Case Study 13: Through my eyes Stories from RSS (2012)

THROUGH MY EYES Case Study Number 13

Stories from Refugee Social Services Home-Based Child Care Program

www.oxfam.org.au

Credits Title >

Case Study Number 13 Through my eyes: Stories from Refugee Social Services Home-Based Child Care Program

Published >

August 2012 by Oxfam

Author >

Theresa Edlmann

Contact Details >

Oxfam House 56 Clark Road Glenwood Durban 4001 South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 31 201 0865 infosouthafrica@oxfam.org.au

Volunteer Editor > Gladys Ryan Design >

LUMO (www.lumo.co.za)

Copyright >

Oxfam gives permission for excerpts from this book to be photocopied or reproduced provided that the source is clearly and properly acknowledged.

Disclaimer >

The views in this publication are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of Oxfam or any funding agency. The interview and review process was participatory and consent around content and inclusion of personal information was given to Oxfam by interviewees.

Matthew Phillips Policy and Community Engagement Coordinator - Africa Unit Oxfam Australia 132 Leicester Street Carlton VIC 3053 Australia Tel: +61 (0) 39 289 9444 www.oxfam.org.au

1

contents Through my eyes

04

In Context

06

About Refugee Social Services

08

A long journey

10

Home based child care program

12

A beautiful journey

14

An integrated approach

16

Outlining the program

17

Orientation and training

18

“Just go to RSS and they can take you�

20

From Congo to South Africa

22

This is my business

24

Providing ongoing support

25

Establishing a child care centre

26

Celebrating the shifts

27

Acknowledging the challenges

28

Harnessing the strengths & recognising the opportunities

30

Closing reflections

34

List of sources

36

3

Through my eyes Naomi’s 1 Story

1. This is a pseudonym and not the carer’s real name.

4

I come from DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). I was working for a mining company, teaching French at a primary school. My first husband was an engineer in mining. We both worked for the same company.

In 1990 there was again a war between two tribes. They chased us from their province, took our goods. My husband died in the hostilities, because he was sick. I left for another province with my five children. One of my twins died of meningitis. Before my first husband died, I buried three children; all boys.

I found a job as a primary school teacher in another mining company. Meanwhile I met a man who I married. We have three children.

In my country I was the vice president of a trade union. But this trade union was connected to an opposition political party and things were really bad. My friends warned me to leave. Two months before I left, two of my friends disappeared and they found the corpses in the cemetery.

One of my friends said “Naomi, it is time. If you have enough money, leave, leave, leave.” We sold all our goods and we got enough money. They say in South Africa it is nice, we can go there. We left without my husband! I could only get passports for me and the children.

We stayed in Joburg two months, but it was very hard for me.

Then we decided to stay in Durban because of the nice weather.

One day I met a young man from Congo who knew me. He was in Durban but was going back to Congo. I gave him the name of my cousin (where my husband was) and asked him to give my phone number to my husband. When I heard my husband’s voice, I cried. It took him one year to come here.

In 2007, someone spoke to me about RSS. I came here and received help. RSS paid my rent three or four times and the transport for my kids. They helped me to achieve two trainings, to open a crèche in my house and to be a peer educator in HIV and AIDS in my community.

Someone asked me why I don’t go back to my country. We can do, but we lost everything. Until now there is no responsible government. The same people who wanted to kill us are there.

In South Africa some people don’t like us. They say we come here to steal their jobs, their houses, their wives. My husband was even kidnapped. The kidnappers wanted to kill him. They threw him out the vehicle in the night. When I travel on the taxi I am silent; I can’t speak. I can’t dress like a woman of DRC in public— it is not safe.

The one thing that is important for me is that my kids love to go to school. The teacher of my last born is very nice. I’m lucky because my kids are very clever. That’s why I don’t want to change things for them.

The crèche is helpful for me. The children used to pay R300 per month and they bring their own food. There are no other children now and the South African children are in other crèches. The area where I am living has many crèches. Maybe I can find more children in January. Meantime, I have a garden where I plant many vegetables.

(Naomi is a Home-Based Child Carer)

5

In Context South Africa is estimated to have hosted over 300 000 refugees and asylum seekers in the years leading up to 2010. In 2010 it received 25% of all official asylum requests registered worldwide; more than any other country.2 These are people who have fled from homes and communities due to violent conflict and persecution in their home countries.

South African policy on refugees is progressive, with a commitment that people should not be housed in camps but rather integrated into South African society. This does not always translate into meaningful support though, and refugees are often left with no means of starting up their new lives and no documentation or clear status.

On the other side, they face the challenge of grappling with an unfamiliar environment in South Africa, as well as the sudden and often traumatic loss of personal and social support systems, and the related psychological, social, economic and educational impacts of these losses. Added to this, their experiences of South Africa can be very mixed; the process of registering as a refugee is often complex and time consuming, and they face the ongoing risk of overt and indirect xenophobia.

“We deal with around 1500 cases a month,” says Yasmin Rajah of Refugee Social Services, attesting to the huge number of refugees and asylum seekers in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, many of whom live in overcrowded apartments in high-rise buildings. Here they must contend with unsafe environments, particularly for children; challenges around water and sanitation; exploitation by slum lords and high levels of crime.

Adults, especially women, struggle to find employment other than guarding vehicles, vending on the streets, informal hairdressing, running barber shops out of tents or providing street telephone rental services. Children are especially vulnerable because adults cannot afford to provide adequate child care and protection.

For the time being … physical violence against refugees (such as we saw in 2008) may be dormant, but the more nuanced forms of harm against refugees are clearly flourishing. The economic exploitation, the social exclusion, the institutional practices that hamper their integration into the local communities and stop them living a meaningful existence in their country of asylum are the forms of xenophobia that have sadly gone unnoticed and even unquestioned.

It is in this context that Refugee Social Services, a Durban-based NGO, has developed and piloted a model of providing homebased child care that enables the refugee women giving this care to generate a small but sustainable income; and children who would otherwise have been excluded and overlooked to get the care they need. The aim of this case study is to share RSS’s experiences and approach so that others can learn from them and possibly develop similar approaches and models in their own contexts.

Fatima Khan, “Can We Beat Xenophobia?” UCT News 2009 p. 32

2. Source: http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article641610.ece/SA-fields-worlds-highest-number-of-asylum-requests

6

PHOTO © Y RAJAH | Oxfam

7

About Refugee Social Services Refugee Social Services (RSS) is an NGO based in Durban and is the implementing partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The organisation provides social services to the most vulnerable amongst the refugee communities. RSS staff are trained to identify and assess particular challenges and to provide relevant referrals and assistance. They do this in a holistic manner, viewing each person in her entirety: her family circumstances; her psychological, emotional and physical condition; and her support and networks.

RSS prioritizes the following groups: •

• • • •

children, especially unaccompanied and separated minors and orphans; the elderly; chronically ill and disabled people; single-parent households; newcomers to the country.

RSS became an independent NGO in 2008, having initially been established as a refugee support program under the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in 2001. Over the years RSS has developed an integrated system of support, with the Homebased Child Care Program being one component of the services they offer.

RSS offers a range of services to the refugee community in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. As a starting point, the organisation holds briefing sessions every Monday and

8

Wednesday morning in Durban and Pietermaritzburg respectively. Any potential client who comes to the organisation is invited to one of these sessions in which RSS staff hold an open discussion, providing information on issues such as how to apply to the South African Department of Home Affairs for refugee status; what to do if the Department of Home Affairs application is rejected; how to renew an asylum seeker permit; what a refugee’s rights are in South Africa; and how to become a client of RSS and receive a range of services.

Prospective clients attend the Monday morning orientation; undergo a screening process and needs assessment by a qualified social worker; access emergency assistance if appropriate and possible; explore work skills training options and attend English classes.

If appropriate, clients are given information on how to participate in training on home-based child care or HIV peer education, or the opportunity to do interpretation work for RSS and other projects.

If necessary, they are given guidelines on how to apply for financial assistance for children to go to crèche, for transport to and from school, for school uniforms, and for rent.

RSS also provides information on various partner organisations that offer support and training to refugees, including Lawyers for Human Rights and the Refugee Pastoral Care Centre.

Once clients have attended orientation sessions and are satisfied that RSS is the organisation that can help them, they are asked to provide documentation to help RSS intake social workers with screening. Clients are then assessed and, if necessary, provided with relevant services and referrals. If a client does not match RSS criteria (for example, she does not have relevant paperwork from the Department of Home Affairs), RSS will refer her to other relevant organisations or government departments.

RSS’s services are vital in addressing the challenges refugees and asylum seekers face. While South African authorities welcome asylum seekers into the country they have no mechanisms or packages (e.g. accommodation, food, clothing, transport) to help them orientate and integrate into local communities. Asylum seekers and refugees can access state sponsored health and education services, but often struggle to meet their most basic and immediate needs. RSS fills a significant gap by providing as holistic and integrated a system of support as possible through its own services as well as through partner organisations, UNHCR and government.

RSS provides other services such as vocational training, English language training, an interpreter’s project, French classes, English support workshops for secondary school learners, and an HIV peer educator program.

PHOTO Š Y RAJAH | Oxfam

9

A long Journey Winnie’s Story

10

I am Winnie and I am married with three children. I am from Burundi. When I came here in 1997, I didn’t know I was coming to South Africa. When you are a refugee you just run away and you don’t know where you are going.

I understand what people who come to RSS are going through because I had the same experiences. It is difficult for somebody who is not a refugee to know what refugees are going through or have been through.

Refugees don’t plan to come. They are not economic migrants.

They are pushed by disasters, maybe wars, fighting, and ethnic conflicts. You never plan to leave your country, which means that you come with nothing. You lose your family members and all your belongings. So it is not easy to survive and integrate in a host society.

When I came to South Africa, my husband and I were not working. It was not easy to get a job due to many barriers, including refugee documents and language issues. But what encourages you to keep on surviving is that you are not the only one to experience it.

I realised that in order to get a job it was better to go back to school. So in 2003, I went back to university, and I did Community and Development Studies. When I finished, it was not easy to get a job. You can imagine how somebody put so much energy into their studies only to find that getting a job is not easy. But you keep on applying.

I came here to RSS for assistance. I was angry, frustrated by not having a job. I was asking “What can you do for me?”. They saw that I had the skills and I was included in their projects: peer educator and interpreter. I started working for RSS in 2008. But life here is not easy, even when you have a job.

For those people in South Africa who can say, “This person came here to take our job” they do not understand; I never planned to come here and I was working at home. All my family members and friends died; I am lucky to survive. It was even not easy to run away, because of many challenges on the journey.

Before RSS there was no one to assist refugees to pay for crèche and to care for their children. So this organisation is really helping refugees and their children.

(Winnie is the Community Development Worker at RSS.)

11

The Home-based Child Care Program The motivating documentation for the Home-based Child Care Program gives the following outline: Refugees, by virtue of their flight from their countries of origin, generally do not have access to their traditional support networks of extended family and close friends who can assist with ongoing childcare and they (as with other migrant families) are forced to make use of whatever means are available to ensure that their children are safe whilst they work. Most families are either single parent families or where there are both parents, both are forced to work as the cost of living is exorbitant—rentals and utility costs are generally high, and parents need to in addition meet the costs of education, transport, food, and medical costs for their families. Childcare, because of the expense associated, therefore takes the lowest priority and children are subject to neglect, potential abuse and a myriad of other physical risks as they are often left locked in flats as affordable daycare is difficult to access. Further, a number of these children are not adequately stimulated or prepared for primary education and therefore their educational development is compromised.

Durban, like other parts of the country, has a high unemployment rate. The cost of living is also high and continues to rise.

Securing work in the existing climate is difficult for South Africans and more so for refugees and asylum seekers as they struggle with local employers understanding and recognising their documents, language constraints and reasons for being in the country. Further, amongst those that do find work the risk of being exploited by unscrupulous employers remains. Amongst the women in particular, a lack of marketable skills keeps them out of the formal labour market. Most are either underemployed or unemployed. They thus engage in activities like

12

street vending, which has its own challenges and dangers. This compromises their ability to provide protection to their children.

Refugee women, like women all over the world, bear the brunt of responsibility for child care.

Initially, RSS managed to secure funding from the UNHCR to subsidise daycare fees for a limited number of preschool aged children. They further identified community-run daycare centres and contributed fees so that refugee children could access the services at these centres. RSS secured funding from the Mennonite Central Committee’s Generations at Risk Program to support a refugee-run daycare centre and crèche which offered affordable services to both South African and refugee children.

This was not enough, however, to meet the needs of most of the children the organisation had identified as being vulnerable. The funding was only able to support a limited number of children and the community-run daycare facilities required ongoing subsidisation to ensure that they could continue to offer an affordable fee without compromising care and stimulation.

In 2007 RSS conceptualised the Home-based Child Care Program and secured funding from the US Ambassadors Fund to pilot this model. A pilot group of eight refugee women was trained and of these, three successfully started their home-based program.

Within three years 45 women had been trained, of whom 38 had been supported in establishing their own home-based child care centres (also called crèches). Some of the participants in the training who did not have their own child care centres acted as relief carers. By the end of 2011, a further 60 home-based child care centres were established.

PHOTO © Y RAJAH | Oxfam

13

A Beautiful Journey Pam’s Story

14

I always wanted to be a nurse but decided to become a preschool teacher. I was exposed to many different kinds of children and found that was what I loved doing. After retiring, I came to RSS to do part time work. It’s just been a beautiful journey for me.

Coming to work with refugee women who are socially excluded in similar ways to how I was during apartheid is so rewarding for me. I can make a difference in their lives and the lives of their children.

Through the training, the women have improved their skills so much that we are moving away from just keeping the children safe to focusing on educating them and preparing them for school. Some of these women have been with us now for three years, and the children are getting ready for school, and their parents are confident enough to leave them with the caregivers.

So it’s no more just the basics that the children are getting, but a more formal school readiness kind of program.

We had to develop the program to meet the needs of the preschool child, so I developed an approach looking at themes.

That’s where TREE3 came in with their themed books, all their teacher resources, and the lesson plans. So now they are doing much more than just physically caring for the children but are educating them very informally; and it’s working. And when I see the children’s work on the wall and I see them beginning to write, it’s so rewarding.

The women we have trained are ambitious. I would love to see them to get some recognition for the work they do and for their input. It’s tremendous what they are doing.

(Pam is the RSS Home-based Child Care Trainer)

3. TREE is a Durban-based NGO that provides resources and training in Early Childhood Development (ECD) with the aim of assisting adults (mostly women) from disadvantaged communities to provide ECD programs for their young children that promote holistic development, support, health and welfare.

See: http://www.tree-ecd.co.za/ for further detail.

15

An Integrated Approach While the Home-based Child Care Program functions as a distinct program, a key component is its integration and interdependency in relation to government, partner organisations and other key stakeholders. The training and support provided by RSS comprises a network of social services and training opportunities that work at addressing refugees’ needs and basic human rights.

The organic way in which RSS has grown as an organisation means that it is part of a close-knit network of structures and relationships. There is a constant reciprocal flow of information, support and work between RSS and these related stakeholders that is fundamental to the ethos and effectiveness of the organisation. Some of the more significant relationships with regard to the Child Care Program include those with: •

• • •

• •

Partner NGOs that provide services such a paralegal advice, training, material and human resources; UNHCR, as the primary funder and supporter of the work; Local and provincial government structures; Principals, staff and School Governing Bodies of schools that refugee children attend; Local faith based organisations and churches; Relevant government departments such as Education, Home Affairs and Social Development.

Integral to this approach is an intention that refugees become increasingly self-sufficient as they build on the foundations provided by this framework of support and draw on their own resources and resilience in building a sustainable and established life in their new country.

PHOTO © H RAJAH (age 10) | Oxfam

16

Outlining the Program The following is a broad outline of how the Home-based Child Care Program has been run.

Screening, Interview and Selection Process RSS clients who have been identified as potential home-based child carers are asked to attend screening interviews to assess the extent to which they care about and have good relationships with children; to test their proficiency in English (as training is conducted in English); to verify they are unemployed and have no other (more) marketable skills; and to check whether they have at least some of the following personal qualities: • • • • • • • • •

are comfortable with meeting new people have a caring disposition are creative and enthusiastic are enquiring and adaptable are quick and efficient can work under pressure can maintain confidentiality are able to manage conflict are organised, with effective time management, task prioritisation and multi-tasking skills

Initially, they are asked to identify a relief carer who can work alongside them and will also go through the screening and training processes. In more recent years relief carers come from the pool of trained home-based child carers who have not established centres.

Once the personal screening process has been completed, an RSS social worker and/or the RSS community development worker visits clients’ homes to assess their living environments as possible home-based care sites. Where relevant, they are given information on rearranging their homes to accommodate the children they would care for and minimise risk (e.g. appropriate storage of chemical cleaners or ensuring that unused electrical plug points have been blocked). In a few cases where women’s homes have been totally unsuitable, they have been assisted with a rental contribution from RSS in order to seek alternate accommodation from which they can run their centres. RSS looks for the following when identifying a suitable venue for home-based care centres: •

• •

•

•

it is in a building where there are numerous pre-school children needing care; the building is secure and monitored; the home is well maintained and spacious enough to accommodate six minors; If possible, the building is close to a park for the children to play in; the client and a relief carer are in the same building or close enough to each other’s homes so that the relief carer can be accessible if she is needed.

17

Orientation and Training The training process starts with an orientation session with each proposed carer, the trainer and the community development worker. The objective of this session is to discuss the purpose, structure and schedule for the project prior to actually contracting with each of the potential carers, who have a chance to meet each other and the trainer to clarify the terms of the project—expectations, roles and responsibilities.

This phase of the program involves explaining the training program; signing a memorandum of understanding with each carer to obtain their commitment to the training program; agreeing on ground rules with carers and the trainer in order to ensure that the training sessions run smoothly; clarifying the initial start-up kit of resource and hygiene products that is intended for carers (and not their relief carers), financial contribution for food, and expectations in respect of monitoring visits and attendance at monthly mentoring sessions; asking prospective carers and relief carers to complete a questionnaire template to encourage group discussion and provide the trainer with an understanding of their current childcare practices; a question and answer session; and distributing calendars to help with planning for the training schedule and monthly monitoring meetings.

18

Once the orientation is complete, the carers embark on an interactive three-week training process, followed by monthly development/training/evaluation sessions. They follow a curriculum developed by an experienced Early Childhood Development practitioner. The training includes a parenting course and Early Childhood Development training with extensive theoretical input, followed by structured lesson plans which engage the carers (and the minors that accompany them) in practically applying the theoretical concepts taught. The training includes a two-day administrative session which covers topics such as growing and marketing the small business; interviewing techniques; receipting; application and indemnity form completions; and filing records. Additional training by partner organisations is provided in primary health care, business skills and management skills.

As carers begin establishing their centres, top-up training may be provided if this is necessary.

PHOTO © H RAJAH (age 10) | Oxfam

19

“Just go to rss and they can take you” Elizabeth’s Story

I came from Congo. I ran away because of conflict between Congolese and Rwandese people. My husband is Rwandese from his father’s side and Congolese from his mother’s side.

When President Kabila died in 1996/7 there was big confusion because the people who helped him were Rwandese and the country had many Rwandese people. My husband was very rich, so the people around were suspecting that maybe we received the spies or rebels from Rwanda. All our houses and shops were burned. Different businesses from other regions were affected, including the house where my in-laws were staying. All my inlaws passed away at the scene but my husband survived with his brother.

After the fire I was a target because they wanted to know if my husband is alive or not. One day I saw a black car come where I was staying and they wanted to see me. I was kidnapped. After four days I found myself in the hospital in a critical condition.

I was abused, beaten and raped so I’m not able to give birth again. Sometimes when I remember what I went through I feel lost. I stayed more than three months unconscious in the hospital, very sick like I’m mad, with the support of oxygen.

God is able to change my life because I trust him. My husband came with all the children to South Africa in 2003 and I came after two years. It was a big challenge to start a new life without a job. You can have qualifications but to find a nice job is a big problem. Through Manning Road Methodist Church we also got help. After some time I started a business selling shoes, but

the problem is if you don’t have a permit you can’t sell. Also, xenophobia came and all foreigners were living in fear. But the Bible says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me.” My faith has given me strength in these times.

Then I met a social worker who said to me “You can speak English. Just go to RSS and they can take you.” I gave my CV to Andrea and then I started coming on a roster basis to work as an interpreter at RSS, and they pay you at least R240 per day.

The big challenge we are facing is rent, electricity and other expenses like stuff for children at school. Sometimes to pay school fees is a problem. And us as parents, we must make an effort so our children can finish school and university, because they are the future.

But we are trying because in this country, even South Africans themselves are also suffering. But we are also trying through our organisation by getting different trainings. For instance I did home-based care and peer education in HIV and AIDS. I’m able to teach children and they can speak good English. I am so proud of myself. I am also able to go into our communities talking about prevention and protection from HIV and AIDS. So it is possible at the RSS. They always say you do something and also they will do something.

(Elizabeth ia a Home-based Child Carer.

Elizabeth is not her real name)

21

From the congo to South Africa Mary’s Story

22

I came from Congo. I used trucks and buses to come here, because I had no money. I was not safe because I had many problems to come here. I came with other women who came here to look for a life. It took me one month to come here. Sleeping on the trucks or wherever I could find a place. No money for food.

We just talked to people and if they could, then they helped us, until we reached here.

When I came to Durban I didn’t know where to go. Those women that I came with, they showed me their friends. I stayed with them for some days.

I met my husband here and he paid some lobola4 to my family in Congo, then we were married here in Durban.

A friend of mine told me there was training at RSS. So we did the child care training. After that we were working together by her in her flat. I was staying in a bedroom only but after that I found a flat and they helped me to pay one month rent, so I was

able to start my own crèche. When I arrived here I didn’t find the children. But I was talking to many people who said “What do you teach the children?” and I said I did the training and I got the certificate and showed them everything I was going to use. Then they came one by one and the crèche started.

It’s nice work because I can stay at home and I am with my baby and maybe sometimes I can clean the house and prepare food for my husband and things like that.

The meetings with Pam add some more knowledge on what we have. We always bring things to that last Saturday of the month.

We bring things that were difficult in that month, we explain them and then Pam tells us what to do. This crèche has really helped me.

(Mary ia a Home-based Child Carer. Mary is not her real name)

4. This is the Zulu word for the money or gifts a man gives to a woman’s family in order for him to be given permission by the family to marry her. (see http://www.essortment.com/all/africanmarriag_rntr.htm for further details)

23

This is my crèche and this is my children from the crèche. I am opening my crèche Monday to Friday, from six in the morning to six in the evening. I am giving the parents a chance because they are working, some of them far away.

The program used to be seven to five, but now I give the parents a chance for one hour. You know the life of a refugee is very hard.

I say thank you for Winnie, she helps us very much. I’ve got a nice community development worker. She is like a mother to us.

I’ve got my file, because at the time we went to school at RSS we learnt everything. I’ve got a file for everybody’s child. I’ve got my income book. Because this is my business. I’m not playing; I am serious.

You see this chair, this table, this mattress, the paint, the file.

This is everything the RSS gave us. So, I say thank you for this.

This is my business Ruth’s Story

24

I want people to support me, I want to become big—not small like this. The RSS supports six children, because you know the place is small. There is food for six children. So I pray God to bless me because my vision is for tomorrow to become big. You know, when you do something you must first make a plan. It’s this job I want, I feel it is for my life.

(Ruth ia a Home-based Child Carer. Ruth is not her real name)

I have been involved in the development of this program from very early in its history, which has been a rewarding and challenging experience.

Providing ongoing support Andrea’s Story

One of the constant challenges is the ongoing monitoring of the centres. It is vital to ensure that the program is meeting its aims and objectives and that the centres are being run effectively.

When the program really started growing, I found it difficult to ensure that all the centres were monitored effectively. To this end, the employment of the community development worker was vital. A key part of her work is to ensure that the women who run these centres remain upbeat emotionally and mentally. It is imperative to provide incentives and support in order to boost carers’ morale. The monthly monitoring and evaluation meetings which the trainer, community development worker and I cofacilitate definitely help with sustaining the commitment and morale of women we work with.

The program has developed so much since the original proposal.

It is very empowering for me as a woman to be working with women and the minors in their care in this way, because this is a preventative step rather than dealing with the after-effects of abuse or insufficient care.

To see a refugee woman go through the entire process and at the end of it to be able to close the office file with the knowledge that the RSS team’s investment in time and financial aid has been of benefit to them and the organisation is immensely rewarding. It makes such a difference knowing we have given people a step up as opposed to a handout.

(Andrea is a former RSS staff member)

25

Establishing a Child Care Centre When carers complete the training, they are given attendance certificates as proof that they have completed. These certificates are handed out at a joint celebration for all RSS clients completing the various training courses the organisation provides.

They are also given a start-up kit consisting of: •

• • •

• •

files for storing marketing material, enrolment forms, indemnity forms and reports of children’s progress; a receipt book; hygiene products; tables and chairs suitable for up to six children to use for playing, drawing, craft-making and eating; educational toys and materials to start; six small foam mattresses.

When these items are delivered to the carers’ homes, RSS staff give them advice on how to arrange their equipment and their new centre to make the best use of the available space.

Monitoring and Support Ongoing monitoring and support is important. The RSS community development worker visits the home-based child care centres once or twice a month. She uses a standard reporting format to record the number of children present at the centre, the management and condition of the centre and the successes and challenges the home-based carer has experienced since the previous visit. In addition, RSS holds monthly Saturday morning gatherings which all child carers are expected to attend. Here the trainer offers support to the child carers in dealing with a range of issues. These meetings provide valuable opportunities for distributing information, sharing peer support and keeping child carers informed of new developments in RSS and the Home-based Child Care Program.

PHOTO © W WESTLEY | Oxfam

26

Celebrating the Shifts The program has achieved a remarkable level of success within a short time.

Key to this success has been the fact that it has drawn on existing assets and networks. Fundamental to this are the refugee women themselves. Many of the refugee families live in large apartment buildings, meaning they have a home and a large community of people around them. Members of refugee families who have found employment often have to work long and difficult hours, and thus the safety and education of their children are often compromised. Instead of women having to face the challenges of leaving home to find work, placing their children at risk in the process, this program draws on their availability, their willingness to care for and nurture children, the possibility of generating a small income, and the fact that there are families close by who can benefit from this service. Current legislation allows for an unregistered child care centre of up to six children to be run in a home of this nature, making this program possible, but also ensuring the safety of limited numbers. RSS has found an ingenious way of combining a range of small possibilities within a complex context of often dire need.

Long-term relationships between people within RSS and key Early Childhood Development practitioners and partners meant that an existing body of knowledge and expertise could be drawn into the training, rather than RSS having to develop the program themselves. Additional training and support is contracted in, in order to avoid drawing on and depleting the energy of the busy RSS staff.

Within this framework, and within a sector that is often defined by the need to provide handouts because of the dire need of people fleeing from violence, oppression and overwhelming trauma, important shifts are taking place. Children are finding

places of safety and are being given opportunities to play and develop. Women who have lost families, homes, a sense of belonging and the ability to provide for their children are slowly regaining a sense of dignity, voice and possibility. A community that is often trapped in patterns of dependency is finding new possibilities for building a sense of purpose and sustainability as they work towards realising their basic human rights.

In the last few years, the program has evolved, building on the home-based child care centres. Realising that many refugee women might miss out on information because of language barriers or miss the support of family and community, RSS worked with eight women who were not able to set up homebased care centres, piloting an additional service—a community awareness programme—which offers support to women who might otherwise feel marginalised, unsupported and alone, providing them with information, support, care and guidance.

The eight women call themselves community wellness workers and their intervention means that women who might otherwise have felt isolated and alone are able to receive the care and support that they would have received in their home communities.

The wellness workers might assist by providing information on health care, accompanying mothers to clinics, talking about nutrition and sharing ideas on how to play with and stimulate their children.

RSS holds weekly themed meetings where the wellness workers discuss relevant issues and receive support with the work they do.

27

Acknowledging the Challenges As with any pioneering work that intends to facilitate sustainable shift and change, there are areas of complexity and challenge.

At a logistical level, the establishment of the child care centres is not always a straightforward process. Some of the intended centres could not be set up because: •

•

•

•

•

there was a concern about safety in the home and the carer’s high degree of mobility; there was insufficient or no consultation with sharers of the carer’s accommodation resulting in them not consenting to the establishment of the centre; a Home-based Child Carer expanded the business rapidly into an independent (not home-based) educare centre and failed to consider costs and risks thus resulting in her being unable to sustain the centre; bodies corporate5 and owners in some of the buildings increased rentals and utilities or requested that their tenants cease operations altogether—partly due to there not having been enough consultation with the supervisors and bodies corporate about the centres and their benefits; in a few instances, role confusion led to carers not owning or leading their centres and regarding RSS as being responsible for finding, placing and paying fees for children.

At a programmatic level, there have been the challenges of piloting a new model of work with as much groundwork as possible, but facing unanticipated needs and issues that demand to be addressed in order for the program to move forward. Some of these challenges have been an inevitable part of developing a pilot project. Others have been specific to working in contexts of sometimes dire poverty in which carers develop expectations that reflect their own desperation to find a path out of their situation, but which are unrealistic in light of the smallness and newness of the program.

A related issue is the extent of the trauma and psychosocial stress that refugees face in their home countries, on their journeys to South Africa and on a daily basis living in Durban. The courage and resilience that refugee women in the Home-based Child Care Program have demonstrated is remarkable. However, there is the ongoing challenge of dealing with a trauma-induced sense of victimhood, dependency and entitlement which can manifest in the form of conflict and aggressive behaviour. At other times women lose heart when the arduousness of their lives and the long-term nature of this work overwhelms them.

These issues are difficult for the refugee community as well as the staff of RSS who strive to support and encourage them.

Addressing them requires courage and a resolve to stay with the intention of the program, because those that do manage to stay with the work often witness remarkable shifts, healing and greater stability after some time.

5. In South African Sectional Title law, a Body Corporate is a legal entity comprising all the owners of units in an apartment building or housing complex. It is responsible for the maintenance and management of the finances, administration and physical condition of the land and structures of the premises.

See: http://www.sectionaltitlesa.co.za/2010/05/what-are-the-functions-of-a-body-corporate/ for further detail.

28

While there is much discussion about the centres and the program as a whole becoming sustainable, there are inevitable tensions in this regard. The issue of ownership of the work remains an uneasy one, not least because of the tensions between centres becoming more self-sufficient yet also needing to be monitored by RSS. There is also an almost tug-ofwar effect in the ongoing need for some sort of subsidisation, impeding the intended levels of self-sufficiency and sustainability by carers.

As the program matures with time, these tensions will inevitably need to be worked out. What is indisputable is the galvanising and enabling effect of this work in the lives of the refugee women, children and families involved.

PHOTO Š H RAJAH (age 10) | Oxfam

29

Harnessing the Strengths & Recognising the Opportunities Organisations are not automatically successful or good at what they do. They become this through their values, ethos and approach, not just in what is written but in their daily practice and attitudes. So what is special about RSS? What makes it the success it has become? What are the values and practices that drive the organisation? The interview below with Yasmin Rajah, RSS Director, sheds some light.

I think we were mixing and matching solutions when we developed this program. For me it’s always about trying to find the solution that fits and use what is there. You know, when you’ve worked for a long time, there are certain people and certain experiences that make you who you are and what you do.

Some time back, way back when, I went to a training that looked at strengths-based or assets-based approaches and it has always coloured the way I work.

The first thing with child care that I was involved in with this organisation was helping the Union of Refugee Women to sort their crèche out and looking at a different way of doing things.

I realised that one crèche is not going to do it because we were seeing these kids being locked into their homes. On the other hand there was this mandate from UNHCR to make people self-reliant. It’s a huge ask. We are not trained for self-reliance but I thought this child care idea was something that had the potential to work.

30

So, it was just a range of opportunities that came up and you just grab onto those and see what you can do with it. And I think in a lot of the programs here we’ve worked like that—it’s about harnessing the strengths and recognising the opportunities.

It’s almost five years into the program now. I’m fascinated at how it’s evolved, but I don’t think it’s reached the stage where it’s finished yet. I think when you start you have this idea that it needs to be self-sustaining. But you have to realise that anything with child care in a lower income community is going to need some level of support or subsidisation.

There’s still potential. I think the program has gone well generally. I think there is still some mindset change that we need to bring about among the people that are in there. They need to start believing that this is theirs. I might be wrong, but I sometimes feel some of the women still think of it as an RSS project. We might have given them the hand-up to do it but they need to start believing that this is their business. And they need to take it and make it a success.

In the original proposal, safety, nutrition and stimulation were always there. We didn’t think necessarily around school readiness, but a child that comes from a poverty stricken

PHOTO © W WESTLEY | Oxfam

31

Harnessing the Strengths & Recognising the Opportunities. . . continued background does not need to be further marginalised. You don’t want them to go into school not having been played with or stimulated or anything—then it’s a continuous cycle of under-development, when there are simple ways to ensure that stimulation happens.

As always, at the heart are the people. The people who drive the organisation and work in it show commitment to their clients’ wellbeing. The organic nature of the organisation, its ability to be responsive and act according to what it sees as necessary, can be attributed to this commitment.

One of the things I believe is that we cannot be in competition with other organisations. And you cannot do everything.

Because our client base is our client base and you need to do the best you can to render the best possible service. So if Lawyers for Human Rights is doing it better, why do we need to do it? If you look at our HIV prevention program, we’ve said we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We train them in English but then they need to work in the communities in their own language, because that is where the gap is. And that’s fine.

We can assess where they are and identify needs and skills because we see them every day, but we don’t need to do the training and the clients can take it from there.

People are important to RSS. Not only do they provide a much needed service, but they also have found, and continue to find, innovative ways of getting people involved in their own development and making a difference to their lives.

One of the things that I am looking at for the future is that I want to see whether or not we can push sustainable urban gardening into these home-based care centres.

If you really think about this, it is a very simple idea. When you discuss it with people, there’s almost a sense of “What’s so special about that?”. Because it’s so simple.

32

“We saw children being evicted; care not up to scratch and not being stimulated and we believed children needed a chance from the beginning. The mothers couldn’t access the job market but we recognised that they had mothering skills and so we matched the two.

We gave them something to do to earn money while giving a service to the community.”

Yasmin Rajah The other side of this is the willingness of the women who work with RSS, to become involved. With all the difficulties they experience, they continue to try to create a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.

PHOTO © H RAJAH (age 10) | Oxfam

33

Closing Reflections While the home-based child care model that RSS has developed is specific to the community they serve—the refugee community in Durban—the social, educational and developmental components of the program have relevance far beyond this particular context. The possibilities for adaptation and replication are manifold—with refugee communities and as part of other development work.

Inevitably, work of this nature takes place in compromised ways and in complex contexts. An example is the issue of ownership, particularly where an NGO has initiated the work. In addition, the NGO itself is not an easy entity to sustain—it is dependent on funding and infrastructural support, as well as grappling with internal issues like management of its human resources and often high staff turnover.

One of the key factors in this work is the way in which both the needs and potential of the children, arguably the people who are most vulnerable and at risk at times of sociopolitical upheaval and violence, provide the starting point for programmatic efforts to provide stability, sustainability and hope for traumatised families and communities.

The broader environment also contributes to the complexity of the work, with local, provincial and national government structures not always following policy or providing conducive service delivery and support to those in need. Finally, the physical environment in which this work takes place is difficult— cramped, overcrowded living spaces in old and sometimes unhygienic high-rise buildings are not an optimal environment for children, families and communities to flourish.

Through utilising skills and capacities already available in the context of refugee communities in Durban, short-term solutions to the dire need for safety, care, nutrition and development are being found. As the narratives of the women in this case study suggest, women and families have begun to believe in their ability to cope in the midst of overwhelming shocks and stresses, finding a foothold in an otherwise often overwhelming and hostile environment. In addition, children are being given the resources and self-belief to enter into mainstream education in South Africa. It is impossible to predict, but will be fascinating to track, how many of these children build on the foundation of their parents’ courage and RSS’s support to become significant leaders and agents of hope in the future.

These are key lessons that similar initiatives can draw on in their own work; focusing on the people in a context rather than the sometimes overwhelming needs, and crafting a response that draws on the best of what is already present rather than creating and fostering dependencies that erode sustainability and hope.

34

The harshness of these realities cannot be denied, but the lesson of a model such as the RSS Home-based Child Care Program is that people will always find a way to make something of a situation. Nurturing that capacity and the hope that children bring for a better future is key to sustainable development.

The intention behind this case study is both to recognise the pioneering work of RSS and to encourage others to draw lessons from this work in order to develop and expand the possibilities of working with women and children in this way. Rather than provide answers, the purpose of this document is to be a catalyst for dialogue and reciprocal learnings for RSS and others around the world who desire and work with similar values and models of development; to contribute in some small way to building societies that are fit for human habitation.

PHOTO © W WESTLEY | Oxfam

35

List of Sources RSS Website: www.refugeesocialservices.org.za RSS proposals and funding reports sent to US Ambassador’s Fund, UNHCR and Oxfam United Nations High Commission for Refugees website: www.unhcr.org Interviews with: three RSS Board members, RSS Director, RSS Administration Manager and Social Worker, RSS Community development Worker, RSS Home based Child Care Trainer, detailed interviews with four trained Child Carers, Oxfam representative Visits to twelve home-based child care centres “Can We Beat Xenophobia?” by Fatima Khan in University of Cape Town’s UCT News 2009 Note: With permission, the anecdotes shared in the document have been revised and shortened.

(Footnotes) 1. Fatima Khan, “Can We Beat Xenophobia?” UCT News 2009 p. 32

36

www.oxfam.org.au

2012