Changing the destiny of South Africa’s children

The founder of SA Cares for Life, Riekie van der Berg, was an accomplished social worker when she felt called to make a difference in the lives of pregnant mothers.

Neo Birth Pregnancy Care Center, founded in 1993, soon became the centre of hope for many women in similar crisis situations. The crisis counseling service is based on love, unconditional acceptance and compassion. This service is free and totally confidential, offering a mother complete information and space to think, so that decisions are neither hurried nor based on ignorance. The founders of SA Cares for Life were instrumental in the opening of more than 70 similar pregnancy centres throughout South Africa. Neo Birth started a project “Birth your dream” as a school and young adult program. This project educateds young people about HIV/AIDS, Abortion and Teenage Pregnancy, as well as encouraging young people to dream about and live with hope and excitement of their future.

The need for housing of women in need, led to the opening of House Esther in 1994, a home for pregnant mothers. House Esther was founded as a community based, non-racial care home for destitute pregnant women in a safe, confidential and compassionate environment. Currently SA Cares networks with eight similar Homes in other Provinces in South Africa

SA Cares for Life is registered with the Department of Social Development as a non-profit organisation since 1996.

ABBA Adoptions originated from the social work private practice of Riekie van der Berg, registered in 1975. ABBA Adoptions became the registered adoption division of the Apostolic Faith Mission Executive Welfare Council in 1996. ABBA Adoptions stands separate from the charity projects of SA Cares for Life but work closely together for the statutory services needed to serve the best interest of children in our care.

At this time, SA Cares for Life served as a nationwide networking body for Pregnancy Care Centres and Homes for unmarried mothers. Our services addressed the needs of families affected by HIV/AIDS with particular emphasis on women and babies. During 2000, Africa Cares for Life developed from SA Cares for Life to serve as the formal network organisation for pregnancy care centers in all of Africa. Since then, SA cares for Life expanded their own projects and served as a networking body for various divisions.

While focusing on people in the community, we became aware of the many abandoned, orphaned and HIV/AIDS affected babies and children in need. SA Cares for Life has established the ABBA Nursery and individual Care Homes in 1999 to help with the plight of newborn babies in need. These projects aim to promote caring services that respect the fundamental rights of all children. The ultimate aim is to find a “forever family” and a home for each child. The ABBA Baby nursery opened in April 2000 and could house 6 babies at that time. During November 2001 we moved to a new house for the babies and we are currently housing up to 19 babies at a time. ABBA Nursery is in close proximity of various State Hospitals, Clinics and many police stations where most of our babies are referred from after having been found abandoned or in need of care.

The need for supporting children affected by AIDS in South Africa became a frightening reality. We received more and more HIV/AIDS affected children and our S.I.C. S.I.C. (Specific Individual Care for Specific Individual Children) project specifically aims to provide a family in the community for these children. This project aims to offer a specialised service of preventing HIV infection of newborn babies and to promote the available medical and emotional care for AIDS affected and/or HIV infected infants.

During 2004, one of the mothers at Neo Birth, who was HIV positive, asked us to help her to do something in her own community. We started a satellite office in Mabopane and assisted her to help other woman facing crises pregnancies. We soon realised that the needs of this community was quite different. We started what became known as the Cluster Care Model of SA Cares for Life. This sponsorship programme focuses on identifying individual children in need of care living in poverty stricken circumstances and AIDS affected families in the community. Our entrance in the rural areas is to recruit Child Care Workers from the community to reach out to the families in need where they live. These workers visit needy families with food parcels and are our hands, feet, eyes and ears in the community to identify children in crisis. We focus on families where there is only one provider and one or more children under the age of 6. A cluster is a group of up to 30 families who live within walking distance from each other. Two Child Care Workers are designated to these families and each Child Care Worker takes responsibility for 15 families at a time, by visiting them weekly, offering emotional and practical support. Our goal is to empower families to be able to function independently and care for their children in a loving manner. Each family receives a monthly food parcel that provides one meal per day for a family of four to six. Child Care Workers give monthly reports on the services offered and the development of the families in their cluster. The cluster eliminates discrimination and serves to bring hope to families as it creates awareness on ground level to care for each other and to protect vulnerable children in their area.

Through cluster care 153 families, representing 669 children, are receiving services of support and care in Mabopane, Garankuwa and Winterveldt. During 2004 SA Cares for Life signed a contract with the North Development Corporation to rent a building in the Mabopane community from where we could deliver caring services to children and families. Lesedi La Batho Community Care Centre was officially opened in 2005 and we also established a HIV/AIDS support and training facility, Libra baby home, day care facility, skills development centre and a factory. AdoptionCentrum, Sweden, took our hands and supported us to develop & establish this model of care.

We experienced much success with the cluster care model and envisioned duplication of this model throughout South Africa. The first duplication was started in 2006 through NORSA in the Western Cape. Our duplication programme is also very successful and we will continue to establish them throughout South Africa and even into Africa. We dedicated the year 2006 to taking the first steps in making a difference in the lives of children and their families in two specific rural areas i.e. Carterville and De Doorns in the Western Cape. We focused on motivating partners to cooperate, raising the necessary funds and to “work” the Cape dream into reality. One of our first and biggest partners is Children of the World Norway who took our hands to open an office from where we could manage the work to be done. Wereldkinderen in The Netherlands soon followed to support us to start the Day Care centres for pre-school children.

In Carterville and De Doorns, basic care services are provided (food and practical care to children and families affected by AIDS in rural areas). Services are rendered according to our unique “Cluster Care” model. We are serving over 400 children through our cluster care currently. We started Helping Hands Day Care, in Carterville, and a Day Care centre in De Doorns, rendering educational stimulation for pre-school children. Food parcels to more than 100 families per month were handed out and a HIV/AIDS Education program was registered to support families and people form the community. A soup kitchen was also established which gives food to more than 500 children on a daily basis.

The care projects of SA Cares for Life are seen as specialised child welfare services. Any measure taken for the protection of children is guided by the best interests of the child and for upholding the rights of the child.

These care services have developed from one small office to a multifaceted organisation with various projects at ground level in different rural communities of service delivery to change the destiny of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

God has a purpose for each child and our projects will serve to bring destiny into every child’s life.