Grahamstown Child Welfare is preparing a group of volunteers to assist the community through a training project called Asibavikele "an eye on the child” programme.
Grahamstown Child Welfare is preparing a group of volunteers to assist the community through a training project called Asibavikele "an eye on the child” programme.
Taking place in the Public library activities centre, the programme will run for about three weeks.
Statutory manager, Alette du Plessis welcomed all the volunteers and introduced them to the various people who they will be working with during the volunteering period. While encouraging them to help people in need, she said "a stranger is only a friend whom you don’t know."
The director of Grahamstown Child Welfare, Woineshett Bischoff, says that the programme will be focusing on orphans and vulnerable children who are affected by HIV/Aids. Through the Asibavikele Training Programme, volunteers will be able to deal with various cases to assist social workers as and when the need arises.
The programme will cover issues such as children’s rights, home visits, communicating with children, bereavement, food security and nutritional and social security. Bischoff said that by "by doing little, we could still make a difference,” in the lives of the many orphaned and abandoned children in South Africa.
She also shared a bit of a background about Child Welfare which is the biggest non-governmental organisation in South Africa. She stated that the NGO plans community programmes, deals with recruitment and training for foster parents, poverty relief and programmes to support street children.
Indeed, Child Welfare was established in 1907 in response to public concern about neglect and serves to promote, protect and enhance the safety of children. "Our vision is to lead in the achievement of a caring environment," she said.
Bischoff said that the volunteers will also help to collect statistics so that they can identify issues that need to be addressed or dealt with. After the training they will be given different areas to operate in where they can identify cases that need to be attended to.
