Struggling orphanage goes 10 years without DSD support
Over the years the centre accommodated a total of 94 children which includes the current 15, between 2012 and 2022, however, not a single child has ever received funds.
Since its inception 10 years ago, the Vosloorus-based orphanage called Dzulani Child and Youth Care Centre (DCYCC) has never received financial or any form of support from the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD).
The founder and director of DCYCC, Nelisiwe Nelikau, shared their frustration as she explained that the staff and children are affected by the lack of funding and sponsorship.
DCYCC caters for at least 15 children – four boys and 11 girls aged between one and 18 years.Nelikau complained that she has been funding the orphanage home from her pocket with her husband since 2012.
She said over the years the centre accommodated a total of 94 children which includes the current 15 between 2012 and 2022. However, not a single child has ever received funds.
“We do not get funding meant for orphanages, grants for the children, school uniforms or food parcels, even after complying with all the requirements and obtaining certificates,” said Nelikau.
She believes her attempts to secure funding are being sabotaged by an official who was a social worker of the GDSD.“The department has been placing children here but they do not provide the much-needed support for them,” she said.“
This year I was told that I will never receive funding until 2024 or 2025 and that having the certificate does not mean money will automatically come through.
“I asked myself what the children will eat while they wait for another two to three years before they get funds? How will they survive?” she asked.
According to Nelikau, in 2021 the department held on to her certificate refusing to release it until she was assisted by her lawyers.
“I applied for the certificate in 2019 that is when there were allegations that we are abusing children. They kept my file of documents and refused to send it to the head office and then they started removing the children from the centre without a court order.”
She said she wrote to the regional director of social development about the matter, which was ignored. It was not long till the children started returning to the home on their own, she added.Sibongile Mabaso, who is a social worker at DCYCC, told Kathorus MAIL the orphanage is a home to children who have been neglected, abused and victimised by the community.
She explained they also render socio-social and therapeutic services to assist them to adjust and to educate and empower them depending on the challenges they endured in their homes.
Mabaso said the lack of funding affects everyone because they are also volunteers and at times they cannot afford taxi fares to travel the home every day.
“I feel it is not fair for me to request money for transport from a person that I know they do not have it as well.“It is also not fair on the side of my family because I am an unemployed qualified social worker and it has been some time now.
“The department only offers us short term contracts and now I have to take that little money and use it to travel here,” said Mabaso.
How did the centre operate without funding?Nelikau said she got support from her husband, and at times she would sell at jumble sales.She said sometimes they got sponsors for themselves because they found that DSD was blocking all sponsors that wanted to help the centre by telling them the home does not exist.
Challenges
She said DCYCC’s main challenge is the lack of food, school transport funds and uniform for children.She further said these also affect the staff as they are not being paid nor receive a stipend.The orphanage home has at least 18 staff members who rotate during the day and night shifts.
The public can assist the home with food, beds, children’s clothes, WIFI, Dstv, computer, printer, stove and water boiler donations.
“Other donations can be monitory where possible because we encounter challenges when there is no electricity.“ We do not have money to fill our gas stove as a result we have to make a plan to ensure that children do not go to bed hungry,” said Nelikau.
BackgroundNelikau was inspired to start the orphanage home after surviving depression.“I initiated the orphanage after my son disappeared on April 30, 2005. He went to a party with friends, and his friends returned but he did not.
“I opened a case at Vosloorus SAPS, however, the case did not go well because people were not interrogated. The only thing the friends said was that they separated and they do not know where he went.“
We received information that a boy was knocked by a car on the N3 in August. I was shocked because I could not understand how that was possible as he was said to be in East Field.
“They told me he was at a government mortuary in Germiston. When I got to the mortuary they said he was already buried by the government, whiles I reported him missing on May 3,” she noted.
After they had paid and agreed with the government to exhume the body for the family to give their son a dignified send-off, the family arranged for a memorial service and set a burial date, only to find that the body was not that of their son.“
This affected me badly.; I ended up in a psychotic hospital because of depression,” she continued.
“When I got out I told myself that I have to live for other people because I cannot keep hurting myself about what had happened to my child.“
I resigned from my job to start the orphanage, I spoke to my husband who agreed that we turn our house into an orphanage. It started operating in 2012 as a privet place of safety,” she said.
She said in 2013 it was fully registered but there was a holdback of the conditional certificate. However, social workers were already placing children legally according to orders, she added.
To donate to DCYCC contact Nelikau on 082 215 9071.
