Teacher Training

Another one of C4L’s social innovations is its approach to care and support of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).  Many observers remember Orchard Camp, where over 1000 OVC over several years attended holiday camps designed for resilience building. However, psycho-social support camps did not rise up in isolation. 

Using a training manual called Teacher Counseling for OVC (generated by C4L), teachers were introduced to the special in-school challenges that these children face. They were encouraged to recruit parents under the oversight of their SGB, to institute Kids Clubs. These were essentially support groups for OVC. In social work, various kinds of solidarity groups are used to help a target group.

Peer Counselor training

Peer counselors were also trained an attached to the school nearest them, as volunteers. Nearer to the age of the OVC, they were able to assist with needs assessment and advocacy.

Parents from the school were encouraged to get involved with the fatherless. C4L also offered them training and attached them to Kids Clubs in the schools nearest to them.

So educators and community volunteers including youth came together to form a wrap-around solution for OVC…

Kids Clubs for OVC

These after-school support groups were attended by invitation. Teachers needed to identify and welcome them, remembering that the norm was a heavy stigmatization at community level. Most of the clubs meet weekly, some met more often. Not all children attending could attend resilience building camps, so the club leaders screened the OVC that need the camping experience most.

Resilience-building holiday camps

Using a baseline manual called “I Have a Future” and many activities such as sports, music, crafts and counseling, OVC were immersed in a caring environment. They were encouraged to make Memory Books and to keep attending the Kids Clubs.

C4L is exploring how to expand its camping programme to Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi and Steve Tshwete local municipalities, in 2025.