Dear All

Sorry for the lack of news, this has not been due to the fact that we have no news, it is down to the fact that we have been so busy that I have not had a chance to update it, but that is no excuse!

Stefan has returned, our first ever volunteer to return and is with us for a year, working alongside Paul as a programme co-ordinator which is great news for the organisation so please join me in welcoming him back.

Joining him yesterday was yet another German, Matthias, who is with us for six months, working as an events co-ordinator, amongst other things, so please join me in welcoming them.

This last week has seen another set of tournaments, with over 1200 kids participating in the last week, with another 6 tournaments scheduled for the next two weeks. So it was back to the old routine of early starts, slicing hundreds of rolls, making hot dogs, organising over excited kids into teams and controlling kids as you hand out their medals at the end of the day. The days are tiring but so worthwhile when you see the happiness it brings to the kids on their day of celebration at graduating from the programme!

So far we have had wins for South Korea, England and Ukraine (twice!), not sure it will be like that next year!

Until next week, have a good weekend and please feel free to add comments to the blog!

Oli

Dear All

Zanele has been working with us now for almost three months, based at our Centre of Excellence, assisting with life skills training at Clarence School and with a number of tasks around the office, including transalting our life skills materials into Zulu!

We thought we would get some insight from her:

My name is Zanele, a new recruit to WhizzKids. I am currently running our Life Skills programme at Clarence School in Durban.

As a young woman it interests me to be a part of this programme to teach our children who are still young. I have experienced a lot in my life so I would like to help them to achieve their goals without any disturbance. It is especially important for the young girls who are going into Grade 8 next year who will face a lot of new challenges at High School.

I think WhizzKids is a good programme in life to help the kids stay focused. Even their parents are not around with them but they must learn how to control themselves. It is up to me to tell them how we can achieve an HIV free generation!

Nisale kahle (stay well!)

Zanele