Reporting on children is not as easy and simple as I thought it would be. There I was sitting behind my computer googling everything that involves children living by the Jukskei river...not much.
So I had to focus my search and try and find an angle. I then searched for institutions and organisations that are for children near the Jukskei river. I looked for clinics, children's homes and creches.
These were a bit easier to find. Everybody I called proved to be of no help to me. Luckily I found one lady, Portia Mongake who runs Abangani Nkosini/Alexandra Children's home. The following day I was in her home speaking to her.
Mongake's children's home shares a yard with two other organisations, a surgery and creche, and they are not connected in anyway. As we talk there are children all over her, we are sitting in the main house, (shack), that serves as an office, play area, kitchen, living room and bedroom. She takes care of more than 200 children and lives with 10.
Most of the children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some their parents are too sick to take of them and the others the parents are unemployed. She provides food for all the children and makes sure they get funding for education and clothes.
This woman is not rich but she shares the little she has with the children. She tells us that things are not easy but she believes in the culture of sharing and teaches that to the children. The children do not have it easy and tells us a story about how one of the children was raped by an uncle...this makes her teary.
Mongake is not the only woman with a story.
Ellen Chauke was moved out of her home in inner Alex and moved to the banks of Jukskei into a very small shack. Where she used to stay now stands a mall. She was promised a home three years ago. Silver Town is home to many people with the same story as Chauke. It shocks me how people can be moved from their homes and put into shacks for a mall...where is the logic in that.
This projects is an eye opener and I know that there are so many stories like these therefore I am challenged to write these people stories in a way that gives a platform to their problems.
So I had to focus my search and try and find an angle. I then searched for institutions and organisations that are for children near the Jukskei river. I looked for clinics, children's homes and creches.
These were a bit easier to find. Everybody I called proved to be of no help to me. Luckily I found one lady, Portia Mongake who runs Abangani Nkosini/Alexandra Children's home. The following day I was in her home speaking to her.
Mongake's children's home shares a yard with two other organisations, a surgery and creche, and they are not connected in anyway. As we talk there are children all over her, we are sitting in the main house, (shack), that serves as an office, play area, kitchen, living room and bedroom. She takes care of more than 200 children and lives with 10.
Most of the children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some their parents are too sick to take of them and the others the parents are unemployed. She provides food for all the children and makes sure they get funding for education and clothes.
This woman is not rich but she shares the little she has with the children. She tells us that things are not easy but she believes in the culture of sharing and teaches that to the children. The children do not have it easy and tells us a story about how one of the children was raped by an uncle...this makes her teary.
Mongake is not the only woman with a story.
Ellen Chauke was moved out of her home in inner Alex and moved to the banks of Jukskei into a very small shack. Where she used to stay now stands a mall. She was promised a home three years ago. Silver Town is home to many people with the same story as Chauke. It shocks me how people can be moved from their homes and put into shacks for a mall...where is the logic in that.
This projects is an eye opener and I know that there are so many stories like these therefore I am challenged to write these people stories in a way that gives a platform to their problems.
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