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Welcome to the Hlanganani Ngothando Organisation site. We hope you find everything you need and enjoy reading about what we do.
Hlanganani Ngothando Organisation is a Christian, Non-government, Non-Profit, Welfare organisation serving a wide variety of people groups including men, women, children, the elderly, sick, prisoners, school children, and mentally and physically disabled children, in and around KwaZulu Natal.
A Typical Day in the life of Hlanganani Ngothando Organisation
The day starts quite early for the two drivers, Sipho and Nkosinathi. They are on the road at 07.00 collecting the disabled children and many of the staff members who take care of the children at home. By 08.30 the official day starts and every member whether they are in maintenance or therapy, including all the children, attend the devotions for 10 to 15 min. This is the time Carol usually shares a little bit from the scriptures , any specific prayer requests are made and it is an opportunity to share any notices with all the staff. After that all disperse to their different stations.
Nomfundo gathers her little ones for crèche. This is an ECD (early childhood development) programme she runs with children from the community. These little ones who are able bodied and lively, mingle with the disabled children at break times and on the playground. They add a lovely balance and “normalness” (and lots of noise)to the atmosphere at the centre.
Breakfast arrives shortly afterwards. This is usually porridge, oatmeal, maltabella or pronutro. We mix peanut butter and also, lately, lovely milk donated by FarmGate into the porridge to aid weight gain. FarmGate is a new long life product that has recently hit the local market and so much nicer than the powdered milk we have been using.
When breakfast is over the children begin their different therapy regimes. Each child is so different in his need and level of disability so that each program has to be tailor made. Some will go off to the “classroom” with MaDlamini Mbelu and Ndlovu for some written work in the form of worksheets or fine motor games with blocks and lego and puzzles.
Others will be taken to the new therapy room where a child can spend up to 15 min a few times a day with two of the ladies doing exercises. This room is quiet and restful away from “the maddening crowd” where they receive very specialized one-on-one attention. Back in the hall several things will be happening at the same time. One therapist will help Thabani to roll over, others will encourage Wandile and Zotha to walk, another will be doing feel/touch therapy with our little blind Nokuthula, and so on. You will find Mary moving from one group to the other keeping a watchful eye on the different therapies and even inputting at the crèche with ideas for themes or art or other activities. If the weather is good the children are also taken outside to play and at 1 o’clock the disabled children all receive a cooked meal for lunch.
Tolani working with little Nokuthula
By then they are pretty tired and very hungry, so this time is one of winding down and getting ready to go home.
In the meantime Sipho, Mlu and Sphelele and I will get together, immediately after devotions, to meet in the “training” room getting ready for their day of community visitation taking primary health care and lifestyle counselling, as well as nutritional products and resources to those in need. First of all we will discuss any cases that are problematic from the day before, and then they will prepare for the visits of the day, getting case histories together and checking their boxes for the health products needed like ginger, vitamen c, brewers yeast etc. They will also collect and put together parcels of whatever resources we have available from donors such as clothes and food. Each of these young men has his own area to cover and they know the needs of each family on the client list. I will take turns in joining each one on the days that I go out with them.
This little boy and his sister loves Sipho’s visits
They are well trained and very capable and well known in the community. These young men will then leave in the Toyota for the morning and be back at about 2’clock in time to get ready to transport the children home again.
Carol Luyt our resident “mother” will be all over the place, making sure that things are running smoothly, like handing out the ingredients for the meals, phoning and faxing, sorting out the store room, writing thank you letters, dealing with staff issues, and a myriad other things.
This is a typical day at the HNO centre in Bulwer. Of course, typical is a bit of a generalization as there seems to be so many variations of typical. Sometimes we have visitors, or a child is sick and needs to be taken to the doctor, or it is pouring with rain and nobody gets to go outside, or the vehicle has broken down, or medicines needs to be fetched, or we get a visit from the Health department, or a child that has never walked takes a first step on her own and everybody is too excited to keep any sort of orderly routine, and so on.
In the meantime our two other “branches” are about their own business. 100 km away in Pietermaritzburg Andy and Xolani will be involved in a programme of prison and clinic visitation taking their well accepted (by the prison authorities) programme of hope which teaches about good lifestyle choices, and forgiveness . And 60 km in the opposite direction in Creighton, depending on the time of the year, a group of volunteers headed by Lynda and Gail will be busily packing and wrapping shoebox gifts to give out to Orphans and Vulnerable children in the Creighton rural areas. At this time you can imagine, it is major organized chaos as the dates for the parties, where the shoeboxes are given out, rapidly approaches.
All our love to those out there that support us in big and small ways, with funds, or prayers, or encouraging interest. (or all three )
Conny
Here are links to the HNO Constitution, NPO Regsitration Certificate and the HNO Organagram. Click on the link to download and read them if need be.
