Coco’s Foundation
Kids Just Recycle would like to you introduce you to Chris Connors, founder of Coco’s Foundation, who works closely with us. In this short interview, you can see the immense positive impact Chris and his team have on the children they support.
What does Skills4Life provide for the children?
Our psychological social support (PSS) workshops support orphans dealing with the emotional issues arising from their bereavements and life as an orphan. The Foundation works with social workers and funds the PSS workshops on the Lulisandla Kumntwana programme, which also teaches life skills. Around 9,000 orphans in this region learn ways to cope with death and bereavement.
The children are divided into groups according to their age, with materials provided and activities designed to be appropriate for that age group. Broader topics are gradually introduced including relationships, communication, resolving conflicts, drugs, sex, alcohol, and good and bad touching. Finally, any adults involved in the care of the children are invited to join in a group session working through issues raised by the children.
The programme involves plenty of activities and games and the children have a lot of fun. In fact, some have commented that the PSS workshops are the only time they really get to play properly and be children again, as much of the time they have other responsibilities.
How do children benefit from your Clothes4Clothes initiative?
Your old clothes can mean a new start for the orphans we help in South Africa, and we don’t just mean by putting clothes on their back.
One of our trustees was visiting one of the afterschool workshops that the Coco’s Foundation helps run, which supports these orphans in coming to terms with their emotions as well as helping them in their day-to-day tasks like homework; it’s a role most parents would fill.
They got talking to one child, Xolani, and observed what appeared to be belt marks on the child’s body. It transpired that he had been beaten by some children in the neighbourhood where he lived because of his poor state of dress. As hard as it is to grasp, young children are often singled out because of how poorly dressed and scruffy they are and bullied as a result. That night our Trustee just couldn’t’t get Xolani out of her head and we devised a plan to help him. The next morning, armed with a trusty piece of string we measured Xolani’s waist and used a piece of paper to draw around his feet to ascertain his shoe size. We picked 4 other children that day and measured them too. The following day we arrived at the school to hand out new clothes and shoes. As I bent down to tie the shoes laces of Xolani who had been so savagely treated by his peers, he whispered into my ear "Thank you, you are a very kind man.” As a result, someone else had to tie his other shoe as I felt overcome with humbling emotion.
The students looked immaculate in their new uniforms and their smiles of pride were the best reward for this simple act. All of a sudden, their status had been elevated to the smartest in the school and their self-esteem was elevated to new levels. Experiencing something that could easily be made right, we set up Clothes4Clothes. We ask people in the UK to donate their unwanted clothes to us and in return we generate funds by either selling the best bits on eBay or exchanging them through a national textile recycling initiative, which give us £400 for every ton of clothes we collect. The money is then changed into South African Ran and used to buy school uniforms, shoes, and beds from the local town, supporting the local economy.
Kids Just Recycle support us greatly with this and to date we have clothed over 3,500 children!
If you would like to support us with this scheme, please email info@cocosfoundation.co.uk
