Monday 10th April saw twenty children assembling in the Butterfly Centre in Stanford – early, as usual, with their community facilitator Vuyokasi Siza and helper Patricia. It was the third in our CBN training workshops in Stanford to complete Vuyo’s inauguration as a fully-fledged CBN Workshop Hero. She passed with flying colours. This means that […]
Breakthrough in Stanford! Read More »
To celebrate the end of the school holidays, we will be holding a workshop at Buterfly Centre at 10.30 on Monday 9th. The theme will be My House – my imagination!
Stanford Workshop Monday 9 April Read More »
On 17 February, CBN held the second of a new scheme of training workshops. This is the extension of our Stanford workshops that includes children from Die Kop and was facilitated by Vuyo Siza with Lesley observing. Eighteen children attended and CBN organised transport for those who came from die Kop. This settlement is 6
It comes from within Read More »
It has always been a dream to find, and train, people from within the communities we work with. Vuyo Siza is just such a person. She already works at Butterfly Centre – a wonderful school for children with special needs – and has assisted with many workshops over the last two years. Now she has
Training Workshop for Vuyokazi Siza Read More »
The first in a series of workshops to be given by Blaq Pearl (Janine van Rooi) and colleagues in Mitchell’s Plain. These workshops will be held in cooperation with community organization NEAD. A long-standing dream has always been to take the experience CBN has gained through workshops, package that in toolboxes full of exciting ideas,
It Begins – CBN’s outreach to Mitchell’s Plain Read More »
The 16th February saw the first of what we hope will be a regular story session in Stanford with Vuyokazi Siza as workshop leader. This is part of CBN’s new outreach project where we will be establishing satellite workshops in areas where children really need us. This week we looked at the 100th anniversary of
Friday Stories a Mandela theme Read More »
There will be a short workshop on Friday afternoon, 2.30 for snacks, 3.00 workshop begins at Butterfly Centre where Lesley will focus on the message to children of Nelson Mandela in this the hundredth anniversary of his birth. We will also be touching on the implications of social media and how children today have to
Friday-afternoon workshop February 16: Stanford Read More »
It’s here! The new and improved toolbox will hit the streets later this month. When we began this project three years ago, we had absolutely no idea of how much work they would be. That’s the trouble with trying to invent something new … it just goes on and on. In this case, on and
‘I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. Life is no “brief candle” for me.
Shine on! A quote from our patron – Gcina Mhlophe Read More »
A summary of what we do and how we do it. Where did we come from? • CBN started in 2012 working with Red Hill informal settlement • Founders Gcina Mhlophe, Lesley Beake and Sindiwe Magona • Four years working with children in Cederberg region.Four years in Overstrand region. Where are we now? • Expanding.
Children’s Book Network (CBN) in a nutshell: FAQ Read More »
On a Saturday morning a bit of story-telling always comes in handy and some of our stalwart Stanford CBN children met to celebrate the holidays and listen to An African Mother Christmas by Gcina Mhlophe and Star Mother’s youngest child by Louise Moeri. Not only was glitter allowed (encouraged, even) but cake was supplied. Nobody
Holiday workshop with a festive theme Read More »
On Saturday 16th December CBN will be having a special story morning – with books that reflect the spirit of generosity and caring – and Africa. We will be reading from The Star Mother’s Youngest Child, a beautiful American story by Louise Moeri and An African Mother Christmas, by Gcina Mhlophe. There will be a
Holiday Story Morning in Stanford Read More »
‘The literacy crisis in South Africa is far worse than previously thought, with 78% of Grade 4 learners unable to read, according to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report released on Tuesday.’ (5 December 2017) For more of the facts and figures, please go to. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/12/05/south-african-learners-worst-at-reading-in-world-shows-international-study_a_23297219/?utm_hp_ref=za-homepage Do we agree? Yes. This is
No! No! This can’t be true … but it is. Read More »
Any organization needs a firm hand on the paperwork and CBN has been doubly fortunate to have Chantel looking after ours. She has devotedly steered us through the perils of registering as an NPO, registering for tax exemption and obtaining a clean audit on four years of accounts from SARS. These, of course, are major
Introducing CBN Friends: Chantel Oosthuysen Read More »
If you step out of Cape Town airport with your eyes open it won’t be long before you start to notice our children. We have a lot of them – 18.5 million of them at the last census in 2014. (53.7 million total population in 2014.) You will see them in the terminal, of course,
Of all the children we have worked with, the ones we met on Wednesday touched us most deeply. We forget, sometimes as adults who read, how much we use books to escape. When times are hard, we reach for a book. Books and stories give us another place to go when the place we are
CBN Workshop at Red Cross Children’s Hospital School Read More »
A library is … maybe the best place in the world to be locked in by mistake! Here are some other ideas by poet Nikki Giovanni a Library Is: a place to be free to be in space to be in cave times to be a cook to be a crook to be in love
A LIBRARY by Nikki Giovanni Read More »
On Saturday 28th October CBN continued with the theme of personal identity and home. Books discussed included stories of place and landscape as well as addressing the problem of communication and language. The workshop was facillitated by Primrose Mrwebi, while Nayesha Makwarimba ably assisted and Lesley Beake handled the stories and reading. Ellen Osman brought
Number four in the series of workshops with Stanford children about their personal heritage. We began with landscape of their environment, and maps. That activity will continue – but we are also looking at their own and their family stories. Who ARE our children? Many thanks to Butterfly Centre for the use of their premises.
On Friday 13th October, CBN delivered the third of our prototype reading toolboxes to Red Cross at a 2-hour workshop attended by members of Rotary Newlands (who donated the toolbox) and the principal and members of the staff of the hospital school, which does vital work in keeping hospitalised children interested and distracted. It’s challenging
Toolbox handover: Red Cross Hospital Children’s School Read More »
