matches in the last two years, one of which is the young women’s team.
We work hard to ensure that the second-hand clothing that comes in from the Malealea Lodge and other sources is distributed as quickly and fairly as possible to the most needy people in our valley. Our clothing hand-outs are arranged regularly, and people receive clothing in exchange for work in and around the Trust and local villages. We also distribute donated stationery items to the schools in our area, and medicines and related materials to the village-based health care workers through the Nurse in charge at the clinic.
The MDT hosted Kick4Life football workshops at 2 local primary schools in 2011 and 2012, and assisted the counselling and HIV testing organisation New Start in their efforts to reach young men in particular, to encourage HIV testing.
In 2011 we began work to try and bring together all the sporting and recreation activities in Malealea including local choirs and bands, the support of 5 football teams at development and league level for men and women.
In line with its policy of promoting holistic development of communities and families, the MDT hosted a number of community social events. In 2011 and 2012 these were:
1. Working with Katt Lissard’s Winter Summer Institute from New York which brought together drama students from the USA, South Africa, Lesotho National University, and our local drama group, the MDT hosted a drama festival in 2011, which focused on issues related to HIV/AIDS. 2. A Fun Walk/ Litter Walk, talent show and football festival in celebration of the King’s Birthday in July 2011 and July 2012.
Walking from HaTaniel village to the community hall at Makheteng on the King’s birthday, picking up litter
3. The celebration of Independence Day in September 2011 and 2012.
4. A celebration of World Aids Day on December 1st 2011 with a drama and music performance at the local clinic, and a Run4Life, Dance4Life, Play4Life series of physical activities at the community hall.
As Ntate Tello mentioned in his foreword, we often get requests for assistance from villages that we do not formally work with. This is because of their distance from us and our limitations in terms of staff and funding capacity. However, we do try to offer support when we can. So during 2011 the MDT also supported other needy schools in more remote areas, Jobo Primary, Sebelekoane Primary and High schools, Lebona R.C. Primary school, Lebona A.C.L. Primary School and Lekhache L.E.C. Primary School, through the distribution of clothing stationery and toys for children, as well as medicines for the local clinic.
As an organisation, we look forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead of us, and to working hand-in-hand with the Malealea communities and all our supporters.
Thank you
FINANCIAL STATEMENT MALEALEA DEVELOPMENT TRUST 2011-2012
Balance of monies in account on 1 April 2011 through 31 March 2012
Opening balance 1-4-2011 (A) R 363,098.42
SLF account R 533,574.24 Development monies received from Malealea Lodge R 131,954.52 Donations direct through the Bank R 705,355.29
Total funds received financial year: 11th April 2011 through to R 1,370,884.05 31st March 2012 (B) COSTS
1. Small projects: community hall, infrastructure R 184,116.81 development(toilets, roads), micro-development income generation projects, pre-schools 2 Overheads: Office administration, travel costs, postage, R 135,540.44 staff salaries. 3 HIV/AIDS and REFLECT learning circles: (SLF funded) R 424,162.87 4 Orphans and social care: multiple donors R 116,842.95 5 School development: pre-school teachers’ salaries, R 39,318.40 excluding scholarships 6 Environment: donga reclamation, tree planting, waste R 8,040.00 management 7 Water: harvesting and sanitation of water sources, water R 37,631.75 projects 8 Computer-related projects (Hatta) R 10,824.35 9 Clongowes Wood College, Ireland R 43,235.55 10 SOLMA (Netherlands) school development R 1,010.00 12 Banking charges R 14,337.10 14 Expenses: Lodge income R 119,940.28 TOTAL COSTS (C) R 1,133,999.50 Funds remaining in 2012 (B-C) (D) R 236,884.55 Funds remaining for 2011-2012 (A+D) (E) R 599,982.97 . Scholarship account Total income R331,820.03 Costs R 87,338.46 Scholarship Fund balance (2012-2013) (F) R244,481.57
Total Funds remaining 2012-2013 (E+F) R844,464.54
All account balances Current account (MDT) R490,852.01 Savings account R 86,959.46 Scholarship account R238,646.30 SLF account R 1,668.65 Total Savings R818,126.41