The Pelo Project

WHAT WE KNOW:

❤️ Poverty on South Africa is at inhumane levels
❤️ Street drugs like Whoonga are killing people and turning them into slaves to the next fix - creating criminals, s*x workers and homelessness.
❤️Violence is becoming a way of life in rural communities and is rife in crèches, schools and homes.
❤️ GBV levels are some of the worst in the world.
❤️ Trauma is layered, complex and not being treated or healed.
❤️ Students are failing or not attending school due to numerous barriers and a lack of support. Many cannot learn in the violence.
❤️ Cultural barriers create racism, discrimination and mistrust.
❤️ Bullying is starting in pre schools
❤️ Children are hungry and neglected in many rural homes.
❤️ Sexual abuse is rife
❤️ People are angry and resentful - there is too much injustice and hardship

HOW DO WE IMPROVE THIS?

We start in the early years and uplift the schools. Education is vital for upliftment and empowerment. We need to up skill and support TEACHERS to create safe learning environments and to teach children things like:
❤️ EMPATHY
❤️ EMOTIONAL REGULATION SKILLS
❤️ CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILLS
❤️ CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS
❤️ COMPASSION

- End violence in schools
- Instill hope
- Teach a love of learning

When I first came back to SA from Australia I went to the North West province to stay out in Madikwe game reserve with people working in a lodge out there. I got asked to help in a little school for the children of lodge staff. In my time out there we got the little school registered and started a homeschooling curriculum. I became familiar with the education system in rural areas and worked closely Setswana people living in these rural villages.

I linked up with an NPO out there trying to help rural schools and headed out to do assessments on kids. This opened my mind to the enormous gaps and hardships these schools are facing. Children as old as 10 were unable to count or recognise shapes and colours in their own language. My heart broke. I then learnt more about the problems and barriers from teachers out in some of the schools and crèches in these villages and wanted to help. I created THE PELO PROJECT. Pelo means heart in Setswana. ❤️

I wanted to help rural schools and uplift the rural education system where possible. My expertise lie in emotional regulation, family systems, trauma and sociology. I know I have the skills to make a difference, however small. I moved to Howick - bringing this project to KZN and worked alongside people in the community to learn and expand my knowledge. I spoke on local radio, I spoke in schools and I went out to Shiyazibali informal settlement on our doorstep to meet people and other NPOs working out there.

Then Covid hit. And the needs evolved. The homeless were not getting food and I joined ranks with Hunger Busters to fight the system to provide food and support to our most vulnerable. Many were addicts and involved in petty crime. I wanted to create a program to bring addiction support to Howick but was faced with so many challenges and resistance that I had to hand this over to the municipality - and let it go without succeeding in providing addiction services. I was also burnt out and a target for so many people to blame for the addicts behaviour and crime. It’s been a journey to get to a point of wanting to work in the community again.

The time has come though, to reinstate The Pelo Project. I felt the fire in my belly when I supported a young lady who was trying to get her matric at 24 years old whilst being a single parent to a 2 year old, caring for her terminally sick and at times delusional and violent mother, and struggling to survive on donated food and resources. She failed her first term despite being extremely intelligent and I learnt that she was being beaten daily by both students and TEACHERS. Her little child was also being pinched and physically abused at the crèche. I felt I needed to think about how to help in rural schools again.

The Pelo Project is starting small but will aim to support teachers to create safe and non violent schools that are trauma informed and uplifted with skills/resources to support the array of trauma and hardship being presented in students. Schools have the potential to turn things around in our country and the violence needs to end. We are creating the mental illness, substance abuse, crime and violence in both family’s and schools. In time I hope schools can be a support to families too. Education is key in upliftment and trauma prevents learning. You can’t help a lot of the adults at this point but we can make a difference with early intervention and prevention in children. Teachers need support and new ways of dealing with what they are facing.

I am starting from the ground up - small but with heaps of knowledge and experience. If you would like to join me and help me (and the big hearted earth angel Jan Hankey) to formulate action plans and work on ideas to get started - please get in touch. I will make a WhatsApp group and we can all meet over a cuppa ☕️ to kickstart this.

❤️Paula Taylor
0791233790
[email protected]