22nd February, 2011, Thursday
During our visit to the township areas in Cape Town, we took the opportunity to visit a local community home.Our good friends, Busi and Siya knew of this home and took us to ‘Beautiful Gate’, located in the township area of Nyanga. We were not welcomed at first because we didn’t have an appointment.
Luckily for us, we had a Dutch person with us, Paul my husband. The administrative person said, “We have a soft spot for Dutch people because our founder is Dutch”
She eventually made an exception for us and was a fantastic hostess. Her name was Sylviabo. We got a tour of the place, watched their videos, got to meet the kids and their caretakers, also known as their mama and papa.
The mama or papas are volunteers and they are there every day to care for them like a parent. Each house has about 5 kids to a mama/papa.
Beautiful Gate began as a street children's project in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. The street children's residential project, which ran until 2008, accommodated boys aged 6-14, and offered a street outreach programme and a community outreach programme.
In the township area of Nyanga you will find the communities of Crossroads and Philippi, which grew out of the increasing number of people moving to Cape Town to look for work. Unfortunately, many residents suffer due to high employment and social problems such as drug/alcohol abuse, gangsterism, teen pregnancy and a high crime rate.
Nyanga also has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the province, with about a third of adults being HIV positive. Clinics are often distant, making it difficult to get treatment. Many live with fear that they will be rejected by family and friends because of the stigma attached to the disease. Added to this, the financial burden, as the average income in that area is less than R1,000 per person per month.
Children and young people are a vital resource to the future. They need care and protection to live up to their fullest potential, which can be hard to find in an uncertain environment. Plus, surrounded by negative peer pressure and lack of opportunities, it’s easy to lose hope and get involved in negative activities.
Amidst all this, there’s Beautiful Gate.
How they bring hope to children and families...
In South Africa, the Lower Crossroads care centre is a Beautiful Gate community-based centre for children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. It offers residential and crisis care, medical and community care, church and community involvement, family reunification facilitation, and training. It serves 42 children (residential) and more than 250 children through the medium of after-school programmes. Children who are in need of medical care and a place of safety receive residential care; a nursery school programme aims to ensure that the children are being motivated and stimulated holistically.
The children are prepared for foster care placements or family reunification, where possible. The community care component of Lower Crossroads provides medical help, HIV/AIDS education, spiritual care, food, and psychosocial support through after-school care programmes and a sports programme. Training is provided at the care centre in the form of an annual 3-month-long HIV/AIDS school, as well as a 6-month-long Discipleship Training School.
If you’d like to devote time or donate cash to this organisation, kindly look up their website: www.beautifulgate.org. or their blog, http://www.thecrossroadschild.blogspot.com/They are a registered not-for profit organisation in South Africa.
When we visited Beautiful Gate, we were introduced to this adorable baby boy. He was found abandoned in the bushes nearby.
He is the star of the home. You can see why?
I read on their blog, that he was recently adopted. Read below or read the story at http://www.thecrossroadschild.blogspot.com/
If any of you get the chance to visit Cape Town, drop these guys an email before showing up. They love receiving volunteers from all over the world.
It is a well-managed organisation. We were impressed (including our fellow local friends).
Beautiful Gate opened our eyes and warmed our hearts.
