Voices from the Field

Play, Phones, and What Parents Are Actually Dealing With Voices from the Field | Mikhulu Trust Voices from the Field shares what our Mikhulu team hears directly from parents and caregivers on the ground. This round: play, cellphones, and the tricky space between them. Screens come up in almost every session lately, home visits, parent groups, ParentlineSA focus groups. Below is a rundown of what's actually being said, not the polished version, just what our team is hearing. Why kids are playing inside more Most of the time it starts with safety. Parents [...]

Strengthening Families in the Face of Substance Abuse in Khayamandi Voices from the Field | Mikhulu Trust A growing emergency in Stellenbosch's rapidly changing township reveals a community reaching for support — and a system that isn't reaching back. Something has shifted in Khayamandi (Kayamandi). Those of us working in the community — running psychosocial support groups, sitting across from mothers and fathers and teenagers in moments of real vulnerability — can feel it. Substance use has moved from something whispered about in private to something people are willing to name in a room full of others. [...]

The Parenting Shift Nobody Expected Voices from the Field | Mikhulu Trust More Than We Bargained For Nobody signs up to a book-sharing programme expecting it to change the way they talk to their teenager. That is not the pitch. The pitch is simpler: sit with your young child, share a book, build their early language and literacy in the years that matter most. Zero to six. The science is clear, the need is urgent, and the method is disarmingly straightforward. A caregiver, a child, a book. Dialogic book-sharing — the practice Mikhulu Trust has spent over a [...]