Care givers can already see a positive change in the behaviour of some of the children that attended the trauma-informed holiday programme in July.
Social worker Venessa Padayachee told the volunteers who facilitated the programmes, at their certificate ceremony, that the children who took part are calmer and were seen implementing some of the conflict resolution skills they learnt.
“We are a community that is really in need of healing and you are part of that healing,” she said.
The programme, which was run in Westridge and Portland last month, is part of the Integrated Mitchell’s Plain Action Plan (Impact) steering committee’s trauma-informed holiday programme. Impact is a multi-stakeholder initiative that was born out of a community dialogue in response to the high levels of gang violence during October 2024.
Part of the initiative’s strategy is to find and help children who have unresolved trauma and are vulnerable to gangsterism.
Volunteers from the Portland Neighbourhood Watch, the province’s Yeboneers initiative and the community were trained to recognise signs of trauma in children and how to deal with it.
On Friday 1 August the facilitators received certificates for the training and participation.
“You gave your whole heart and that’s what made this programme a success,” Padayachee said. “We have started something and we have to expand to the entire Mitchell’s Plain, sector by sector. It’s going to take all of us to do it.”
Dedication
Bronwyn February, the Year Beyond Shukuma coach and mentor, told volunteers that the project had been a success because of their dedication.
“I’m proud of them for the impact that they had on the kids’ lives,” she said.
Shukuma volunteer Chané Pool said that the programme had an impact on her as a volunteer too.
“It’s sad to see the kids coming from such traumatic homes and they have been through so much,” she said.
She added that some of the children seemed starved for play and exhausted the volunteers by how much they wanted to engage.
Poole said that it was also a new experience for her to engage with younger children.
“You can learn a lot from younger children,” she said. “Because they always speak their minds.”
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