The Sisanda FunDaytion: Connecting and building resilience through play in Cape Town, South Africa

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead)

The Sisanda FunDaytion (www.sisanda.org.za ) is an example of Margaret Mead’s belief that a small group can make a significant difference. Their story begins with a handful of friends who realized there were children in Cape Town who had never experienced the ocean. These women saw the injustice of children who had no experience of the joy, awe, and wonder of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans so they set out to change that. This was the initial seed that has sparked the creativity and imagination of the non-profit organization Sisanda FunDaytion.

The FunDaytion’s vision is a world in which all children can experience the joy of being children and have the relationships and resilience to thrive. The FunDaytion value play, connections, exposure to novel ideas, experiences, shared moments, and a generosity of spirit. In their 14 years of existence, the FunDaytion has created a wide range of programs including fun excursions, youth leadership opportunities, after school learning groups, training platforms for parents and caregivers, and a play@home program to nurture intergenerational connections. Some of the children who were the initial recipients of these programs are now old enough to be youth ambassadors. They learn leadership skills and apply these skills through the aforementioned programs as leaders and facilitators.

The CMM Institute is honored to partner with Sisanda by providing donated CosmoKidz activities. We recently heard from the Director about their experience using the activities:

“We used the Cosmokidz cards with a few families in our 1st Play@Home programme.  The Play Ambassadors find the cards easy to use and they have noticed how it has helped the few families they have tried it with to sit together in a circle and share with each other which is not a common experience.

One of our facilitators wrote this:
“I got a chance to practice it at home with my family, they truly enjoyed it everyone was interacting asking questions about the feelings and how one acts when in a bullied situation. It also created a great conversation on how children are being bullied and big people mentioning that they also feel bullied sometimes by their children.

It was so great seeing everyone talking and sharing their views at home. And my nephews sharing how they wish to be treated by other children and big people in their community and at school.

Yesterday I also took one card “Sharing & Caring” with me to PPG (Afterschools centre) to try it with kids there in my class. The kids enjoyed it very much and they even did role plays and I gave them a work where they need to write down 5 ways of showing kindness to other kids. So last night I was receiving massages from the parents asking about the homework because children came back asking their parents to help them find/ figure out ways of being kind.

I feel that this tool could be a great tool to add in our kit and would help our PAs grow more in creating conversations and confident in communication.”

We are doing detailed planning over the next 2 weeks for our next Play Ambassador training and Play@Home programme which is starting next month. We look forward to our discussion on how to include it further to support families.

Although separated by continents, Sisanda and the CMM Institute are joined in our mission to help children and families thrive, one activity at a time (whether through fun, games and/or conversational activities). We look forward to exploring additional ways of partnering with Sisanda as both organizations endeavor to co-create better social worlds.

To learn more about Sisanda, visit their website at www.sisanda.org.za

See and share their posts on Instagram:

https://instagram.com/sisandafundaytion