The Homestead
Mission:To help street children reconstruct their shattered lives.
Background: Established in 1982, The Homestead was the first street children?s project in South Africa and grew rapidly to offer a number of services both on and off the street. Many of the boys have gone on to fulfill a variety of roles and to become well-integrated members of society. The Homestead enjoys a high profile and has consulted locally and nationally, offering guidance to many new projects for street children. The Homestead has become a model of intervention in South Africa providing cost-effective services to thousands of children over the years. It is an indigenous and sustainable model, which is child-centred and operates within the new paradigm of child and youth care.
Programmes: The Homestead operates a continuum of developmental programmes, from preventive programmes that aim to assist high-risk children to remain in their communities, to programmes which address the individual needs of the child as he moves through various stages of rehabilitation and hopefully returns to his family.
These programmes include:
Street work covers outreach services by street workers to provide support for children living on the streets, monitoring their health and nutritional status and fulfilling an advocacy role with the police and juvenile justice system;
Yizani Drop-In Centre is the first step off the street for children still living on the streets. Basic recreational and educational activities, access to food, medical care and showers are provided. The programme encourages children to make positive choices about their lives;
Homestead Intake Shelter offers boys between the ages of six and sixteen shelter and protection. Here they attend Learn to Live, a non-formal education programme. The shelter familiarises the children with a structured day and prepares them for re-entry to the formal school system. Social work services include home visits to family and return home whenever this is possible. Recreational programmes are offered as well as access to medical care. The programme operates on an open door principle and children are self referred;
Elukhuselweni Children?s Home provides a more permanent environment and a full range of social work services for more settled children who return to the formal school system, whilst every effort is made to reunite them with relatives. Most children spend weekends and holidays with relatives or host families;
Manenberg Satellite Site provides afternoon care and stimulation as a preventive measure for children from this high-risk community who are in danger of becoming street children;
Job Creation project offers an opportunity for mothers to earn a living by making a range of beadwork so that they can care for their children at home;
Masithethe Family Reconstruction project is central to the work. Throughout all stages of rehabilitation, every effort is made to place the child back with his relatives in his community of origin. This is intensive difficult work and mediation is offered by trained social workers.
Future vision: includes the building of a new Children?s Home in the community; greater involvement in prevention work; finding the resources to focus more on family preservation and reconciliation