Domino Foundation spreads the love

BACK in the murky past, the Blue Roof in Wentworth was known as a venue for unsavoury nightlife.

Over the years, its reputation has been redeemed, as first it was transformed into a wellness centre for comprehensive HIV treatment and more recently as ZoëLife’s Blue Roof Life Space, a venue catering more broadly for community wellness with a special emphasis on children and youth.

Since 2016, it has been a hub for HIV services provision, youth empowerment and social upliftment for thousands. As an outsource partner of the Domino Foundation’s Red Light programme, the Blue Roof’s state-of-the-art Career Assessment Centre plays a vital part in the release phase of Red Light’s beneficiaries on their journey into the wholeness of living.

These survivors of sexual exploitation go through the restore phase before they are moved into the release phase, where their interaction with the Blue Roof occurs.

“The Career Assessment Centre helps Red Lights’ beneficiaries understand how their personal attributes impact their potential success and satisfaction when they consider career options suited to their personality strengths and interests,” said Blue Roof manager, Tom Butterworth.

The foundation is a registered NPO based in Amanzimtoti and Durban North, with a desire to see individuals and communities within South Africa living in dignity, justice, hope and purpose. Through its eight focused community transformation initiatives, Domino directly impacts the lives of over 13 500 individuals daily, across KZN.

Esther Madikane, Red Light’s release coordinator, was emphatic when she said, “With the dysfunctional backgrounds our beneficiaries often have compounded by inadequate formal education, choosing a new career path can be daunting. However, with the excellent guidance, the Blue Roof staff give them, they develop a vision of what they want to do and an understanding of what skills and qualifications they will need to get there.”

Esther’s colleague, Gugu Mazwele, coordinator of restore added, “We are privileged to be able to access the resources of Blue Roof’s wellness centre with its HIV services and support. A large number of our beneficiaries are HIV-positive cases and often they are either not on treatment or default on taking their anti-retrovirals.”

Both Gugu and Esther were adamant about how the challenge and support Blue Roof plays as a crucial part in the beneficiaries’ restoration and being readied to enter mainstream society as a whole and healed individuals.

‘The Red’ and ‘the Blue Roof ’ are committed to their ongoing partnership to see vulnerable individuals who have been exploited in the sexual industry through prostitution shake off their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual shackles to be able to embrace new lives of freedom.  

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