Giving hope to less fortunate children

It is not everyone that hears the cries of needy children and answers, but founder of Aluncedo Care Centre Nomonde Twopeni said she could not look away as three struggling children asked her for help a couple of years ago.

From those three children, the centre in Mofolo North now assists over 300 children in and around that area from zero to 18-year-olds.

“In 2005, three children came to me and said they had been abandoned by their mother and were living with their grandmother, so they needed help.

“Upon visiting the grandmother, she told me she only survived on her pension and was also struggling to help these children with things like homework, so I decided to help them.

“In 2011 my husband and I thought we should do something, then we started the centre,” she said.

Twopeni and her husband operated the centre from their home until Councillor Gugu Mbatha offered them the Old Club House Hall.

They then moved there and as the years went by more children were placed there and volunteers joined their cause.

“Now we have 10 people working in the kitchen, 20 field workers and a social worker that works with us part time.

“We do home visits and help these children with homework, assist their grannies with application of grants and birth certificate, uniform and stationery donations and fetch medication for HIV positive children and those that are epileptic.

“In addition to this we give the children food in the afternoon but wish we could also provide breakfast for them.

“These children just need love, food and clothing as some are from child headed families, orphan and vulnerable children, infected or affected by HIV/Aids and others are abandoned,” Twopeni said.

She said during school holidays the children go to the centre to eat and do various activities such as sport, drama, singing and watching movies or educational programmes.

This way the children stay safe when and their grannies are at ease knowing they are cared for.

“The challenges we face though, is that we don’t have equipment for our extra mural activities.

“We also have a challenge of food due to no funding, hence we end up asking for food donations from local shop owners and doctors in the area.

“There is one person that assists us with vegetables every Monday from City Deep, which we are thankful for because we are able to share some of these with our families,” she said.

Twopeni said they all volunteer and can’t even afford to get stipends and though they love what we do, what makes this job hard is the lack of funds.

“We need transport for the children as sometimes we are offered trips but can’t send the children, we need food, clothing, sports and dance equipment and sanitary towels, so we are asking for help from the community,” she said.

For more information or if you want to help you can contact Twopeni or the centre on 074 357 3836.

@TebohoSeabelo