A Chance To Play Southern Africa (ACTPSA): Newsletter

May-July 2015 Edition

“Empowering children through PLAY”

To All Play Ambassadors

Its winter season again in Southern Africa, as temperatures starts to dropand so does the motivation for children to go outside and play. Winterpresents a whole variety of new challenges for children to overcome, bothphysically and cognitively. In Southern Africa the coldest places are someparts of Lesotho, Drakensberg, Free State, Eastern & Western Cape andsome cold days in Gauteng, where at times they experience snow fall. Toysand equipment, such as swings, slides and outdoor games that werereadily available may now be difficult to play as the ground is frozen andthe wind icy. Greater effort is required to keep children playing and weneed to encourage children to use their imagination and creativeness tofind alternatives or figure out ways to improvise with their favourite toysor games. We should encourage indoor games such as chess, drafts,snakes & ladders and card-games and not just leave children to be boredor sit in front of the TV & only play TV Games.

We are all looking forward to summer where more outdoor games will beplayed!!

Regards,

Regina Mandikonza

ACTPSA Coordinator

World Play Day : 28th May 2015

In May the coalition participated in World Play Day which was commemorated throughout the region with avariety of play activities. World Play Day is a day that is celebrated throughout the world by more than 30countries as a day where adults and children are encouraged to relax and interact with each other throughplaying in their own spaces such as at home, at school or even at one’s workplace.

The theme for this year was promoting the “Right To Safe Play Spaces” and the Regional Coordinating Office ofACTPSA urged members to celebrate World Play Day using Flash Mobs to raise awareness of World Play Day. (A

is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place and perform an unusual and seeminglypointless act for a brief time). We also encouraged communities to engage in play activities at their workplaces andin their homes on the 28th May, so World Play Day 2015 encompassed a lot of play activities which varied from flashmobs, to soccer tournaments, traditional games and modern games. We noted that in 2015 there was an increasein participation from the community (parents and caregivers) as compared to last year. Parents and communitiesare more cognisant of the importance of play and therefore they are supporting their children’s play activities. Thelocal government in Zimbabwe and Namibia recognized World Play Day and gave their support. More than 5000children celebrated World Play day this year.

More than 1000 children participated in World Play Day activitieswith schools and more ECD centres involved. There was mediacoverage on radio, newspapers and television commemorating thedays activities.

�At Hlakhaniphani Primary School more than 300 children had funparticipating in a variety of play activities in Soweto. Our playfacilitators (volunteers) took part in facilitating play on that day.

�Johannesburg Child Welfare hosted soccer tournaments andmore than 200 children participated with the support of theirparents and caregivers.

�At Park Station in Johannesburg ACTPSA Coalition Office co-organised a Flash Mob that took place in partnership withCotlands and Johannesburg Housing Company. A youth faith-based group from Soweto also contributed. Prior to this daya group of children from Hillbrow came together for manyafternoons to practice a routine under the guidance of LaurenKent a volunteer. The main purpose of the flash mob was to raiseawareness on the importance of play to travelers and passer-byes.

�In Port Elizabeth a Flash Mob was done by Oosterland and variousplay activities took place. Community members were also involvedin supporting children’s events; more than 500 childrenparticipated in World Play Day events.

World Play Day in South Africa

Playing with swings : Hlakhanipani PS- Soweto

Traditional Dance: Oosterland in PE

Flash Mob: Johannesburg Housing Company: Park Station

….World Play Day

Namibian World Play Day was marked by having play stations onhow to use T oy library and outdoor games. National EarlyChildhood Development’s (NECD) main focus was to educateparents and children on the use of the Toy Library which wasestablished in September last year and also wanted to raiseawareness on the importance of Toy Libraries. The Ministry ofGender, Equity and Child Welfare delivered a keynote speech onthe importance of play.

�Children with physical and mental challenges were involved, parents and children made toys from waste material and theyplayed with the toys. It was a day full of fun and Joy.

World Play Day was celebrated in style in Mozambique withtraditional games dominating.�At Kanimambo, the children engaged in cultural activities (sing-ing and dancing), sports games (volleyball and basketball) andfree play. The event involved 354 children and 43 adults.

�Wonasanana also celebrated the day by playing various gameswith children and more than 500 children were also reached.

World Play Day was celebrated by playing traditional and moderngames. Most of the common games were netball,dancing andsinging which children enjoyed. More than 1500 childrencelebrated World Play Day with the support of their parents.

Namibia

Mozambique

Zambia and Zimbabwe

Imagination Play: NECD Namibia

Playing Volleyball : Kanimambo- Mozambique

Playing Netball :CYC-Zambia

Dancing and singing : CAP -Zimbabwe

A Chance to Play Southern Africa participated in tdh Partners Meeting which was held in Port Elizabeth in June. Mostof South Africa and Namibia’s ACTPSA members were present. Topics such as fundraising in the corporate world,child and youth participated, children’s right to play, monitoring and evaluation were discussed.

During the meeting, we visited 2 ACTPSA members, Sophakhama and Ubunthu Education Trust. At Sophakhama thechildren have a good play programme. They have a play centre that is well equipped and have play facilitators whomost of them received A Chance to Play Basic Training. They were playing with hula hoops, and gave us a presentationof song & dance, poetry and tradition dances. Thandeka, one of the play facilitators from Sophakhama indicated thatthrough play they are educating the children to take on leadership roles, and learn about health (HIV) & basic hygiene

, their rights and many other things that equips them to become better adults. In a nutshell play enables children tointeract socially with each other and develop social skills.

A Chance to Play Southern Africa Annual General Meeting and Annual General Assembly

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on the 6th July attended by most of our members from theregions. We had representatives from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa. Thecore business of the AGM was to update our members on all the activities that have been taking placesince last year and the future plans of the organisation. The Chairperson, (Cynthia Morrison) shared thenarrative and the financial report with the members and the first audited financial statements waspresented by the Auditor.

During the AGM, the constitution was amended and agreed upon and the Board Members were electedwith, each country having a representative. The elected members are;

1. Chairperson Mxolisi Nyuswa KRCC-KZN-South Africa2. Vice Chairperson Moira Ngaru FOST Harare-Zimbabwe3. Treasurer Gcobani Zonke Ubuntu-Port Elizabeth –South Africa4. Secretary Michael Matanzima Sophakama – Port Elizabeth-South Africa5. Member *Cynthia Morrison ACTPSA -Gauteng -South Africa6. Member Edward Tembo CYC- Lusaka –Zambia7. Member Kingston Makoni WIMSA- Windhoek-Namibia8. Member Meck Sibanda CYVAT-Bulawayo-Zimbabwe9. Member Reuben Mohale Nkuzi-Limpopo-South Africa10. Member Rui Mutemba RDC- Maputo-Mozambique11. Member *Sharon Shevil ACTPSA-Gauteng-South Africa12. Member Simpande Haachizovu CYC-Lusaka-Zambia13. Member *Wiseman Sibiya CW-Gauteng-South Africa14. Member *Ursula Van Eck ACTPSA-Gauteng-South Africa

*Management Committee Representative

After the AGM the programme continued with several activities that gave insight as to how to strengthen theorganisation. A SWOT analysis was done which outlined the strength, weakness, threats and opportunitiesfor ACTPSA. A discussion on developing a Right to Play Concept Document with members discussing playcomponents to included in the document. A presentation was also given on Fundraising and this was veryvaluable as it is guiding ACTPSA to seriously and urgently look at their fundraising strategy.

The Xenophobic attacks that took place between April and Maycaused serious emotional distress and great psychological harm tochildren in South Africa. In a study done by Save the Children, 90%migrant children who participated stated that they did not feel safein the cities where they were residing including their play spaces. Thisincluded foreign national children as well as South African childrenwho had migrated internally from rural communities to cities. Thestudy clearly shows that the right to play for children had beenviolated. After several dialogues with communities Child RightsOrganisations are giving assistance to children in protecting theirrights and their right to play in safety.

A Chance to Play Southern Africa coordinating office would like to congratulatefrom Johannesburg Child Welfare for being chosen as the Southern

Africa representative for the International Working Group on the Right to Play. Hisrole would be to report on all the play activities taking place in Southern Africaduring delegate’s conferences.

As per Motion 6 adopted during the 2013 Delegates’ Conference of terre des hommesGermany the following decision was taken: The Right to Play becomes a focal themeof terre des hommes Germany for the next five years

Wiseman

Share with us your PLAY stories ……coalition@a-chance-to- play.org

I will be on Maternity Leave until January, Charity Rasmen will be keeping the office going together with the support ofManagement Committee and some volunteers until I return.

Website: www.a-chance-to-play.org.za Facebook: A Chance to Play Southern Africa Twitter: @AChanceToPlay