Brick by brick

A non-governmental organisation aspires to continue providing services to enhance healthy families and societies.

The Family Life Centre, with its head office in Parkwood, is carrying out an initiative called the Wall of Hope.

Operational manager of the centre Joshna Lutchman said the initiative was twofold. “One is to create an awareness of our services and also to create a sense of hope to people around the area. We want to tell communities that there are services available for people that are struggling with mental health issues and other social ills. We want them to know that we are around as a service provider. The wall is just a symbolism of the building and the holding and the security and the safety,” Lutchman said.

“On the second level, practically, we also need a wall for physical safety of the offices, staff and clients that visit us.”

Director Jennifer Papers explained that it all began when a major storm hit in December last year. “Lightning hit the tree outside our gate, which is probably 100 years old. The tree then fell on top of the fence and the gate was broken and some of the electrical lines were damaged. The intercom was also broken,” said Papers.

Lutchman added that the building itself is over 100 years old and needs a whole lot more work such as mending the ceiling and maintenance.

The core work of the organisation is family preservation where they offer counselling to individuals and couples during trauma, divorce and marriage among others. Lutchman said another component of their work is outreach to communities and providing services such as going to schools for Child Protection Week, awareness around abuse, empowering women to develop their skills, offering psycho-social support to the aged and more.

“Wall of Hope is significant because we are opening spaces for hope in different aspects. We are asking for people to either donate or pledge a brick by following the guidelines on the website,” Lutchman said.

Papers said they had received a quote of R400 000 and have given the initiative until the end of this year to manifest, although the need is urgent.

“Sometimes we come back to work after the weekend and we find that people might have jumped in over the wall. We want to create a safe space while we provide counselling without a security risk. We want to take it one brick at a time and we will keep community members updated on the progress.”

Details: To see how you can donate, visit The Family Life Centre, FAMSA JHB, on Facebook or www.familylife.co.za

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