A refuge for the most vulnerable

In almost 20 years, the St John Divine Orphans & Outreach NPO in Mohlakeng has given a new lease on life to children who were on the brink of being swallowed by the effects of social ills because of their vulnerabilities.

Cofounder of the organisation, Patricia Marite spoke to the Herald and said that since 2003 they’d been focusing on helping orphans in Rand West City and those in need of their services to have a good fighting chance for their future.

“Initially, we mainly took care of children who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, but in the later years we realised that there was much greater need in society,” Marite explained.

Recently the NGO has started providing emotional support for its beneficiaries to help them overcome all the internal sufferings that may have been inflicted on them early in their lives, or simply were caused by the circumstances of not having parents.

She said as an NGO they take care of the needs of the needy such as education, school uniforms, counselling, homework, applying for IDs and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grants.

“We provide them with food, and we intervene where we believe they’re eligible for help.”

She said to protect and give children a good fighting chance in life, they have to be given the basic things and the support; and since they’re dealing with children of whom many don’t have parents, providing them with the basics is their biggest priority.

Part of what they’ve achieved was to build trust in the community. Just last year they’ve managed to help their 300 beneficiaries get IDs, and by their intervention 200 people got RDP houses.

“Twenty-five of our beneficiaries have also passed matric with distinctions last year. We have over 100 who are working as professionals, some of them teachers and accountants,” she proudly said.

She also thanked the Gauteng Department of Social Development and local businesses that have supported them year after year, and those who have put their trust in them in the past years.

“We’re doing our best to make sure that those we help aren’t excluded from opportunities simply because they had no parents or were vulnerable; we want to see them be the best they can be,” Marite said.

EXCLUSIVE