News -

More than 1000 hills!!

By Wilma Lamberti

The 1000 Hills Community Helpers Centre in Fredville, Inchanga is situated in the Valley of 1000 Hills in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal. The centre was founded by Dawn Leppan and together with the staff, sponsors and supporters, its vision is to improve the lives of children and adults infected and affected by HIV AIDS as well as by other chronic diseases.  The centre consists of a   clinic which provides counseling and support groups, a nutritional feeding scheme, a pre-school, crèche and a training centre.

Says Wilma Lamberti, Facilitator at the centre “Our centre is truly a place of compassion where we are only too aware that children are our future. Our daily mantra is ‘help them to help themselves’.”
In addition an Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) centre was opened in 2008 and has been registered as an IEB examination centre. The ABET centre assists adults from the impoverished community to improve their English language skills.

“We were extremely fortunate to receive seven computers as a donation and to complete the picture we were overjoyed when Media Works, a Johannesburg-based national literary specialist, donated all the software we needed to assist our learners in improving their proficiency in English. The Media Works material is nothing short of amazing” continues Lamberti.

Media Works also assisted in training four facilitators for the centre and offers IT support on an ongoing basis. They guide the facilitators on how to conduct lessons and have donated marking memorandums for the learners’ workbooks. The facilitator meets with the learners once a week for an hour to re-inforce concepts and make any necessary corrections. The material is clearly set out in terms of lesson outcomes, resources that the facilitator will need to prepare, lesson plans and assessment checklists.

“The material is simple to use and is extremely relevant to the lives of the learners.”

“A computer can be quite daunting to someone who has never used one before. For example, one of the learners,  Lindiwe’s hand physically shook as she placed it on the mouse. Her facilitator gently covered Lindiwe’s hand with hers and guided her, and before long she was mistress of the mouse.”

The programme is extremely efficient - after an oral lesson, instruction on the computer, andreinforcement in their workbooks, the improved English skills of the learners are almost tangible.
Eight learners have sat for the exams, and the results have been pleasing. The centre was especially delighted for Delisile Hlengwa and Prudence Miya who both achieved merits.

There are challenges, one of which is to keep learners in the system. Most of them come from impoverished, troubled backgrounds and at times learning has to be placed on the back burner. This is  understandable when one considers that they are faced with a desperate need to earn money to support their families.

“Despite small problems we love helping the community of the valley to help themselves by teaching them communication skills.  . Learners have the opportunity to write the official IEB (Independent Examinations Board) exams and they receive a certificate if they pass.  This certificate is of great value for prospective employers as it assures them of the prospective candidates’ proficiency in terms of speaking, reading, writing and comprehension English skills.