Thank you once again!

Thank you to Frank Olsen and his team for making a further donation of R 33 000 to MAB!

A Special party for special children!

A well-known Cape Town company, 3D X-act chose to host a year end function with a difference. They hosted a special Christmas event for 28 rape and abuse victims. The children, all between the ages 6 – 12 and all from Mitchells Plain were treated to a wonderful Christmas party, complete with sweets, gifts and Father Christmas.

MAB would like to thank 3D X-act, Bugz Playpark, Die Bamboo Restaurant, 027 Shuttle and Everson Konstruksie for creating such special memories for our children.

Roman's Pizzas Comfort Packs

During late afternoon on 4 December, Matla a Bana, with the assistance of Blue Planet and Roman's Pizza group packed 50 Small comfort packs for girls ages 3-8. Staff volunteers worked with great passion and the packs were done in minutes! These packs were collected by Pta Central, Bronkhorstspruit and Garankuwa FCS units. Bonnie and her team was overwhelmed by the thought of packing these packs for young ages and assured MAB they will sponsor more packs in future! The packing team enjoyed Pizza for supper.. Thanx Roman's Pizza!!

Shout comfort packs

On Friday, 26 November, Matla a Bana together with the 94.7 Breakfast Express Team, as a Lead SA innitiativ rised very early to pack 100 Medium Comfort Packs for girls ages 9-12. Very gratefull officers from FCS Units in Gauteng (Vereeniging, Silverton, Sunnyside, Katlehong, Moroka, Benoni, Honeydew. Owitz marketing team also assited MAB with the packing as proud supporters of our project!

Thank you to Shout for making this possible!

Kraaifontein Child Facility opens

In celebration of 16 Days of No violence against women and children, MAB today opened the Child-Friendly Reporting Facility at the Kraaifontein FCS unit stationed at Kraaifontein Police Station. This facility now has a beautiful outside play area, waiting area and an assessement room linked to a monitoring room. The state-of-the-art audio visual equipement sponsored by Shellard Media now makes recording the interviews possible. During the opening Brigadier Sharon Jeptha said that SAPS need more partners like Matla A Bana.

We would like to thank all the sponsors who made this facility possible:

Old Mutual Foundation, Rotary Claremont, Shellard Media, F & L Konstruksie, Geustyn & Horak Aluminium, Gerhardt Jooste & Francious Coetzer

Photo: Piet Smit (SAPS Media Office)

MAB AGM

On Tues, 7 Dec, Matla A Bana hosted it's Annual AGM at Afrique Boutique Hotel in Roodepoort. The event was attended by sponsors, media and officials. Guest speaker, Provincial Commissioner General Petros, said that it "It takes special people to do the type of work Matla a Bana is doing - people with a heart who are willing to get involved in civil society.”

Teunis Binnemeer (Absa Trust) presented the financial statements and founder, Monique Strydom, said that none of the work could have been done without the support of funders and volunteers alike. More than R 2 million in products and services have been donated to the NGO during the last two years.

Despite facing serious financial trouble and having to resort to retrenchments, MAB reached more than 5000 children last year who reported crimes against them. In addition to this the NGO trained more than 200 police officials and more than 40 doctors in specialised courses. Certificates were handed over representatives of companies who donated more than R 50 000 to Matla A Bana.

Photo: Kotie Geldenhuys Servamus

Thank you Fluval Ukuvala and Fluval Ukuvala Western Cape for your donation of R 30 000 towards Matla A Bana!

WC Training & Debriefing

On 9 November MAB WC hosted a training/debriefing session for 40 FCS members. The program included a motivational speach by Radio Tygerberg presenter, Johnny Louw (also known as Die Wilde Stem), training session by Jelly Beanz on the new Children's act and an afternoon of debriefing.

We would like to thank Johnny Louw, MSP Group, Jelly Beanz and Romans Pizza for your sponsorship.

Tour of Hope

At the end of October a group of cyclists went a very long cycle trip to raise funds for Rays of Hope (Rosebank Union Church) and Matla A Bana. We would like to thank them for the hard word (and cycling) and we would also like to thank Jennifer and her team at Rosebank Union Church for offering MAB the opportunity to be part of this.

Thank you Paul Van Eeden for organising the police escort (and being part of it!).

A big thank you to all the MAB sponsors (Carlsworld Spar & Romans Pizza) who so kindly donated products and funding, and to all the MAB supportors who made a contribution towards this project.

Keep watching this space for some more news about this project!

Abandoned baby Training - Gauteng

On 9 & 10 November MAB hosted the last Abandoned babby training for 2010. The Vaalrand police stations were nominated and the training was hosted at Bosasa Training facilities. To Suzanne of Big Shoes and her team of experts facilitating we would also like to express our sincere gratitude!

Thank you to our sponsors:

Lead SA helps with Comfort Packs

By Lauren Manuel


On 1 October 94.5 KFM and 567 Cape Talk Breakfast Teams took time out to put comfort packs together for child abuse victims housed by Matla a bana. Matla A Bana is a charity project mobilising a Christian response to address the high incidence of child abuse and rape by implementing appropriate reporting, support and intervention programs. It was initiated and managed by the Callie and Monique Strydom Charity Trust which was founded upon the return of Callie and Monique Strydom after a 4-month hostage ordeal in Southeast Asia. At the end of 2002 Monique Strydom was asked to chair a task team that investigated child rape in South Africa. A need for an organization which could address all the grey areas in the child protection system in South Africa arose and the Strydom Trust undertook to address this need. Matla a Bana is a National organization, with predominant focus in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Children that have been abused are often very fearful and experience secondary trauma when needing to talk about the experience to police, Matla A Bana tries to reduce that stress by making the child as comfortable as possible. One of the things they do is provide comfort packs with items necessary to take care of the child after the abuse when they report crimes and both breakfast teams helped put together 100 of these packs. Packs contain underwear, soap and wash cloth, toothbrush and toothpaste, colouring books & pencils, a teddy bear, a snack and soft drink. Around 1000 comfort packs need to be prepared each month for abused children in the Western Cape mostly between ages of 6 and 12 years old. Monique Strydom stated that the “comfort packs provided more than just goods, but also helped develop a trust relationship between the victim and police officer which also made disclosure easier.”
As the comfort packs were handed over to the SAPS, Lieutenant Colonel Tia Van de Westhuizen of the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit expressed huge thanks to Shout and Lead SA for allowing more comfort packs to be distributed. She said “It does not matter how hurt a child is, when you tell them that the pack is for them… You have no idea what a difference it makes to them. Even after many years of doing this, I still have to walk away sometimes”.
Some of their other projects include mobilizing faith based groups, creating child-friendly reporting facilities at police stations, training police officers in “soft skills” to equip them to work with children, training doctors in expert forensic medical examinations which leads to more convictions, offering policeman and citizens rewards for going the extra mile to protect South Africa’s children. They also run unique projects to assist churches and schools to write their own child protection protocols.
You can Lead SA by reporting crimes committed against our children by calling 10111, adopting a FCS unit or court in your area, making donations (Matla a Bana’s Website below) and supporting their fundraising projects.

KRAAIFONTEIN

We are urgently looking for a container to store some goods. If we have this we can implement a Child Friendly Facility at Kraaifontein SAPS. Can anyone help?

Abondoned Baby Training

On 14 & 15 September, MAB trained 32 SAPS memebers of the Far East rand on how to deal with an Abandoned baby on a Crime Scene.

Thank you to our sponsor:
Word & Life Church in Sunward park

Artists help police

Krugersdorp FCS decided to use the Casual Day Celebrations to uplift the their morale and spirit and to create some visibility by doing a 8km walk through the town. MAB agreed to assist by mobilising volunteers to assist with their float. Margie Kaufmann and her team of "art ladies" took on the challenge and changed it into a work of art!

MAB, together with Big Shoes and Gauteng SAPS Province, has been hosting training for SAPS Client Service Centres on Managing Abandoned Babies. On 17 and 18 August such a training was hosted for the West Rand area. 38 SAPS members and 5 volunteers received their certificates.

We would like to thank our sponsors:

Mosaiek Congregation

Key West Spur

Ana- Paula's Coffee shop

Micheal van den Berg

One person changing lives

At MAB we have gotten to know many amazing people, who touches the lives through their passion. Sune is such a person. She started the "Verskilmakers" group and by hosting informal mornings at her house, she has mobilised her friends to donated and help charities. In April she donated over R1200 to MAB. In August her group donated 45 comfort packs for small girls who have been raped.

Just a wonderful example of how one person can change many lives!

Thanx Sune and your group!

MAB Incentive Awards - Gauteng

Matla a Bana, a Gauteng and Western Cape focused charity organisation hosted its bi-annual Incentive Awards, for the Gauteng Province on 26 August 2010 in Hurlingham at the Rosebank Union Church. The event celebrates South African Police Service (SAPS) members who have excelled beyond the call of duty.

The following individuals were acknowledged and honoured at the ceremony:
Constable Nalana of the Hillbrow Family Violence, Child protection and Sexual Offences Unit (linking a suspect by fingerprints en modus operandi)
Warrant Officer Gonkgang of the Tembisa Family Violence, Child Protection protection and Sexual Offences Unit
Constable Babile of the Alexandra Family Violence, Child protection and Sexual Offences Unit Warrant Officer Maedi of Katlehong (13 times Life imprisonment- 49 counts of rape for a serial rapist with several victims)
Constable Motsa of Ga-Rankuwa (Linking two missing children cases – decomposed bodies found, body parts used by Sangoma for muti..)
Captain Mathethwa of Katlehong( Best FCS Commander)
Colonel Maupa of Daveyton (Best Station Commander)
Colonel Anneke Pienaar (Service Excellence)
Vodacom Foundation National Coordinator, Melenie Naidoo (Serviec Excellence)
Katlehong FCS was the best unit for working together as a team to put a serial rapist behind bars!

These individuals were awarded with various gifts and were also issued with a certificate as a token of appreciation and an incentive to continue with their much-appreciated work. “With this special award ceremony we honor the Police men and women for what they do behind the scenes and for their invaluable support. We have seen the positive impact our collaboration has had and hope to involve even more likeminded people,” said Monique Strydom, founder of Matla a Bana.

We would like to thank all our sponsors for your continued:

Clearwater Mall, Fourways Mall, Cedar Square, Roodepoort Townlodge, Grayston Townlodge, Katherine str. City Lodge, Hunters Rest, Cajees Time Zone Clearwater Mall, Build a Bear, Servamus, Alice Art Gallery and Rosebank Union Church.

Last week MAB WC joined this group of dynamic women for their Women's Day celebration. We also received more than 35 comfort packs that will be distributed to SAPS.

Thanx Brenda and Anne Marie for thinking of us! We hope that this will be a long term relationship!

Women's Day Celebrations

Jennetta Basson(Mosaiek) Lizel(MAB) Louise Rivette (Mosaiek) Anne Malan (MC)

MAB was proud to be part of the Women's Day Celebrations hosted by Mosaiek Church and sponsored by Missional Expressions and the Women's Network (Randburg). A highlight was the attendance of members of Fairlands Police station. This station was adopted by Mosaiek as part of the MAB Adoption Program.

RIP Fiona

Today we mourn the death of one of Matla A Bana's greatest celebrity supporters and dear friend, Fiona Coyne. Thank you Fiona for always supporting us and for being such a good friend. You will be greatly missed here at Matla A Bana...

Xtremeforkids winner!

Bid for a fab date!

Make sure you get one of these fab dates! Go to www.bidorbuy.co.za and bid on the Matla A Bana Charity Auction (20 - 30 July).

THANK YOU RAMSAYMEDIA

We celebrated Mandela Day with the staff of Ramsaymedia, who packed and donated 150 comfort packs! There were many tears as staff members realised what these packs were going to be used for, but also joy in knowing that they will be helping an abused child.

Thank you Sandy and the Ramsaymedia staff, as well as all the other sponsors who made this project possible. Thank you as well to our SAPS partners who joined us for the handover event.

Today MAB became the first NGO to receive a donation from the SHOUT project. We would like to thank the Shout Ambassadors and trustees for helping us to help victims of crime! These funds will be used to make comfort packs for child-abuse victims who report crimes to the police.

You too can help make a contribution, by purchasing the SHOUT CD from any Pick 'n Pay store. For more info : http://www.shoutsa.com/

One man raises R100 000 for MAB!

Jos Malherbe departed on a cycling journey of nearly 12 000 kms from Cairo to Cape Town to raise funds for MAB. His adventure finally reached a highlight today when he handed over the R100000 to Matla A Bana during an event at the Table Bay Hotel.

We would like to thank everyone who have support this project by emailing, donating and pushing Jos on. Thank you to Sesego Cares who gave the last R10 000 for Jos to reach his target two days before the end of his trip.

Thank you also to Shaun and Sarah at the Table Bay Hotel who sponsored today's event, but also donated a fab 2 night stay worth R 12500 to Jos!

But mostly THANK YOU Jos for doing this for the children of South Africa! Like one posting on the blogsite said - "You are our HERO!".

Daveyton Child Friendly Facility Opened

Waiting area

Assessment room

VIP Guests - Valencia Moleko (Old Mutual), Lizel Van Eeden (MAB), Gen Bester & Gen Taioe (SAPS Gauteng Prov), Col Gumedi (SAPS Daveyton)

This week MAB opened it's 15th Child Friendly Reporting Facility in Gauteng. These facilities are designed to a MAB blueprint and the purpose of these facilities is to minimise the trauma children suffer when they report crimes against them.

This facility is situated in a park home at Daveyton Police Station. This area is a SAPS priority area when it comes to child abuse cases.

We would like to thank SAPS Gauteng Province for supplying the mobile home and Old Mutual for sponsoring the upgrading of this facility.