BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF SOUTH AFRICA (BBBSSA) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping South African children and youth at risk between the ages of 6 -18 years. It is a mentoring programme that matches youth in need with carefully selected and trained adult volunteers in one-to-one relationships that help them maximize their potential.
BBBSSA operates in Cape Town, Gauteng, Pretoria and Durban, Pietermaritzburg. BBBSSA runs the following programmes at each branch: Schools Programme, Children’s Home Programme, and Diversion Programme for youth in conflict with the law and a Programme in support of those affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.
By volunteering just one hour a week, a “Big” can forever influence the life of a “Little”. By helping to maximise his or her potential, the Big Brother or Big Sister is giving the child hope for a better future.
Here are some ideas from BBBSSA for things you can do with a child with whom you have volunteered to spend time:
Visit the zoo
Build a sandcastle
Paint with your fingers or toes
Have a picnic outside
Paint your face
Go sea shell hunting whilst following your footsteps in the sand
Build artworks out of recycled materials
Go on a treasure hunt
Touch and feed animals at an animal farm
Make your own flower or veggie garden at home
Look for and learn about birds, plants and trees in your garden / school yard
Dig for worms and go fishing
Wash your car
Make potato stamps and create wall paper / paper mache
Paint a plate or mug
Ride a bike
Outings to the library
Playing board games
Assist with homework
Research and talk about famous people who used their abilities to get ahead
Make greeting, get well or holiday cards to give to other people
Interest the mentee in games, maths and different books each week
Look at magazines for students with low reading levels; they offer many things to talk about and help the student with self-expression
Share your own life experiences
Tell the mentee about your work and how you reached this position
Remember the mentee with a card or a little cake on his or her birthday
Just talk together for an hour
Attend the holiday concert or other school activities
Share your school experiences when you were the same age
If a student has trouble sitting still, let him or her work off energy by running in a park for the first half-hour of the meeting, then playing a board or computer game together for the second half-hour
Bring a proverb a week to discuss
Organise construction paper, scissors, glue, and magazines with lots of pictures, and have the student create a collage about himself or herself
Read the newspaper together
Play a musical instrument or learn one together
Colour in
Work on the computer at school
Play sports or discuss your favourites
Play chess and/or games; stress following rules and good sportsmanship
Write stories together
Fly a kite
Walk outside to the playground or sit under a tree
Build a model
Plan an activity with another mentor and mentee
Listen, listen, and listen
Just be a friend
Look throguh a photo album and share pictures of family, house and pets
Discuss favourite hobbies
Buy your mentee a small journal or notebook; write down thoughts and feelings during the week and share them when you see each other
This featured Article is brought to you by Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Africa
To make a difference one by one by enabling creative relationships between a caring role model and a child to be established through the process of friendship.
One of the main hurdles facing ECD in South Africa concerns children’s access to good ECD services. Early Childhood Development (ECD) refers to the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of children aged birth to nine years, both within and outside the family.
When we are born, we know what we want straight away. We know we want a nice hug and love from the people we are close to and we know we don’t want to stay hungry. We know that we want all of this from our family and friends.
But what we want isn’t always what we get. And that is why it is important that you learn from a young age, what your rights and responsibilities are.
Children live in the NOW and we can either be there with them or miss out. Worse, we can unintentionally pull them out of the now which leaves them feeling nowhere at all.
Some babies are sleepers and some seem never to close an eye for longer than it takes to get started to do something else. Some babies appear impervious to much that goes on around them and others are sensitive to every piece of stimulus that comes anywhere near. When older, some babies venture forth eagerly and others are glued to your lap for years.
The pack provides the transition from all social interactions taking place with the parents or parental figures, towards relationships which are independent of the parents altogether.
Most teenagers need to move in a pack. What many parents do not understand however, is that the pack cannot survive in the wild without the adults - at all times - setting up the boundaries within which their young can safely roam.
In honour of International Children’s Day – June 1st.
How often do any of us stop to think that doing the job of a parent is how children become adults who protect and take care of their own children in their turn?
Sometimes it can feel as if children are the boss and we parents dance to their tune.
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