THREE years following the fire that gutted the Edith Benson Babies Home in Sherwood, president of the Child Welfare Durban and District said there are exciting times ahead for the organisation.
The fire razed the babies home in February 2018, and since its forced closure, a babies cottage at William Clark Gardens Child and Youth Care Centre was opened to house babies in January 2020, following numerous meetings between president, Rajan Pillay held and the Department of Social Development and office of MEC.
“We have a total of 15 babies in this facility at present, aged between two months to five years,” he said.
In conversation with Berea Mail in January 2019, Pillay said the board and management of Child Welfare were waiting for the Department of Social Development to give them the go-ahead to rebuild the much-needed facility where the previous home was, however this was put on hold due to investigations into the fire.
Pillay said the insurance company’s investigation revealed that the cause of the fire was due to faulty wiring.
At the time, he said surveyors and architects had been on site and the surveyors had noted the possibility of a two storey building.
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Commenting this month on the progress on the project, Pillay said: “Shortly after being granted authority to admit babies I began talks with a few corporates to secure funding for the re-build of the babies home. Unfortunately Covid-19 put a halt to continued talks as a lot of the initial talks required meeting possible donors, going out to site and engaging with the municipal authority as well.”
However, Pillay said since lockdown had eased, talks had recommenced.
“Preliminary architectural impression drawings will be ready next month. There are very exciting times ahead as the project is picking up momentum now,” he said.
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