The Bokamoso initiative, which ensures that children of Homeless Talk vendors are able to attend crèche, urgently needs more funding so they can take on new children.
The initiative was started in 2001 by the Rosebank Homeless Association in partnership with Homeless Talk, to ensure that young children and babies of Homeless Talk vendors were not on the streets with their parents.
The association initially opened its own crèche, however, its location in Hillbrow made it difficult for some parents to get their children there. The initiative now supports 30 children at various established crèches around Johannesburg.
“We started our own crèche and we amalgamated with Roly Poly Crèche in Hillbrow but we found that vendors couldn’t bring their children to Hillbrow,” said Eve Jammy, the chairperson of Bokamoso. “We opened one in Rosebank too but they pulled the building down where we had free accommodation.
“We have now agreed that as long as its an approved school they could go to, it would be okay.”
The funding for the initiative is costly as the association commits to sending the children to crèche for five years, after which they begin school. Sending a child to a crèche costs approximately R5 000 a year. Currently, the association is not sure if it will be able to take on more children next year.
“We would like to have children sponsored as it does cost a lot of money. I think people like supporting children and knowing where the money is going.
“We haven’t had much funding in the last couple of years so we’ve got to reduce the number of children. We feel that if we take a child, we are committed for five years. We cannot have a child at a crèche for a year or two and then they go back on the street.”
Jammy added that while they have received some very generous donations in the past few years they have become more worried about the funding in recent times.
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