Children of the Dawn - Protecting South African AIDS Orphans

“Teenagers’ Convention”:
30 teens from Qwaqwa, 40 teens from Mpumaze and 27 teens from Ermelo making it a total of 97 teens headed to the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve for our second teenagers’ convention that took place from the 5th to the 7th of October. This convention is part of Module 2 of My Future, My Responsibility financed by Bouygues Construction’s Foundation Terre Plurielle, Water Solutions Southern Africa,
Michelin Tyres South Africa, as well as the Accor Foundation. It is aimed at developing our teens’ presentation and public speaking skills as well as their ability to analyse and synthesise. Our Qwaqwa teens were very active and showed a vastly improved confidence in public speaking and English The first day, our Mpumaze group, who struggle a lot with English, was very quiet. But motivated by the achievements of their fellow Children of the Dawn, and boosted by the exciting activities in beautiful surroundings, they started to open up. The girls especially! They did well in the drama evening we had on Thursday night and they managed to pluck up the courage to speak clearly in front of everybody. Our team from Ermelo arrived without the required bedding; we almost had a heart attack. But the problem was soon sorted and the Ermelo teenagers proved very vocal and made many friends. Our teens really enjoyed their surroundings, the activities on offer, away from the routine of home life. By sponsoring a child, you can make sure he/she accesses opportunities like that!

“Extreme Sports Camp:”:
40 of our Bushbuckridge beneficiaries spent the month preparing for our second extreme sports camp as part of Module 4 of My Future, My Responsibility (funded by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund). The purpose of the extreme sports camp is to help our teens know that they can overcome their fears by participating in extreme sports. What they achieve is, knowing that that they can go tubing in a river or hiking for 3hours which can be gruelling. They learn the power of pushing through no matter how tough it looks at first! So 33 of them then headed to the Blyde Adventure Camp in Hoedpsruit on the 22 and 23rd of October. Despite an incident around an encounter with a snake, the teens had a ball, in beautiful surroundings and doing activities such as tubing and zip lining that showed them they can overcome fear. By sponsoring a child, you can make sure he/she accesses opportunities like that! Join us, sponsor!

“Destination Germany”:
“Destination Germany” or how to give a lifetime opportunity to an Ermelo teenager coming from an impoverished rural community! Sbusiso (R0901), accompanied by his caregiver Petrus, had a fabulous time at the Goethe Gymnasium (High School) Reichenbach, Germany, where he spent 10 days at the beginning of June 2011. He participated well in the high school activities, made great friends who invited him over, discovered regional treasures, and could see for himself the positive and negative sides of another society. He did not even get homesick! Sbusiso came back all fired up, with great hope for his future. Well done Sbusiso, you were the right candidate! Note that he had beaten 14 other contestants by producing a great quality motivation letter, as well as a school report and English mark. Another way Children of the Dawn supports rural orphaned and vulnerable children! If you wish to support our programmes, sponsor a child!

“The Kilimanjaro Dream Project”:
In 2008, we run a campaign whereby all our children wrote their dream on a piece of paper. The dreams were then physically carried all the way to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. On the back of this campaign, we are now busy making 12 dreams come true. These dreams will take place between September and December 2009 and will include: visits to Ushaka Marine World in Durban, attending an international cricket game, a guided tour of Bloemfontein, meeting a Generations actress, a visit to Robben Island, a ride in a captive hot air balloon. Subscribe to our newsletter to hear more about these dreams coming true in an exceptional manner!

“The Circus Project”:
Thanks to AMADE Mondiale, one of its main partners, Children of the Dawn is proud to announce that one if its beneficiaries, a child aged between 8 and 10, will attend the International Circus Festival in January 2010 in Monte-Carlo. The child will attend the shows in the "junior jury” box situated next to the Royal box (where the Prince and Princesses will sit) and will have to select his favourite circus show. The child will be chosen through a drawing competition that has been set up among Children of the Dawn. Subscribe to our newsletter to follow the story of our lucky winner!

“A new care programme”: Children of the Dawn is happy to announce that we started an 8th care programme in the Eastern Community of Masakala, next to Matatiele. We started our activities there on the 15th of September. We are currently looking for individual sponsors willing to support the Masakala children. Sponsor now.