there is a time for everything...

Closing our institutional care, growing our community care

From supporting orphans and vulnerable children, educating children, empowering youth, and training parents and community guardians, Beautiful Gate South Africa’s role in keeping children safe and preserving family is ever expanding. 

With the role of Child and Youth Care Centres being seriously re-evaluated through the lens of the South African Children’s Act, institutions around the country have moved to support community-based orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) initiatives. Beautiful Gate is no exception and this year we are taking a big step towards child protection and family preservation through our community development approach.

Closure of our institutional care
Scaling down our facility based care to the point where we shall close all institutional care is a natural process as over the past 3 years we have trained over 1000 parents in parenting skills, God’s heart for parents and how to improve parent-child communication and care. The outcome has been hundreds of community focussed parents. From these parents “Community Guardians” have emerged. Guardians are the real heroes of communities like Crossroads. Through their love and concern for children, orphans and vulnerable children like 9 year old Thandi have a special “aunty Busi” – A Guardian who visits her and her elderly granny every day. Guardians bring love, advice and support to vulnerable children like Thandi. They also deliver other support provided by Beautiful Gate, like food parcels, school uniforms, transport money and help pay school fees. Many Guardians have “adopted” vulnerable children through a process of family consent, known as “kinship adoption”.

there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens... ecclesiastes 3:1 

Guardians are the real heroes of communities like Crossroads. Through their love and concern for children, orphans and vulnerable children like 9 year old Thandi have a special “Aunty Busi” – A Guardian who visits her and her elderly granny every day. Guardians bring love, advice and support to vulnerable children like Thandi.

Our ongoing impact
Presently Beautiful Gate supports 60 Community Guardians in Philippi and Crossroads. We also continue to grow by providing parent and community guardian training to over 300 parents every year with many destitute families receiving food parcels, counselling and other support. After School Clubs provide homework, cultural activities and sports to 200 children in partnership with Vukani, Bongolwethu and Zanemfundo Primary Schools. The centre also provides HIV treatment to 540 children and teens in partnership with the Department of Health at Crossroads 2 CHC in Old Crossroads. Over 6000 visitors come through the Youth Resource Centre every year and plans are underway to run career guidance for four High Schools in 2015 - New Eisleben, Phakama, Phandolwazi and Vuyiseka High Schools. 
 
With all this, we are excited and humbled by the strength we see in local initiatives and plan to continue to invest in partnerships with children, parents and community based structures and organisations throughout 2015.

Thank you for your ongoing support, 


Vaughan Stannard
Executive Director