PROUD director of St Monica’s Child and Youth Care Centre and mother to 85, is Althea Govender.
Althea was born in the heart of Central Durban and later moved to uMhlatuzana where she spent most of her young years growing up. Knowing that she always wanted to work with children, she applied to study towards a teaching and social work degree and was accepted for social work at the University of Durban-Westville and later got her honours. “I have always loved children. I started out at grassroots doing marriage counselling and worked at Phoenix Child Welfare. That experience has grounded me for where I am today because it was a generic all-round experience, working with abandoned, abused and traumatised children, investigated the care of children and removed them from unsafe circumstances. What I did back then is what I now supervise and I understand the process so well,” she said.
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While working at Phoenix Child Welfare, Althea was promoted to a managerial position at the welfare and also offered the opportunity to run a therapy centre for abused children. “Running a children’s centre is not easy, the child abuse rate was so high in Phoenix.
In 2003 she was head hunted and offered the opportunity to work as the deputy director for Childline KZN, where she supervised close to 20 social workers who rendered therapy to children being abused in every type of way. She also ran a group of teenage perpetrators of abuse. “On the one hand you are guiding people the people who are supposed to support victims of abuse and on the other, you are guiding and counselling a group of youngsters who are inflicting harm on others. It was a huge challenge on both sides because there is no guarantee that the work I did with these individuals would actually impact and change them for the better. However, knowing that I was making an effort to help these children get through their pain and trauma made the challenge worthwhile. I found that most of the teen perpetrators were victims of abuse themselves and acting out how they had been treated.
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“Childline KZN was at the forefront of child abuse back then and being in that particular role exposed me to anything and everything that had to do with the abuse of children. You get burned out very easily with that kind of work as it takes a lot out of you. I found that you can only be in that sphere of abuse for a limited time for one’s own well-being,” Althea shared. She then took the decision to broaden her sphere of work and in 2008 was accepted to be the director of St Monica’s Child and Youth Care Centre. The career move was a big transition for her at first as the position required her to not only manage the home but also take residence there as well. “It was only later on that I realised that all my previous years of work actually prepared me perfectly for this role. I was able to transfer past knowledge and work in the different aspects of the children’s lives.”
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Now with a total of 30 years experience working with children, Althea runs St Monica’s like a well-oiled machine, despite the challenges that come with running a non-profit organisation in the dire economic climate. Her faith in God, her family and friends, committed board members of St Monica’s as well as her morning workouts keeping her going so that she is able to render the best possible service to the children.
“This is my calling. The most profound, fulfilling and best years of my life have been working at St Monica’s. I love the children, they brighten my day always and it’s just unbelievable how rewarding this experience has been. I have one biological daughter, but I have 85 beautiful children in total who are my life.”
To donate to St Monica’s Child and Youth Care Centre or for more information contact the home on 031-468-8656 or email althead@stmonicas.org.za.
