Children of Fire shower babies with gifts

AUCKLAND PARK - The charity Children of Fire plans a baby shower for underprivileged babies.

April 26, 2016

1 minute read

Resident mothers and their children, who benefit from the annual baby showers, rely on the gift hampers made by Children of Fire to get through the winter months. Photo supplied.

Children of Fire will host a baby shower for mothers in the Joe Slovo squatter camp, a tradition the Auckland Park charity has continued for 18 years.

The tradition started when Children of Fire began to work with the community to educate locals about the dangers of fire. The charity taught families fire-fighting skills and purchased water tanks for the purpose of extinguishing fires. Children of Fire has also helped the community by starting weekly literacy schemes. It was during these outreach programmes that the charity saw how young some of the mothers with children were doing and how little they have to share with their infants.

“I used to live in Joe Slovo. I understand why people live in shacks, because rent in formal housing is so high in relation to people’s incomes,” said Jemina Masiteng. As a mother and as a child care worker, Masiteng feels for mothers surviving only on grants or handouts from relatives. “They cannot spoil their children, ever. There is no surplus,” Masiteng added.

Loide Ndemueda, who currently runs the weekly literacy scheme, spoke to Children of Fire about the need in the community, and this is when a baby shower was decided upon as a kind way to reach out to their neighbours.

Children of Fire need the following items to make gift bags for the baby shower on 1 May:

• Nappies

• Baby wipes

• Nappy bags

• Formula (well in date)

• Baby food (well in date)

• Winter baby clothes

• Toys, including hard plastic learning toys

• Baby bottles

• Bottle cleaning brushes

• Baby baths

• Baby support chairs