In celebrating the country’s 30 years of freedom and democracy, the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, launched the annual Child Protection Week campaign on Sunday, 19 May, under the theme “Protecting South African Children, 30 years on.”
“As government, our vision is to make South Africa a place where all children and young people are loved, confident, happy and healthy, and are empowered to reach their full potential,” said Zulu.
Doing just that in Durban North is the Domino Foundation which is leading the cause on a community level to ensure that vulnerable younglings within its reach are safe, protected, and given the necessary tools to lead successful and fulfilling lives.
Precious Thabethe, the house mother at the Domino Foundation Babies Home, is a testament to the miracles of how love and a nurturing environment can make a difference in the lives of society’s most vulnerable. In the last two decades at the home, since its inception in 2004, she has seen approximately 170 tiny tots leave the doors of the shelter and lead good lives, either through adoption or reunification with families.
“I look after abandoned babies or babies currently going through the court systems until they find good homes,” said Thabethe. “As a crisis parent, throughout the years I have been on the lookout for certain behaviours that indicate trauma so that I can refer them to one of our specialists. Children are sensitive and reflect the environment in which they came from in ways that are not always sadness.”
Thabethe emphasised the importance of safe spaces such as the Babies Home: “If places such as these did not exist, the condition and circumstances of these babies would be horrifying. There is a serious need for more places like this throughout KwaZulu-Natal. As we speak, babies are lying in hospitals with nowhere to go because their communities lack the resources that we have. This is why support for initiatives such as the Babies Home is integral.”
The house mother said she relishes and enjoys hearing updates about the children that were once in her care. “We always get the loveliest updates from parents who adopted the babies under our care. Sometimes they are pictures of family outings or school sports days. I have recently been updated on a young man who was adopted from the home when he was only two years old. He is 17 now and is doing extremely well in Canada. These things are possible through safe spaces for our children,” added Thabethe.
Natalie Ogden, Domino’s Justice Co-ordinator who oversees the Babies Home and the Red Light Anti-Human Trafficking Programme, also emphasised the importance of protecting children through protecting their mothers as well.
According to Ogden, the vision for the Red Light Programme is to reach out to, restore, and release human trafficked survivors and survival sex workers who have entered the sex trade due to exploitation of vulnerability. Othandweni (“Place of Love”) is the program’s safe house where staff, with specialised training in recovery processes, the running of vulnerable women shelters, and various gender-based violence issues, work together with independent social workers and therapy teams.
“We use a holistic approach and firmly believe that four relationships need to be restored, your relationship with God, your relationship with self, your relationship with a community and the relationship with the environment, (what you do with your hands). While we do not necessarily work with children, we do house children of the woman who reside at Othandweni, however, every single one of our beneficiaries in our programme was trafficked as a child. We assist adults who were once children who never got the assistance that they deserved. We are helping them pick up the pieces, take charge of their lives, and find themselves,” said Ogden.
She also urged people to know what human trafficking looks like in a South African context, “be vigilant and to report human trafficking at 0800 222 777”.
National Child Protection Week is commemorated in the country annually to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Children’s Act (Act No. 38 of 2005). It is part of a broader Child Protection Month campaign, which runs from 5 May to 9 June.
