Soweto's Othandweni Children's Home receive an early Christmas present

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Othandweni Children's Home has a reason to smile A donation of R250 000 worth of supplies should bring warmth to the lives of Soweto's abandoned, abused and orphaned children in the Othandweni Children's Home. September 21, 2006 By JoNews Reporter THE children at Soweto's Othandweni Children's Home received an early Christmas present – in the form of R250 000 worth of supplies donated by staff of the Zwartkops Centurion branch of car company Daimler Chrysler. The supplies, including baby bottles, nappies, cleaning equipment, blankets and food, were handed over to Othandweni on Friday, 15 September. Othandweni is a residential care facility of the Johannesburg Child Welfare Society, a non-governmental organisation. "We survive by donations here," says manager Goodness Dlamini. "There is always an appeal for the public, individuals and the corporate sector to donate in kind or cash in order to keep the doors open for children who need the care." Nicolle Kaiouz, the society's public relations officer and one of its fundraisers, explained that after collecting gifts for Othandweni previously, some of the company's staff members had motivated the rest of the staff to get involved. The shelter has six cottages, each with room for 12 children between the ages of five and 18. Babies, most of them abandoned or Aids orphans, from newborn to four years old live in the nursery. There are also emergency houses which provide temporary shelter for abused children and runaways from abusive homes. Private donations are welcome, but Deborah Hunt, a Johannesburg Child Welfare Society fundraiser, appealed for more support from the government and tertiary institutions to help the children become self-supporting when they reach 18. At this age, the state policy demarcates responsibility, she says, adding that it was not right for these children to become destitute after the shelter's efforts to help them. Dlamini also believes that it is their responsibility to make sure the children are taught the skills needed to lead decent lives. "We need to ensure that these children are equipped with basic skills to get work opportunities so that their children will not come back here." Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za