FAQs
Why was Pebbles Project started?
In 2003 Sophia Warner, founder of Pebbles, came to South Africa from the United Kingdom with a 13-year background in special needs teaching. Pebbles was started in 2004 with the main emphasis on children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD). After a lot of research our project scope grew to support the development of every child, regardless of his or her ability or disability.
I want Pebbles to work on my farm-how do I go about it?
Much is dependent on funding, our staff capacity, and geographic location but please contact us. We love taking on new projects and appreciate your willingness to take the first critical step by making an effort to find out if and how we can help.
Do you charge for your services?
Our fee structure is calculated according to individual farm needs and unique project requirements. Please contact info@pebblesproject.co.za to receive the full service fee structure and breakdown.
How do you monitor and evaluate your work?
Pebbles has a range of monitoring and evaluation processes to measure the positive impact of our work. We want to ensure we are doing the correct thing, at the right time, for the right reasons. These include meticulous goal setting, tracking each child’s academic performance, keeping attendance registers, having assessments throughout the year as well as evaluating the assessments results to see where the programmes can be changed and adapted.
Do you diagnose children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD)?
Proper diagnosis requires a team of medical specialists. While we are aware that a number of our children are affected by alcohol, and sometimes even display the known symptoms of FASD, we do not diagnose. Instead we track the progress of each individual child. When a child demonstrates a barrier to learning or a specific learning disability we put in place the relevant support system for that child.
What are your future project goals?
To build and establish a flagship ECD centre to accommodate children living in urban farm worker communities in Stellenbosch. We would also like to expand our current range of services across all the locations where we are currently working. Once we have reached those goals, we would love to work throughout South Africa.
What is the UK connection?
Pebbles is registered as an NGO in the United Kingdom (UK), which allows us to access donations from the UK for our various project initiatives here in South Africa. A large number of our individual and corporate donors are based in the UK.
How can I support Pebbles / get involved?
Who are the beneficiaries?
We are currently supporting over 1500 children aged 0 – 24 years, their parents, extended families, and the communities in which they live. Most of our beneficiaries live or work on Western Cape wine, fruit or tea farms. All of our beneficiaries are previously disadvantaged.
Do you operate in the Western Cape only?
We currently only work in the Western Cape. Our areas of operation include Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Wellington, Citrusdal, Clanwilliam, Grabouw and the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in Hermanus.