TRE ® for Kids in Cape Town Township
Guest post by Frances Ward
In 2007 after Xenophobic attacks in Cape Town, South Africa Candi Horgan and partner Sidney Ryan started social enterprise Projekt Ubuntu to assist local communities in the outskirts of Cape Town. UBUNTU in the African tradition means Humanity to others.
“I am what I am because of who we all are”
The aim with Projekt Ubuntu is to remind young people the value of Ubuntu, as with ongoing violence, family separation, unemployment, substance abuse, HIV AIDs in the South African context Ubuntu is disappearing.
Projekt Ubuntu caters for 60 – 100 kids daily. It aims to help families who lack resources for day care. The program is run by one Mama, Patishwe Ngoku. She is assisted by international volunteers from Candi and Sidney’s volunteer centre, Yoga Shala. The staff and volunteers offer safe, stimulating, educative programs including healthy meals and emotional support as many of the children have lived through real experiences of trauma.
TRE ® (Tension Release Exercises) is a powerful body modality that has helped a wide variety of individuals and groups to cope better with the demands of life. Research is showing that after a minimum of about 3 months of TRE sessions, there are many improvements to general wellbeing and physical/ mental health.
David Berceli, founder explains TRE ®clearly and provides lists of completed research on his website: www.traumaprevention.com.
My experience of running this 12 week pro bono pilot project in May 2019 was that I was part of something bigger than me. The ethos of Ubuntu was tangible at the centre. Myself and TRE® providers, Chris Van Rhyn, Bobby Jean Jacque along with trainee Estelle Visagie ran 12 weekly groups for the kids between the ages of 7 – 12. All of them live in Masiphumelele and many of them had been through trauma.
Weekly we would arrive with the kids swarming around my car, helping to carry in the yoga mats and props, laughing, singing, shouting and dancing. Their enthusiasm and need for attention and touch was visible. Mama Pat assisted our project hugely by helping to organise the 20 children we had in the weekly group. Because many of the kids do not speak or understand English that well, we had to get into the kids world through play. We were creative and all the children loved the playfulness of it.
After 6 weeks of tremoring, the feedback was HUGE. Both staff members, mamas who had been with the program for some years reported these changes:
Basic changes such as
- sleep improvements;
- a general calm and happiness;
- a decrease in bullying thus
- allowing victims of bullies to return to the centre.
Those who had been through trauma and who were involved in court processes, actually found their voices to be able to report their experiences thereby allowing justice to be done.
After just 6 weeks REAL changes had occurred. The next 6 weeks brought similar results.
As with most charities, Projekt Ubuntu is stretched but we want to continue helping the children at Ubuntu and training the caregivers there to continue TRE® with the kids would be a dream come true.
We are planning for PROPER RESEARCH which is needed and appreciated – but is costly. So, we need your help, because together we can do it.
TRE ® Providers who are interested in working on this project and contributing to gathering research in the field of TRE® for kids, please make contact:
Frances Ward
Cell: 082 0991830
Mail: franceswardtherapy@gmail.com Web: www.franceswardtherapy.com Facebook: fran. ward. ct
Candi Horgan
Cell: 0825612879
Mail: candi@projektubuntu.co.za
Web: www.projektubuntu.co.za
Facebook:
Projekt Ubuntu Community
