From the Desk of our Director

 

 

 

 

The screams and shouts of children playing, crying and bringing life into the Children’s Home
can be heard far and wide. The ebb and flow of activities can sometimes be overwhelming. We
are now entering the first quarter of the new financial year, and at the same time have to report
on the activities of the previous year. At the same time, we are entering into Autumn and all of
these environmental factors that influences the behaviors and activities at ground level, is a
stark reminder of what happens daily in this place called, the Children’s Home.

The daily routine of children being prepared to go to school starts around 05h30, and until they
are dropped off at school around 08h00, can be an exhausting experience. At the forefront of
this are the Child and Youth Care Workers who with so much dedication help, assist, guide and
manage 10 to 12 children daily, to start and finish off their daily chores, homework and sporting
activities to the best of their ability. Every day is different and calls for a skill set that can be
adjusted on the turn and at the same time manage themselves to not burnout.

We have been blessed in so many ways over the last while after Covid-19 with many people
approaching us to find out how they can support and invest in the programs we offer the
children in our care. The various projects are explained under the dropdown bullet ‘programs’ on
the website.

We are now in the 156 th year of service delivery and we continue to strive to serve more families
who are facing socio-economic challenges that affects both the parents and children negatively.
The reality of these, of course is that the children are removed, so that ‘social work agencies’
can focus on the family members, to assist them to manage their challenges better, so that the
children can go back to their families.

We were hit hard with the news that subsidies are cut as of the 1 st April 2024. This included the
closing of 2 acclaimed programs for children in the local schools in our district, who have
challenges with the ‘adolescent syndrome’ and uncontrolled behaviors. A much needed
program that yielded so much success for children and staff at both the school, parental home,
and the Children’s Homes. This reality of a lack of funding isn’t necessarily news, because it
seems that those organizations who attempt to provide services that government should
provide, are not getting the support they need to provide for the orphaned, vulnerable and at risk
children and adolescents in our communities. The question is: what can we do, what should we
do, what should you do as the community, to get more support on all levels of service delivery
for our future!

Francisco G Cornelius