According to Paul Cromhout from the Small Projects Fund, 10% of Buffalo City’s population is made up of orphaned and vulnerable children heading households on their own.
Geraldine Ruiters is familiar with this statistic, having lived this reality as a child.
As an adult, she was horrified to discover that child-headed households are growing in number, prompting her to start her non-profit organisation, Geraldine’s Child and Youth Multi-purpose Centre for vulnerable youth and indigent persons in Pefferville.
Cromhout said the huge number of child-headed households in the city was due to a combination of factors; primarily the legacy of inaccessible anti-retroviral treatment for HIV affected mothers, as well as abandonment by parents employed in cities far away from the home.
In her own area, Ruiters said it was sad to see child-headed households were growing in number, and that once that responsibility was placed on a child, their chances of finishing school were severely compromised.
Ruiters said youth living in the Pefferville area fell prey to harmful behaviours because of their domestic constraints.
Cromhout said social workers in the metro tried to assist children trapped in this situation and in 2022 had been able to assist 2,000 children with support.
This had enabled children to stay in school despite their difficult home circumstances.
Social workers have also helped these vulnerable children access grants, certificates such as IDss and other necessary documentation so that they are able to secure financial support from state departments.
In identifying child-headed households, Ruiters’ organisation plays a pivotal role as a bridge to authorities that are able to assist.
Since the establishment of her NGO in June, Ruiters has been able to provide food, home-based care and shelter for children and the elderly in her area. To assist operations, Ruiters adopted a piece of land through the municipality.
She runs her work from this space, however, urgently needs assistance with infrastructure such as container or a mobile structure.
“For any person to ask for any kind of assistance takes a lot of guts and bravery and working from my home is a challenge because then I am forced to compromise the confidentiality and privacy of the people I assist and this is an insult to their dignity.
“If we had a small office space I could better protect and respect people’s dignity.”
“I think the Pefferville community is the most vulnerable community yet it is overlooked big time,” she said.
For more information contact:
childandyouth081@gmail.com
