Transport for 10 school children in South Africa

In South Africa, we have just had our long summer holidays - which are from mid December to mid January. For any family, this is a time of relaxation and fun - holidays away, activities, going to theatre or seeing friends. For children in a children's home, this can often be a very sad and confusing time. The older the children get, the more they realise that their lives are very different from their friends at school.

At Hearts of Hope we try our hardest to ensure that the children are kept busy and have fun during the holidays - like any other child. Without a big transporter bus, this becomes very hard and a logistical headache for the staff!

This year, the children went to various Carol concerts and Christmas parties, and were sponsored with an outing to Bounce - a trampoline park. We would love to take all the older children, but due to not having a bigger vehicle or transporter, we usually have to choose 6 of the children to go- which is heartbreaking when the others are left at home. For the Carol concert, our CEO and her husband transported the 7 children themselves. 

The children also attend a local church in our community.We are reliant on congregation members to collect the children and mom's. It needs 2 cars and 2 trips to take 13 children and the housemothers to church on a Sunday!

Our school year started today and these were the transport arrangements for the children:

1. Debbie, our CEO to take 'P' and 'F" to Delta school - leaving at 6.50am

2. Bev to take the Grade 2s with Talent, the housemother

3. Joe (our driver and Uncle Joe to the children) to take the Grade 1s with Busi and Carol, the housemothers - leaving at 7.10am

Having a transporter vehicle would relieve many of the staff from endless hours in the car, going backwards and forwards between school and extra-mural activities and enable us to provide the children with so many more enriching experiences.