For the past months, HOKISA has focussed on training for all team members and has extended its community outreach work. At present we care for 16 children at the Home, while one child has been reunited with a family member recently and another one will be joining his extended family soon.
In a recent letter to friends of HOKISA in South Africa the Children’s Home Managers Shirley Madlingozi and Lungelo Nqojana wrote:
“The children, the team, the board and the management of HOKISA (Homes for Kids in South Africa) wish to express their heartfelt gratitude for the way you have affected our lives and those of the children and youth at HOKISA. With help like yours and many other caring people, the world will be a better place to live in.
We would like to tell you what else your help enables us to do: Our main focus is upon the children, as you know, but we are also involved in community activities such as the Youth Group that Simphiwe, our colleague, is running. The group meets twice a month on Thursday evenings at the HOKISA Peace House Youth Meeting Hall to discuss issues of HIV/AIDS, Teenage Pregnancy, and Mother-to-Child transmission, to name but a few. We believe that if we arm the youth with knowledge and life skills early, we’ll ultimately turn the tide against HIV and AIDS.But our mission to make a difference to others’ lives does not end there. Shirley, one of the Home Managers, also runs a Women’s Group which meets on Thursday mornings. They also discuss issues of HIV/AIDS, Women and Child Abuse, and much more. They also invite people from the Black Sash who advise and help those women in the group; and also many other people, including men in the community, with issues such as unfair dismissals, and how to claim state pensions, workman’s compensation and childcare grants.
We at HOKISA believe that it is not how much money or material someone gives that is important but how much love goes with the gift.”
