Twilight Home needs a helping hand
The home also needs help with five more boys who completed their matric last year and are also in need of assistance for their tertiary education.
The Twilight Children’s Home is a place of second chances.
Started in 1983 as a soup kitchen and later extended to become a shelter for boys, the main aim of the home is to restore the dignity of the children living and working on the streets. The home currently houses 50 boys from the age of eight to 18.
The centre was previously opened to help previously disadvantage children in need of care and protection. The children were equipped with tools that allowed them to lead sustainable lives, provide care and development to be integrated into the main stream society.
According to the fundraiser, Ms Cathy MacDonald, the home is now not allowed to take in boys from the streets because of the new Children’s Act. The Act only allows the home to accept boys who have been through the child welfare system and placed at the home via the courts.
“Our sector is facing a grave crisis with many threatened by closure as a result of the implementation of the Children’s Act and the supporting funding models. Drastic cuts have been made in funding. It is a challenging time. A lot of the children in our care no longer qualify for funding and we are forced to send them home only for them to return to the streets immediately,” said Ms MacDonald.
Ms MacDonald said it’s been difficult for the home to run some of the outreach programmes because of a lack of funds. The soup kitchen was closed due to an influx of not only children, but also older people.
“The level of poverty in the area is bad. People are hungry and we could not sit and watch people die from hunger. We started opening the kitchen to all who were starving but the funds were just not enough so we had to close the kitchen,” said Ms MacDonald.
“The home has put a number of boys through school and tertiary education with the help of sponsors, but now the home is concerned due to the lack of sponsors – we don’t know how we are going to get them schooling.
“Four boys are currently at the Johannesburg University, in there fourth year of study. The boys are doing well in their studies, but need financial assistance as we know tertiary education is expensive and they are still under our care. We have to try to provide for them,” said Ms MacDonald.
The home also needs help with five more boys who completed their matric last year and are also in need of assistance for their tertiary education.
“The financial burden is growing and with funding being cut off from other sponsors, we might have to even let go of some of our staff members since we can’t afford to pay them.
“We are worried more about the boys because some don’t even qualify for the grant anymore – they will end up going back to the street. The sad thing is they don’t go far, they sleep close by to the home. Some of the boys have nowhere to go because the situation at home is so bad that they cannot live there,” said Ms MacDonald.
Twilight also tries to generate its own money by selling beadwork and pottery items made by the boys. The home runs skills programmes to offer the boys skills that could be useful to them in future.
“We do fundraising events but organising such an event also costs money,” she said.
For more information, or to assist the home, contact 011 484-1590, email cathy@twilightchildren.co.za or visit the website www.twilightchildren.co.za
