iThemba Family Services
Focus on iThemba
Parent Training Programme
This Programme seeks to advocate for the wellness and healthy development of children. Our focus is on educating and empowering parents with the knowledge and tools to raise highly resilient and capable children. Making use of Focus on the Family’s, ‘Raising Highly Capable Kids’ course material, we facilitate an 8-week training programme to parents of the communities we serve in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
The workshops are designed to be interactive in nature and offer parents the chance to share their experiences in a safe, supportive and non judgmental environment. Our trained facilitators are qualified Social Workers who both have a wealth of knowledge and experience in dealing with families and communities. Both women, who are mothers themselves, know just how important parenting is when it comes to raising children and have taken on their role as Family Services Coordinators extremely well.
Parents who attend the Programme learn about topics such as:
- Understanding and applying boundaries
- Time: management and respecting other people’s time
- Discipline versus punishment
- Identity and self esteem
- Understating the different parenting styles
- Family support
- Effective communication
For many of the parents who participate in and graduate from the Programme, it is the highest form of learning they have received thus making it a significant achievement in their lives.
Since first introducing this as an iThemba Educare Programme offering in 2019, we have seen it evolve and diversify tremendously and thank Focus on the Family Africa for partnering with us in this initial process. Today this Programme provides support to families of our iThemba Schools, Educare and Scholar communities, with the aim of extending this to the wider community too.
I am so happy now. I am able to communicate clearly with my children and my husband about all the concerns we have been facing. It has really helped me to be consistent.
PARENT
Focus on iThemba
iThemba Foster Children
The calling to bring hope and a place of belonging to children from orphaned and vulnerable backgrounds was the heart behind the formation of our Organisation. Moved by Arthur Ashes’s “start where you are, use what you have, do what you can,” philosophy, our Founders, Danie and Judy van den Heever, embraced the opportunity to ignite change in the community of the Valley of 1000 Hills by establishing Focus on iThemba.
‘iThemba’ in isiZulu means ‘hope’ – a befitting name for an Organisation whose core belief is providing children a ‘Place of hope’, refuge and safety. For many years, children were housed on the iThemba Campus where a Cluster Foster Care approach was adopted to provide these children with a loving family. For some, it was the first experience of having a mother and father figure present in their lives. Our iThemba Kids, as they are fondly known, soon came to call Focus on iThemba their home and found comfort in belonging to a very big family. As time passed, and the children grew older and ‘fledged’ the nest, the iThemba Esther model was adapted to accommodate children and their respective foster families off-Campus.
We are blessed to have had over 30 iThemba Kids call Focus on iThemba their home, and even more blessed to have seen them grow, some from infancy, into the ladies and gentlemen that they are today. Through our Social Worker, we remain connected to our iThemba Kids, and always find time to catch-up with them in person and look forward to our annual Christmas gatherings which are always filled with joy and laughter. In 2021 we introduced the iThemba Kids Development Fund to assist those who were looking to further develop themselves post school/university in areas like education and basic life skills. This Fund has been warmly embraced by our iThemba Kids and we are grateful that we still get to add value to their lives.