Our organisation is like a little ecosystem, with 180 staff members working across our various projects in education, health, farming, radio, and extracurricular activities. Each day is buzzing. So, what does a typical week look like?
Seedlings, Gardens, and Fresh Lunches
Masilime Ngqo!, our seedling nursery, stayed busy, selling beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, green pepper, lettuce, onion, spinach, and tomato seedlings to local families and schools. We also make and sell our famous pickled beetroot (make sure to stop by our nursery). Our BI garden harvests vegetables to use in the daily lunches for our ECD learners, high school learners and staff.
Primary Health Care in Our Community
Our health team kept busy with a packed week of activities
- Nomakhayas (home-based carers) completed:
- 268 screenings for TB, HIV, and pregnancy
- 86 family planning education sessions
- and 4 growth monitoring assessments
- Our Outreach Nurse conducted 100 consultations, focusing on TB, HIV, and non-communicable diseases, as well as a menstruation hygiene day at Bulungula College.
- At the Bulungula Health Point, our professional nurse had 99 consultations. She provided 43 immunisations, 30 deworming treatments, 33 vitamin A supplements, and administered 8 HIV tests.
Bulungula College
With exams in full swing, learners at Bulungula College were hard at work. Staff provided quiet study spaces, guidance, and healthy meals to help learners focus and perform their best during this critical time. A special highlight this week was celebrating the birthday of our dear Peacemaker, one of our original teachers. Staff and learners spoiled him with lots of birthday love!
Early Childhood Development Centres
Despite rainy weather early in the week, our five ECD centres were busy with strong attendance as we wrap up the year. Every child this week enjoyed two hot meals at school. Our teachers have weekly meetings to support one another with planning and trouble shooting any issues.
Bulungula Community Radio
This week, Bulungula Community Radio (BCR) continued to connect the community, streaming to over 100 surrounding villages and online listeners. Each week, they hold a production meeting to plan for the shows and interview and give updates about information.
Eh!Woza: Film Meets Health Education
Since the beginning of November, our partners from Eh!Woza have led a health-focused film workshop with our JSEP learners and DJs. Participants are learning how to use storytelling and filmmaking to communicate important health messages. The final films will be screened for our community this coming Tuesday, 19 November.
Tree Planting and Career Inspiration
This week, we also welcomed one of our funders, Anglo American, who met with our JSEP learners to share career advice and their own professional journeys. They also joined us in planting trees for our school beautification project to create a more inviting learning space.
Behind the Scenes: The People Who Make It Happen
None of this would be possible without our amazing behind-the-scenes support team
- Drivers who work tirelessly in the toughest of driving conditions, effortlessly navigating our wet and muddy gravel roads.
- Security and night guards who keep our facilities safe.
- Cleaning and maintenance staff work hard to keep everything running smoothly.
- Community Liason for being our amazing spokesperson at community meetings.
- Gardner and cooks for feeding us all, making almost 900 meals every day!
- Admin, data, and communications teams handle logistics, record-keeping, and the coordination that keeps all our projects moving forward.
