?Ons Plek
Mission: To facilitate the family reunification process.
Background: Opened in 1988, is the only intake shelter for girls in Cape Town. This residential safe-house has 16 beds, but can accommodate up to 25 girls on mattresses. The girls? basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, safety from violence, education and love are provided. Once the girls have weaned themselves from street life at Ons Plek, they leave to be accommodated at Siviwe for the next phase of development. Separated from the girls at Ons Plek who are still making the transition to a structured life, girls at the Siviwe shelter can focus more intensively on building their lives. Siviwe shelter opened in Woodstock in 1993.
Projects:
The shelter programme aims at preventing the phenomena of female street children and is most effective in the Central Business District to which children from all communities run. By providing shelter/accommodation children are prevented from learning how to live on the streets. They are also kept safe which makes interventions easier to implement. Successful and permanent reunification with family takes skilled counseling and time. In the current situation, for maximum effectiveness, a shelter program situated in the CBD is an essential component in achieving this aim. Siviwe shelter aims to maximise the possibility of the girls coping and participating in normal society;
At Siviwe expectations and responsibilities are greater and treatment programs more intense. This shelter meets the needs of more settled school-going children and separates then from those children still ensnared by street life;
The family reunification programme teaches families to resolve conflict constructively. Once a child has arrived at the shelter, the first priority is to contact estranged family members to see if the child can return home. Stress levels are reduced by referral to a supportive welfare organisation, which assist the family by means of grants, employment and empowerment techniques. By making this a priority Ons Plek have placed 64% - 70% of female street children back in the community on a long term basis, each year, either with immediate or extended family members;
A school programme aims to enrol the girls in training courses or formal employment or self-employment. 85% of the girls return to school and most of the remaining girls participate in the other vocational skills development activities. Due to the nature of a street child?s developmental impairment, implementing a school programme requires considerable input of time and effort by staff.
The above programmes address the main aims of Ons Plek, other programmes include: Assessment and Intake Program; Counselling Program; Life Skills and Relationships Program; Home and Baby Care Program; Statutory Work; Cultural Roots and Rites of Passage Programme.
Future vision:
With an estimated 800 000 AIDS orphans expected in South Africa in the next 3 years it will be impossible to house all these children. The vision is to address this need for homes and home care. : Ons Plek is already engaged in training community volunteers who will foster children and identify potential AIDS orphans; trace extended family to make plans to care for the children; identify families and churches in the area who will supervise children living on their own at home.
The result will be greater awareness in the communities of children in need, knowledge of what to do to help, and development of alternate, appropriate care for AIDS orphans.?
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