WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

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Little Seeds seeks to encourage a holistic approach to child care, mostly to benefit needy communities, by realising the potential of adults and encouraging support structures. And this is carried out within the primary context of Early Childhood Development.

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The Trust was formed in 1998 and works both within South Africa and its neighboring countries. Today in White River we have a total of 9 staff plus volunteers between whom there is significant experience in training including special needs teaching.

The activities of Little Seeds are principally in the training of pre-school teachers. We see the potential of the pre-school within the wider community and seek to encourage integrated, holistic approach to community development of local people in their own communities as of primary importance. Issues that are at the forefront today are the disabled, promotion of healthy family life, child abuse, HIV/AIDS and orphan issues. Little Seeds is also involved in child counseling, and parent and teacher workshops.

Little Seeds operates as a non-profit organisation for specific training contracts, but the giving from individuals, groups, and other organizations is important to sponsor a range of important training and development activities, with some volunteer help. Financial backing has been received from national and overseas agencies. Our aim is to serve the local communities and other organizations in an open relationship-building manner in order to bring effective change where it is severely needed.

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• Little Seeds has served a range of churches and mission organizations in terms of training their members in pre-school teaching and child-care issues.
   
• Little Seeds itself is interdenominational in that its board of Trustees are members of various churches. The staff also represents different denominations. By this we demonstrate an attitude that promotes unity within the wider church body.
   
• Specialist help is available to strengthen the local church or the ministries to children as might be co-ordinated on a regional or national level by denominations.
   
• Sound Biblical application is made through the available courses and the sense of mission in our trainers translates into great encouragement for all students.
   
• Faith-based organizations in Southern Africa are, in many places, very involved in giving support to those affected by HIV/AIDS pandemic. Much of their activity is informal and not in the eyes of governments, major AIDS foundations or international agencies. Recently it is becoming recognized that they should not be overlooked. Little Seeds can play a part in strengthening the work of the churches through bringing greater understanding in the psycho-social aspects of childcare.

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Little Seeds insists on seeing the ‘bigger picture’. Consequently we pay attention to the following:

PUBLIC POLICIES AND ISSUES

• Being informed of national government, education and welfare policy

NETWORKING

• Interaction with organisations concerned with health, HIV/AIDS issues, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), training and staff development, spiritual training, parenting and family issues, advocacy for social assistance combating child exploitation and abuse.

TRAINING CHOICE

• Offering a range of training courses to help teachers, parents, foster parents, teenage orphan heads of households, and anyone involved in childcare.

COMMUNITIES UNDER STRESS

• Considering the depth and breadth of the impact of death and bereavement in the poorer communities in Southern Africa, one hears of the term ‘orphan generation’ in sub-Saharan Africa and at a local level in South Africa we are dealing directly with orphans.

PARTNERS

• Identification of potential to assist the needy communities through public and private means. Government contracts, funding through consortia in Early Childhood Development, corporate and private donors and churches – all can play an important role in bringing training, development and encouragement to the disadvantaged.

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Little Seeds Trust is founded in South Africa but also has an effect in other nearby and neighbouring countries. We have trained adults from the following nations:

Zimbabwe
Zambia
Mozambique
Malawi
Botswana
Swaziland

Some training materials are available in Portuguese and have been extensively used in Mozambique. There are tentative plans for materials in French too, with the countries of the D.R.C., Rwanda, Burundi and Madagascar in mind. Please do contact our Director, Heather Drury for further information:  admin@littleseeds.co.za

We have experience of a range of situations of poverty in Southern Africa, most especially in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which gives us a grasp of what is appropriate, feasible and realistic for most places.
 

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• The founders of Little Seeds have a clear focus on the poor and needy of Southern Africa. Nigel and Heather Drury spent their early years in Africa, from 1987, living with Mozambican refugees: people uprooted from their native land and struggling to make a living and a home elsewhere.
   

• ‘Start with where the people are’. This is community development language: we need to understand the life a person, a family, and their aspirations and fears before we can begin to assist them.
   

• ‘Begin with what they have’. There is greater dignity in building upon the skills, the tools and the resources already in the poor community. The impact of foreign concepts, and materials should be limited, at least initially.
   

• No paternalism! This is where the involvement of local, indigenous people of good character is essential. The equipping of ‘insiders’ to train, develop and implant realistic vision within their own people is central to success and sustainability.
   

• We believe in stimulating awareness and encouraging initiative as part of setting in motion a movement that ensures improved childcare over a wide area.