MEC commends volunteers for hard work

Limpopo MEC for Social Development, Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana commended workers and management at funded child and youth care centres (CYCCs) in the Waterberg District for their commitment and hard work regardless of circumstances surrounding their environments.

This was during the MEC’s courtesy visit at the centres on Tuesday 19 March as part of her drive to visit and monitor funded projects in the province.

In Bela-Bela, the MEC first visited the home of orphans and vulnerable children Huis Tekna, then proceeded to the home of children with dire disabilities, Huis Talje. The MEC and her entourage
were accompanied by local municipal officials. The team then proceed to the Abram Kriel Children’s Home in Modimolle Town, and then wrapped off her visits at the Mmantadi CYCC in Mookgophong Township.

Child and Youth Care Centres are residential facilities that offer permanent or temporary residence to vulnerable and orphaned children.

One of the stops, Huis Tekna, is where little Mapula Mokwena, the miracle child who spent three days in a pit toilet, is currently residing. The MEC did not go empty handed at the centres as
every home received parcels according to their needs in order to strengthen their resources.

A total of 43 orphans and vulnerable children reside at Huis Tekna, a home regarded as beautiful and has good surroundings for the children. The MEC and her entourage conducted a symbolic
handing over of groceries to the centre after monitoring it and interacting with the children and staff members.

Huis Talje accommodates 43 disabled children, with 31 permanent staff members and 11 volunteers. The centre believes that a severely disabled child belongs home and not in a centre, as the joy
in their faces tells it all when they take them home for the holidays.

They train members of the community so that they can be able to look after the disabled children, also to do away with the stigma in the society. After a tour at the facility, the MEC handed
over more than 200 packs of nappies, a great necessity for the centre and the children.

The MEC handed over groceries also at Abram Kriel and encouraged the children to study harder because education can better their lives. The centre houses 106 children who stay there
permanently. The children were happy to the see the MEC and even thanked her for her visit and the donation.

— The BEAT