Children’s organisation opens new drop-in centre outside Siyabuswa
SOS Children's Villages celebrate the opening of the centre aimed at offering support and developmental programmes.
The SOS Children’s Villages opened a new drop-in centre under their SOS Social Centre in a village called Mathanjana, outside Siyabuswa, with the aim of piloting community and family empowerment as part of the organisations broader programmes.
The opening was on Monday October 3 and saw a number of community members appreciating the work that is done by the non-profit organisation to uplift their community.
The SOS Children’s Villages programme director, Bobby Bogopa said the organisation started its operations under the social centre in the village since 2004 and has reached thousands of children.
“Since the establishment of the social centre, 5 547 children and 543 families have been reached. The programmes in the new drop-in centre will offer interventions such as school support, developmental, nutrition, child protection and psychosocial support. We will continue to provide support, training and counselling to families, to help them become stronger in the face of adversity, but mostly, the team ensures child rights are upheld,” Bogopa said.
He added that all the interventions are delivered in partnership with the communities, families being active participants, influencing, delivering and monitoring projects.
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Bogopa said the social centre has been successful through its partnership with another organistaion called Isibindi.
“During the height of the HIV/Aids crisis in the country in the 1990s, the National Association of Child Care Workers developed a community-based care model to respond to the crisis and too many children lost their parents or were at risk of losing them. Isibindi aims to create safe and caring communities through delivery of community-based child, youth and family care services. Through the organisation, young people access life skills and empowerment initiatives. Early childhood development programmes are delivered for the younger children, including safe parks where children gather to access educational services and take advantage of nutritional programs,” Bogopa elaborated.
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The SOS Children’s Villages were established in 1984 and has eight children’s villages and three social centres across eight provinces without parental care are provided with quality alternative family-based care.
