Secunda SAVF still needs people’s support
Organisation in Secunda holds annual general meeting.
Pieter de Wet, SAVF (Suid-Afrikaanse Vroue Federasie) service management committee chairman, gave background information about this welfare organisation during its recent annual general meeting.
The SAVF consists of volunteers and paid professional people, and is 118 years old this year.
Representatives of the SAVF’s Santie Zietsman Early Childhood Development Centre, the SAVF social work offices in Secunda and the SAVF’s newly opened Child and Youth Care Centre in Secunda serve on the service management committee.
De Wet said the SAVF in Secunda strives to continue service delivery to the vulnerable.
They provide comprehensive services to the community through facilities such as old age homes, shelters, children’s homes, daycare centres for children and their social work offices.
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Marjori Kock, the principal of the Santie Zietsman Early Childhood Development Centre, said this centre was founded in 1979 and celebrated 43 years of existence in July.
They enrolled 160 children this year and have nine classrooms to accommodate children from the age of three months old to Grade R.
“We have recently rejuvenated all the classrooms with a fresh coat of paint and we were blessed with a solar system donated by Proconics,” said Kock.
“This ensures uninterrupted functioning at the centre during load-shedding.
“We plan to upgrade the playground next year as well as implement the ELDA curriculum that focuses more on play-based education.”
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Mabutho Mlotshwa, the manager at the SAVF’s social work offices in Secunda, said in the past year, child protection services were rendered to 773 children and their families.
“The social workers have 143 foster children to monitor and they opened 22 court cases under the Children’s Act,” said Mlotshwa.
“To implement support services and programmes addressing every child’s individual needs at the Janell House and the new SAVF Child and Youth Care Centre in Secunda is a top priority for our social workers.”
Other priorities of the social workers include substance abuse treatments, old age homes applications, food drives, monitoring of people with difficult circumstances, family mediation and parenting plans.
The SAVF in Secunda is also a designated adoption centre that facilitates the adoption of under-aged children.
This social work office recently opened a second-hand clothing shop and they were able to help three families with necessary items after their houses burnt down.
The SAVF is currently in need of volunteers to help them with fundraising, food drives and giving out clothes and other necessary items to people in need.
This organisation is always in need of non-perishable food to hand out to people in need and they rely on donations from the community and businesses in the area.
The management team of the SAVF is grateful for the community’s support in opening the Child and Youth Care Centre in October.
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This was a dream of Mari Louw, the regional manager of the SAVF in Mpumalanga.
Volunteers came together two years ago and began planning this centre that is now registered with the Department of Social Development.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the community opened their hearts and made the centre a reality.
The centre can house 24 children and with the continued support of the community, they will be able to support these children.
Anyone who wants to support the SAVF, donate food or help with fundraising, can contact them at 017 634 7719.
