Support 80 abandoned children in Cape Town

  SInce many of our children are HIV positive it is very important that we give them fresh organic vegetables. Thanks to Urban Harvest and Shell  we have been able to upgrade our Veggie Garden. From a feeding ground for weeds, the volunteers came and transformed our garden into a harvest wonderland. From...

A new school year – a new start   For children whose lives have been turned upside down by abuse, neglect or abandonment, school can play a huge role in providing stability and continuity. More than that, it provides a space to be a child among other children, a 'normal' experience in the middle of events that...

Christmas is am unusual time at Fikelela's Children's Centre - it is quiet! But for the best of all reasons - all the children are enjoying a family Christmas. December is often the time that school-aged children finally go to live with extended family or foster families, as it is the end of the school year. This year we...

One of the challenges of working with orphans is that the mother has often lost touch with the extended family. Sometimes this is due to the stigma of HIV, or of falling pregnant, and the fear of rejection by family members. Some of these extended family members live is distant rural areas in other parts of South Africa,...

"It takes a community to raise a child" comes to mind when I reflect on my visit to Fikelela. Fikelela is being run by a group of very caring, thoughtful, hardworking individuals. Rachel, the project leader, picked me up from my residence and drove me to Khayelitsha, where the centre is based. On our way to the site (about...

The Fikelela model offers short term residential care, after which children are placed with supported foster carers. This model is supported by the department of social development and we recently had the chance to present our model at the International Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health which was...

Each Christmas a few children are able to go to homes over the Christmas and New Year week. Those who stay behind feel quite left out as the others come back with exciting tales! This year our social worker Kate and auxiliary social worker Sheila decided to take up the challenge to find homes for all the children for that...

Fikelela Childrens Centre offers short term residentia care to orphans and vulnerable children. One of the most important parts of our programme is family re-unification, placing children back into their extended family. When children are placed with us by social workers, the initial family has been screened and no family...

We would like to thank you so much for the wonderful support that you gave to the global giving campaign! we raised $4470 which means that we are now a permanent member of the Global giving website. The last few months have been quite busy. Sadly our Social worker Pozi moved on but we have a wonderful new social worker...