Manzini Youth Care is involved in the following projects. Click on each to find more information
- MYC Homes
- MYC Boys Choir
- Bursary Scheme
- Enjabulweni Bridging School
- BOSCO Centres (Bosco Youth Centre, Bosco Skills Centre, Bosco Study Centre)
- Likusasa Skills Centre
- Street Monitoring Research Team and Sandrini
- Social Outreach
- Hluma
Manzini Youth Care in Swaziland runs five residential homes providing care for approximately 130 street boys and AIDS orphans. In dealing with the growing number of boys appearing on our streets, our first step is to try and re-establish contact with any remaining family members. Ideally we would wish to see the boys back being cared for by their family and communities. Unfortunately in many of the situations we encounter, this is impossible. The next best thing is for us to care for them within our residential facilities. Our homes become their place of refuge, a place where they feel safe and cared for throughout their most vulnerable years. It removes them from the perils that exist on the streets. For over 20 years the MYC residential homes project has been seen to be highly successful and highly demanded. We wish to continue providing this service for as long as it is needed.
Our residential homes have expanded as the apparent need has grown.
1981: A German Lutheran group - "Kinda not hilfe" donated funds to purchase the first MYC boys home in Zakhele, and the Unitarian Services of Canada (USC) funded recurrent costs to run the home and a vehicle. USC continued to support MYC for approximately 10 years and assisted in funding the building of the Eswatini Jam factory, with a view to setting up an income-generating project to support MYC in the future.
1985 : MYC bought a site at Ngwane Park, to construct a second boys home with the assistance of the boys themselves and voluntary community labour, making their own blocks to save money. It was then offered to the Anglican Sisters of the Holy Paraclete as temporary residence for abused girls until 2002, when alternative premises were found. Ngwane Park has now returned to use as a MYC boy’s home.
1986: The former MITC premises at Enjabulweni were converted to a reception centre for street children, providing food and shelter, in the hope of gradually rehabilitating them. However, the reception centre concept rapidly evolved into a third residential home called Enjabulweni, for those boys who could not return to a family situation.
1992: The fourth home was purchased in Fairview (and is named after the area), funded by the Dutch organization, CEBEMO.
2002: A second dwelling purchased in Fairview was used to house increasing numbers of new boys on the street. This purpose of this dwelling was to serve as a ‘reception’ center where the children’s backgrounds were assessed, to initiate the rehabilitation process. In 2003 construction of a new home was initiated and by middle of 2005 enough funds were obtained to complete construction. The new centre now has two large dormitories, tv room, study room, dining room, bathrooms and kitchen.
It was felt that the care we provided for the boys must eventually extend past just the basics of food and shelter. Extra-curricular activities were considered a key component towards for fully developing the identity of the boys. One of the most successful has been the MYC Boys Choir and traditional Sibhaca Dance Group.
The Choir and Dance Group has been a part of the children’s homes for many years, first starting in the early ‘80’s. Through the choir, the boys have been are able to learn and participate in the music and dancing of Swazi culture. As this would usually be passed on in a family setting, the choir has been identified as an important way of ensuring the boys retain their Swazi heritage. The House Father of one of the boys homes, Mr Cedric Matsebula is the choir leader, and was also raised in the Manzini Youth Care boy’s homes. Over time, as the boys have practiced and developed a repertoire, opportunities have arisen to perform in front of audiences enabling them to share the beautiful songs and energetic Sibhaca dancing of Swazi culture. While regularly performing at community events, the boys enjoyed their most exciting appearance to date at the 2002 International HIV/AIDS Conference in Barcelona, with Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela among the audience. The boys combine youthful exuberance, energetic rhythms, moving harmonies and the colourful attire of the Swazi nation to give a memorable experience of what is possible for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve.
Name of choir
Manzini Youth Care Boys Choir
Number of boys
25 boys from MYC residential homes for street boys and AIDS orphans
First formed
1980
Type of performance
Traditional Swazi / African songs and dance performed in Swazi national attire
Purpose of choir
• Retain cultural traditions for children growing up outside the traditional Swazi family groups
• Provide positive, creative recreational activities
• Exposure to HIV/AIDS message through performance
• Participation in community events
If you were to visit the peri-urban areas of Manzini during school hours on a weekday, you would notice large numbers of school age children playing around their homesteads. They are not at school. Most have never been to school. Most will never get the opportunity to learn even basic reading and writing. Each year thousands of children in Swaziland are denied access to education due to poverty. The education system in Swaziland makes schooling out of reach for most poor families, or at best they can afford to send one or two children to school (often boys) leaving 3 or 4 younger siblings uneducated. Again, this education is only to primary school level. There is a shortage of schools, quality teachers and lack of strategic management at Government level. The struggle to gain even basic education in literacy and numeracy is heartbreaking.
In the early ‘80’s Manzini Youth Care established a bursary scheme in response to the many requests for assistance with school fees. Each year hundreds of Mothers and Gogos come to the MYC office around November to apply for a bursary. To ensure assistance is given to the neediest families, Manzini Youth Care has developed an assessment process which involves a preliminary screening, home visit and interview to determine the family’s circumstances. The assessment criteria on a home visit include observation and discussion of the family background and circumstances. The condition of the home, energy and water source, number of children, income, observations of the presence of food and sickness are noted.
The criteria for assistance has been established to target poor primary aged school children, living and schooling in the Manzini area and is available for two children per family. Beginning in November, Mothers and Gogos (Grandmothers) come to the MYC office to apply - often there over fifty people lining up outside our door during this period. An initial brief interview determines eligibility and the applicants are asked to return on a set date for a home visit and more detailed interview. For approximately 5 weeks, two assessment teams visit each home with the applicant to evaluate the family’s situation. Each morning the eight or so applicants who have been scheduled for that date arrive at the office, and are allocated to an assessment team. They hop in the bakkie (open back vehicle) and head off to the peri-urban areas to visit the homes. The term “Peri-urban” is a sanitized term for slums. The people living in these areas have no electricity, water is fetched from a community tap or river. The homes are either one-room mud and stick or cinder block constructions accommodating a family of 4 or 5 children. Many are one-parent families and it is clear that not all have access to daily food. It is a long, hard day for everyone. It is the middle of the hot Swazi summer, the rains have washed out many of the narrow dirt roads between the homesteads making it hard going for the vehicle and the women in the bakkies. Small babies accompany mothers. The teams set off mid morning and the women direct the teams to their home one by one, the others waiting in the bakkie until the last home is visited late in the afternoon. Each team completes about 6 to 8 visits per day. Applicants are given a rating of A (full school fees), B (half fees) or C (less than half) according to the level of assistance the assessment team determine. This is recorded on the interview form and returned to the office to guide the cheque payment in January.. It is an emotionally challenging process for the assessment teams, as many applicants are eligible for an “A” rating, but receive “B” to ensure the limited funding is distributed as widely as possible. Applicants return to the office in January with an official school deposit slip as proof of enrolment for the child, and a cheque is made directly to the school. The family provide the balance, which is often paid over the remainder of the year.
Even when a family receives help to pay school fees, their financial struggle to provide text books, stationery, uniforms and food will take most of their yearly income. Although costs differ between schools and between grades, it would be a good guide to estimate the average school fee for a primary school child at about R600. Add at least another R600 for books and uniforms. The average income for families applying for a bursary is about R200 – 300 per month. With all education costs taken care of, a child is still likely to sit in class with a hungry tummy. If families have received previous assistance with MYC their name is checked against the Bursary Register and assistance is given based on their assessment category. The level of poverty is highly unlikely to change from year to year, except to worsen.
| Assistance | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Number of children | 103 | 253 | 535 | 735 | 641 | 800 |
The bursary programme has grown over the years, as has the need. Now over 800 children receive full or partial bursaries to attend school. Where possible we do expect the families to contribute something towards to fees to remove that complete dependence so often a part of development initiatives.
In 2006 we were pleased to welcome the Solon Foundation of Switzerland as a bursary partner. Solon has long supported bursary programmes in Southern Africa, generally supporting the children right through their education journey. MYC hopes to have a long and fruitful relationship with Solon.
Today Enjabulweni Bridging School offers free primary education to 180 children from around Manzini, in addition to the 35 boys living at Enjabulweni Home This school welcomes those children whom had never attended primary school, or been forced to drop out due to poverty, into an encouraging learning environment and, where appropriate, fast tracks them through the primary school education system. Many of these children felt stigmatised in mainstream primary schools due to them often being significantly older than their classmates. They also tended to learn at a quicker rate and yet were restricted to progressing through the grades, one grade at a time. In 2004 an additional classroom was added to the school to meet the demand for places within the school.
BOSCO CENTRES :: Building the future: Skills, Study and Recreation
1988: MYC began a massive building project constructing the Bosco Skills Centre, the Bosco Study Centre and the Bosco Recreational Centre, (named after St John Bosco founder of the Catholic Salesian order) to provide vital training, education and recreation venues and resources for the youth of Manzini.
The Bosco Youth Centre
The Bosco Skills Centre
The Bosco Skills Centre was built to provide workshops for a variety of trades people who then take 3 young people for a two year traineeship, in exchange for minimal rent. The current variety of trades participating in this scheme include carpentry, welding, spray painting, hairdressers, cabinet making, sign writing, mechanics, panel beating, upholstery, bakery and sewing. In addition to trade skills, the trainees attend Enterprise classes in preparation for commercial life.
The Bosco Study Centre
In 1997 a separate pilot scheme for Life Skills Training was funded and supported by UNICEF in response to a need to deal with a group of long-term residents of MYC who seemed not to be able to break their dependence on the system and make a life of their own. Successful results inspired a further six month programme which began in January 1998. Areas included communication, problem solving, health and personal development, AIDS/STD's awareness, alcohol/drug abuse, women’s issues, safe sex/pregnancy, crime, personal hygiene/nutrition, emotions and religion. The goal of this programme was to impart the confidence and skills necessary for participants to get a job, increase self-esteem and lessen their dependency on stimulant abuse. The success of the life skills subjects inspired the idea to include it as a compulsory unit in the Likusasa curriculum.
Starting with just a few teachers, Likusasa has expanded to 11 staff and now includes young men. 95 students completed their chosen course in 2002, which is an impressive increase from 45 students in 2000. Courses are offered in 3 clusters covering trade subjects (welding, electrical, woodwork), hospitality/education subjects (sewing, catering, preschool) and administrative subjects (accounts, business studies, computing). As a result of their training in 2002, 11 graduates have gone on to further study with Manzini Industrial Training Centre this year and one graduate opened her own Pre-school Centre. These successes highlight the newfound confidence and skills Likusasa instills in their students. The crèche received a wonderful gift from the Likusasa students and boys from the Enjabulweni Home late last year when they combined efforts to build a much needed playground equipped with swings, climbing gym and other play equipment for the children.
Some of our ambitious projects take a sustained effort over several years until they achieve completion. One such project is the Kings Workshop Estate which began in 2002. It will accommodate 40 small workshops and a business training unit. The concept is to provide small workshops as incubation or starter units for new trainees, who would spend two years there gaining experience in running their own business. They would also have further tuition in business skills. This project aims to assist the trainees coming out of the Bosco Skills Centre as well as those completing the Likusasa Trade Skills Training programme. Approximately E300,000 has already been secured from the EU, however it is expected to cost approximately one million Emalangeni ($140,000 US) in total. Construction on this site has continued with on-going funding from various sources and should be operational by early 2006.
Street Monitoring Research Team and Sandrini
A MYC street research team has been for the past few years to establish an early intervention strategy to reach street children as early as possible when they arrive on the streets, to prevent them from becoming entrenched in street culture. Every Thursday night the two MYC social workers head out to the ----
Manzini Youth Care would like to establish a transitory learning environment for street children residing temporarily within the Sikhunyana Assessment home. Through having the boys attend a morning of structured learning each day, they will more easily slip back into the formal primary school education system when back at home, or within residential care. Such schooling will minimise regression in their knowledge and ability to learn as well as give structure to their days whilst in Manzini. This transitional school would offer traditional subjects as well as practical skills based learning, HIV/Aids education and life skills education. We would like the learning environment to be dynamic and include such activities as music and drama therapy.
1) Ensure a progression of the boys knowledge base so as to more easily reintroduce them back into the formal primary education system
2) Teach the children about discipline, boundaries, respect and rules whilst in the assessment phase
3) Fill the vast amount of idle time experienced by the boys, thereby minimising their ability to engage in anti-social behaviours
4) Through encouragement, make the learning process an enjoyable activity, as well as boost self esteem and build the boys up as people
Social Outreach
Manzini Youth Care established partnerships with local communities experiencing severe poverty and food shortages due to drought and declining economic conditions. Grass roots initiatives are sought from the communities themselves. MYC linked with Manzini City Council to provide food assistance to the peri-urban area of Skom on the outskirts of Manzini. MYC surveyed Skom residents to assess the needs of the community, then took responsibility for distributing food packages supplied by the Council. MYC is also helping to educate Skom children who have never attended school through enrolling them in our Enjabulweni Bridging School. Similarly, a food distribution program was initiated with a second peri-urban community of Moneni. The Moneni Community group initiated a comprehensive survey of their community and is now seeking funds to implement further sustainable programs for the long-term benefit of their community. Manzini Youth Care is contributing 150 bags of Mealy and soup mix per month to 300 Moneni families living in poverty. In this community currently 47% of households earn below E450 per month and 50% must walk for 10 minutes or more to the nearest source of water (a polluted river). Moneni hope to attract funding for the installation of bore holes and hand pumps, pit latrines, AIDS awareness and life skills training, School fee assistance and ongoing funding for the food program. MYC is able to provide administrative help and guidance with the writing of funding applications, in addition to providing partial school fee assistance for 170 Moneni Primary School Children. During 2005, as drought and HIV/AIDS continues to increase the trend of rural migration to peri-urban settlements on the city fringes, MYC has continued to work with other poor communities, focusing on food distribution programs and training Community Health workers for home-based palliative care programs.
HLUMA (meaning growth) is a program designed to provide both employment, through income generating projects, as well as psychosocial support for the older male youth formerly of Manzini Youth Care. It was established in February 2006 with an initial intake of 8 young men, and has now expanded to employ 12 older youth. The project is ongoing, with the intention of becoming self-sustaining and with plans to further expand reaching its capacity of 24 young men in 2007.
Despite the myriad of successful activities and programs conducted by MYC to feed, clothe, house, educate and train the most disadvantaged young people in Manzini, it has consistently been recognized that a gap in the provision of its programs has been a service specifically targeting the most extremely marginalized older youth – those young men (18 to 26 years) who have come through the early MYC system of care and welfare support, but who, have somehow not been reached or have been unable to respond to the care and support provided, or have managed to fall through the ‘gaps’ of the services already provided. These young men are generally lacking in most basic life skills and are unable to look after and maintain themselves, often finding themselves back living on the streets, while many of them have drug and alcohol related issues and many have spent time in juvenile detention centers and prisons.
To meet the needs of this large group of older male youth, MYC has established HLUMA, to provide both individual psychosocial support and life skills education, as well as practical on the job training in a variety of basic work skills. The ultimate goal of Hluma is to produce independent, self sufficient and employable members of Swazi society. Overall the broader goals and objectives of the project are:
- To provide psychosocial support and life skills training in order for each young man to become an independent and self sufficient member of society, and
- To provide a variety of basic work skills during the one year of paid employment in order for each individual to become employable, to gain employment or to become self employed
For further information on any of these projects, please contact MANZINI YOUTH CARE
Manzini Youth Care
PO Box 3700 , Manzini , Swaziland | Office 2, Bosco Study Centre, Southern Distributor Road Manzini , Swaziland
Phone (+9268) 505 6963 | Email bosco@swazi.net or sdbosco@swazi.net
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