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Chicken Project, Betty's Bay, Township Event, Children's Home

Hallo allerseits!

Zunaechst moechte ich von meinem geplanten "Chicken Project" erzaehlen. 

Ein anderer Freiwilliger und Ich hatten uns ueber den chronischen Eiermangel im Children's Home unterhalten, als er scherzhaft sagte, wir sollten eine Chicken Farm aufmachen. Ich habe ihn beim Wort genommen und fand die Idee toll. 

Daraufhin sprach ich mit der Freiwilligenmanagering Yvonne, welche grosse Begeisterung fuer das Projekt zeigte und mich sofort tatkraeftig mit Informationen und weiteren Ideen unterstuetzte. 

Ich arbeitete einen Vorschlag aus, der im Management-Meeting vorgestellt- und mit grosser Begeisterung aufgenommen wurde.

In den folgenden Wochen hatte ich meetings mit u.a. der Spendenabteilung, der paedagogischen Leitung, sowie dem Manager des Children's Homes. 

Der Vorschlag wurde konkretisiert und ausgearbeitet und sollte am 16. November dem Vorstand vorgestellt werden. 

Leider hat aus bisher nicht bekannten Gruenden der Manager am Tag der Vorstandssitzung seine Meinung geaendert und sagte, er wolle das Projekt erst spaeter vorstellen. Da die naechste Sitzung erst irgendwann Anfang 2011 ist, war meine Enttaeuschung gross und ich habe mich schon etwas ver**scht gefuehlt.

Bei mehr Interesse ist hier der offiziellen Antrag fuer das Projekt:

(Leider ist die Formatierung etwas durcheinander)

The Chicken Project

- Proposal - 

Dear board members

The main idea of the Chicken Project is to get free range chickens for egg production and animal therapy for the children.

The chickens would be obtained through donations and/or by purchase. Grown up chickens cost between R40 to R50.

Funds would for example be raised through “GivenGain.com“.

The Durbanville Children's Home is already a partner of “GivenGain“ with five sub-causes. (e.g. christmas 2010).

Johanna Strauss from the fundraising department has already agreed on adding a sixth cause which would be the “Chicken Project“. That way we can get the message out there and tell everybody that for only R50 which is only ca. €5 people from all over the world can sponsor a chicken that would then be named after the donor and a picture of that chicken would be sent to the benefactor.

This way people know specifically what they are donating their money for. They can directly see and read about what has happened to their money and it is a very real and nice thought to know that one has sponsored a chicken that is now running around in a Children's Home laying eggs. This is why the fundraising for the Chicken Project will be very successful.

A volunteer fund could also be set up in case of insufficient livestock donations or too little income through the “GivenGain“ fundraising in form of a credit that will be paid back in eggs.

That means volunteers and anyone else can buy any number of eggs in advance. With that money, chickens will be bought and their eggs will be given to the people that have paid.

Eggs will be priced R1 per egg. All eggs except for the ones that were “pre-bought“ will go directly to the kitchen.

The chickens could live in the horse area in the C.H.I.L.L.I. unit. This area is fenced and already has a stable/shelter.

The whole area would be covered with chicken wire so the chickens are safe and won't be able to escape.

The Children's Home has vast amounts of food waste every day, much of which could be used to feed the chickens.

The chicken manure again could be used as a fertilizer for the vegetable garden in the C.H.I.L.L.I. unit.

Chickens don't really smell and are no health risk at all as long as the area is kept clean.

There will be no roosters in the Chicken Project because of the noise issue.

Hens however are very calm animals and therefore won't disturb neighbours.

A folder containing all necessary information about the keeping of chickens and other documents, e.g. legal files or calculations has already been set up and would be further expanded.

The project would be entirely run by volunteers and from time to time new volunteers would be trained so that the chicken project will be sustainable for many years to come.

The children would be involved in raising and keeping the chickens. This would be used as animal therapy under the supervision of Jessica Scholdz.

Jessica has already researched about the therapeutical benefits of chickens. There are documents concerning this topic attached.

The animal therapy would basically consist of the caring for the chickens on a regular basis.

The helping in the Chicken Project would be compulsory for the children from the C.H.I.L.L.I. unit.

Other interested children will be welcome to help and play with the chickens as well. For those children a similar system to the “Toy Library“ project would be implemented. That means a schedule is to be written about which child helps on which day with the chickens.

A reward for the children helping in the chicken project would probably be needed. This could simply be a delicious cooked egg.

The city of Cape Town allows five free range chickens on residential grounds. Everything above that would have to be authorised by the Director: City Health. The aim would definitely be to have more than five chickens. How many will depend on the financial means that can be raised and on whether donations of chickens will be obtained.

The Health Department is already informed about the plans and will authorise the project as long as the abutting and effected neighbours, which are the Durbanville Hof, De Goude Akker, and Groenen Dal, have given consent and everything else is according to the “Policy regarding the keeping of animals and poultry for the city of Cape Town“.

On an official event or a fundraising occasion it would be great to be able to sell eggs, omelettes, pancakes etc. made with eggs from the children's home.

I hope that all of you like the idea of the chicken farm and will give permission to get the project rolling. A lot of work, research, time, and committment has already gone into this idea and I really believe that it will be great in so many different ways. So please vote in favour of this proposal and give this project a chance.

Thank you.

Your's sincerely

Ruben Meuth

Betty's Bay

Vor kurzem haben wir AFSler ein Wochenende im nahegelegenen Betty's Bay verbracht. Dort ging es um den Austausch von Erfahrungen etc. mit den anderen AFS Freiwilligen. Das Wochenende war super und hier sind ein paar Bilder:

AFS Freiwillige aus dem Children's Home aus Deutschland, Mozambique, Neuseeland und Brasilien

 Ein Baboon

 Badetag im Children's Home

Chad will autofahren :)

Picknick auf Signal Hill beim Sonnenuntergtang

 

Sonnenuntergang mit "Lions Head" (Berg links)

 Table Mountain

Nightshift

Wie ich schonmal erwaehnt habe, arbeite ich in der Nachtschicht. Auf diesem Bild ist mein Nachtschichtleiter "Kenneth" zu sehen mit unserem Nachtschicht-Team

Kenneth hatte mich neulich zu einer Veranstalung seiner Wohltaetigkeitsorganisation in seinem Township eingeladen. Ich habe Boike und Theresa zur Verstaerkung mitgenommen.

Zunaechst hatten wir Probleme den Weg zu finden, weil im Township die Strassen nicht unbedingt ausgeschilderd sind und so sind wir dann erstmal bisschen zwischen den Wellblechhuetten umhergegurkt. 

Das war eine sehr interessante und auch etwas angespannte Anfahrt.

Dort angekommen wurden wir wie Koenige behandelt und man schwang Reden ueber uns ueberschuettete uns mit Essen waehrend die anderen nichts bekamen...

Zum Schluss wollte noch jede einzelne Person ein Bild mit uns. Wir wurden mindestens 40 mal fotografiert. Keine Uebertreibung.

Sehr interessant also ;)

Liebe Gruesse
Ruben