Smiles abounded as golfers raised R100 000 for a good cause in the fourth annual Uitkoms Charity Golf Day.
Parkview Golf Club was abuzz as community members met to honour the 75-year-old Uitkoms Home for Girls, an Observatory-based charity that homes girls between the ages of 10 and 17.
About 20 girls are placed there at any given time by the courts, often as a result of abandonment or abuse at the hands of their parents or guardians.
The girls stay anywhere between a few months to five years on average before they leave, although they only leave when the courts and social workers say they are ready.
The golf day saw about 76 golfers take to the fairways under glorious skies and warm weather.
While some took the game with a competitive edge, everyone remembered the cause behind the event and were soon smiling and engaging in the usual banter that goes with golf.
“I was a resident of Uitkoms in 1996,” said Charlene Potgieter, who said her parents kicked her out the house when she was pregnant.
“It was the only place that gave me an opportunity, dignity and self-worth at the time.”
Uitkoms manager Frans Swanepoel and marketing consultant Tanya Krause said Uitkoms began as a home for pregnant girls whose parents would not accept them.
“The home has changed over the years and there are many reasons we home girls now,” Krause said.
“We provide shelter, home, schooling and therapy. Many of the girls who come do not necessarily want to be there at the start but they begin to see it as a safe place. We try to reunite girls with their families afterwards.”
Swanepoel explained that government subsidies only covered about half the home’s expenses and it had to raise R300 000 each year to cover the rest.
“Last year was the first year in six that we received more than we needed,” he smiled.
Details: Uitkoms Home for Girls hello@uitkoms.org.za; 011 487 0357.
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