The Project
Orphanage Volunteer Project in Cape Town over Christmas

GVI has partnered with a childrens home which is situated in the heart of a township and was formed by Mama Lumka as a refuge for orphaned and disabled children. In the early days Mama Lumka would walk the township looking for children who had been severely neglected or mistreated. Some of these children had been locked up in a dark room with only a bucket as a toilet facility and food left on the floor. She would rescue these children and take them into her home where she would feed them and give them the love and care they deserve. Using a wheelbarrow to transport these children who were often suffering from various disabilities and unable to walk she soon became known within the township as the 'wheel barrow lady'.

When she eventually had 14 children living in her small modest home she met Chris Wilmont. He stepped in to help her raise funds to buy a property inside the township where she could build a bigger home to house all the children she had taken under her wing. Today this initiative has grown to include 5 separate houses each able to accommodate 8 children and a house Mom, giving the village a total of 32 children as well as a skills development centre to assist adults living in the community. The village continues to grow and aims to have 3 more houses by the end of the year, which will increase the number of children in the village to 54.

The childrens home boasts an impressive vegetable garden and some chickens who supply all the eggs for the village. The long term goals of the village are to become completely self-sufficient and to develop their own bakery so that they can employ more people from the community and supply the township with bread. They would also like to have their own educare centre and pre-primary school inside the village. GVI is actively involved in helping them achieve this through the development and implementation of this program.

Due to a lack of adequate funding the children's home is unable to employ qualified teachers to assist them. Most of the care givers in the village have only a very basic education and limited English. For many of the children in South Africa, English is not their home language. Unfortunately, one of the prerequisites for children in primary schools in South Africa is that they have a good grasp of the English language, which is the language used to teach all classes from grade 4 upwards. This means that any children who are not able to understand English will fall behind. Mama Lumka wants to ensure that the children in the village get the opportunity to learn English, as well as receive any additional educational enhancement, which will ensure that they are well-equipped and prepared when it is time for them to go to primary school. GVI aims to assist the home with developing and implementing an education program which will satisfy Mama Lumka's desire and, in time, hopes to pass on the necessary skills to some of the care givers currently at the home so that they will be able to adequately prepare their children for primary school. This particular program is unique to GVI and all funding and man power for this educational program comes directly from Global Vision International and it's volunteers and their contributions. Without the contributions and assistance from GVI and the volunteers this educational program might not exist, and these children may be left struggling to keep up once it comes time for them to go to primary school.