GAGA Project - Sithembakuye
Sithembakuye is a small community based project, the whole operation being run on a tight budget and limited resources. As well as having 17 children resident, they care for the needs of the whole community. They run a twice weekly luncheon club for elderly women who have often been left to care for their grandchildren and in some cases great grandchildren. They often have no access to support and they turn to Sithembakuye to help them with their needs and the children they care for. www.sithembakuye.co.za
Sithembakuye has been running as a crèche and community foster care home for the last 6 years. The organisation was started by Russell Chili and his mother-in-law Thokozane Hlongwane, as a response to the number of children in the community who had been orphaned, abandoned, or in the care of parents who were too ill to look after them. The project is run in a small house in the community, close to both the local primary school and high school, and is staffed by Russell, Precious, (Russell’s wife) and additional caregivers who help with the children.
Gogo's (Grannies) Luncheon Club
Sithembakuye runs a Gogos (Grannies) Luncheon Club which meets weekly and serves as a feeding scheme and support group meeting for those grandparents caring for orphans. The Gogos Luncheon Club has provided a network for the grannies in this community who are so heavily burdened by the care of their grandchildren because of the deaths of their children. These grannies often have no one to turn to, and for this reason Sithembakuye started the Luncheon Club, to give them not only a good meal, but the opportunity to relax and to share their problems with each other. The grannies play netball and soccer, knit, learn skills such as beadwork and sewing, and at the same time have an opportunity to discuss the problems they have with raising so many grandchildren with scant resources, and dealing with grandchildren who may be ill, or may just be difficult to raise because of what they have experienced in their short lives.
Granny KwaNgidi is an example of one of the grannies. She lost all 3 of her children, and has been left with 6 grandchildren to raise with only a state pension to pay for all of the needs of her large household. At Sithembakuye she has found people who can share her problems, and the organisation is also trying to help her with the paperwork she needs to complete to receive government support for the children.
GAGA UK funds this project, supporting Sithembakuye to support these amazing women.
Other activities...
Sithembakuye is a Permanent Foster Care Home for 17 children who have been placed in the centre, although at the moment some of the children are informally placed, and only 2 Child Support grants are received. Many of the children are brought to the centre by local Community Health Care Workers who cannot find an extended family willing or able to care for them. Sithembakuye also runs a drop-in facility for children who are being fostered by relatives in the community as a result of having been orphaned or abandoned. Currently 19 children benefit from this. Sithembakuye runs a crèche for 25 children (and counting) from the community. Parents who are working and can afford to pay for the service contribute R60.00 per month for the facility, but only 6 families are currently able to pay this fee which illustrates the poverty in this area. A community feeding scheme is run 3 days per week, at 2 different sites, which currently feeds 28 children and 15 Gogos (grannies). A Christian Youth Club is held on Friday nights for teenagers from the community. Teenagers are able to get together and discuss various issues and have the opportunity to learn life-skills, including first aid and cooking. Sithembakuye also has various netball and soccer teams and a drama club for the local children.
