A NEW haven of safety is being planned for abandoned and neglected children from Michausdal, Lingelihle and Cradock.
According to Pumla Gigi, spokesperson for the planning committee, their project will serve children who are very vulnerable, particularly those whose parents are unemployed and spend their days and nights using alcohol and drugs.
“Because parents do not nurture their kids and they grow up on the streets, we want to provide them with a safe centre where they will be fed, properly dressed and can experience a homely atmosphere,” Gigi explained.
She also said that they will be prepared to work over weekends and provide sleeping accommodation for children when necessary.
At the centre, they aim to give preschool children the basic education that more fortunate children would receive at a preschool facility. They will also assist them with homework and work towards obtaining a library so that children can broaden their horizons.
“We need educational toys, small chairs and tables and story books,” she said.
Some of the problems that they aim to address are teenage pregnancies and parents who give their children drugs to sleep so they can go to the tavern, resulting in three and four-year-olds getting addicted to drugs.
Children also sometimes spend the whole night in taverns with their parents and get exposed to everything that happens around them at these venues.
“We also want to put a stop to children roaming around all night looking for their parents and standing a chance of getting raped, given alcohol and drugs and eventually going to sleep on empty stomachs.
“We will also identify children with learning, hearing, speech and FAS problems and take them to trained people who work at the hospital,” she explained.
Gigi said they want to involve the municipality to provide a proper place for a shelter, and to ask the Department of Social Development to become involved to cut down on the number of children not being cared for.
The Department of Justice can be involved so that less children have to go to court. Involvement of the Department of Health will help to ensure that there are less malnourished children and children who do not keep up with their medication, while the Department of Home Affairs can ensure that each child can have a birth certificate and make use of available grants. The Department of Education can assist with school attendance.
They will also work with the ACVV, Child Welfare and the police so that fewer children are involved in crime.
Gigi explained that they need equipment for a preschool facility and people who have a heart for children to assist at the shelter.
For more info contact Gigi at 073 269 9071.
