MES – making life easier for the homeless
The MES facility can accommodate up to 25 children a day and a meal is also served to each child
On March 21, the country will celebrate Human Rights Day.
“At Mould Empower Serve (MES) Kempton Park, with the support of volunteers and donors, they aim at making life easier for the homeless and destitute, and by doing so, respect their human rights,” says Duane Edwards, branch manager.
“Our various social upliftment and development programmes, in support of each person’s human right, includes:
• A food parcel project, which provides weekly food parcels to 60 poor and needy families that live in the city (this includes elderly individuals).
• Community kitchen, which provides affordable cooked meals to the homeless and unemployed at only R5 a meal. Currently, this initiative caters for an average of 40 people a day.
• The overnight shelter provides overnight shelter to homeless men and women at only R16 a night (capacity 10 females, 39 males).
• The after-school centre provides homework and exam assistance to poor and vulnerable children. There are many children that roam the streets in the afternoons as their parents work or cannot afford after-school facilities at the schools.
Drugs and crime are pitfalls these young people often fall into because of unstable home environments. Currently, there are not many opportunities for after-school care in the inner city and this poses a real threat to the safety and development of the children/youth growing up in the inner city environment.
The MES facility can accommodate up to 25 children a day and a meal is also served to each child that attends.
• The GROW project provides access to job and life rehabilitation programmes for the homeless and vulnerable community of Kempton Park, resulting in earning a living, together with restoring dignity.
Daily workshops and enrichment programmes are hosted, together with the provision of paid shift opportunities. In the end, this initiative changes unemployable and desperate individuals into employable individuals that can be placed into suitable jobs, so they can reintegrate back into society.
• With the clothing bank, MES provide clothes to the poor and needy that are identified through various projects. Clothes are also provided if an urgent need is identified in other organisations and churches.
Duane concludes: “MES Kempton Park provides opportunities for the citizens of Kempton Park to get involved in the human rights of the homeless and destitute. This includes from buying shelter and community kitchen vouchers to donating non-perishable items or making a monthly donation of R100. Anyone interested in getting involved, email kempton@mes.org.za or phone the office on 011 024 4580.
