Boksburg Child Welfare assists families begging on streets, thanks to Intertek’s support

Boksburg Child Welfare has been assisting families begging on the street for the past three months.

According to Vanessa Naidoo-Pillay, the intervention was planned late last year to help these families.

This initiative was made possible by Intertek Genalysis South Africa. This is after one of their employees identified the growing amount of accompanied children begging at the intersections.

“Although the intersections close to the highways and malls are not the service area of Boksburg Child Welfare, we have conducted various interventions and services to assist these children and families. The initial aim was to get them off the streets.

“However, through interviews it was established that those begging are not homeless, they beg as a source of income. Some undocumented foreigners stated that they wanted to return to their country of origin, yet when a plan was sought to assist them they declined the offer,” the director said.

To date, the local child welfare has provided these families with food hampers, PPE, feminine hygiene products, clothes and toys. Meals and refreshments were also handed out.

“Our upcoming plans are to distribute food hampers for Easter and blankets for the upcoming winter season,” she said.

“Boksburg Child Welfare extends a huge thank you to Intertek for their contribution in enabling us to provide interventions and social relief services to those that beg on the street. We are grateful for their involvement in the community and wish for other companies to also follow Intertek’s example.”

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