Sfx of hymn and prayer

KHOPOTSO: Friday afternoons are prayer days at the Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre in Benoni, on the East Rand.

Sfx’€¦ Children playing in background

Almost 100 children, some in their early 20s, call this place their home. Jerry-Wise Molefe is an avid soccer player who says the girls think he’€™s very cute. He ended up at Sithabile after fleeing a farm in neighbouring Boksburg where he and his parents worked.    

JERRY-WISE MOLEFE: All my life I used to work. I didn’€™t have time to go to school, time to play, time to be a kid. I didn’€™t have that time. Everything began here at Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre’€¦ Honestly, I don’€™t remember when I came here’€¦ But, I stayed here longer than anyone who is around here now.

KHOPOTSO: Jerry-Wise is now 21 years old and he now has a panel-beating certificate to his name. He recently volunteered as a voter educator in the last local government elections, an activity he is proud to add to his CV as he is now seeking employment. Thabisile Msezane, a former teacher who was laid off due to ill health, is the Director of  the Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, which she founded 12 years ago.

THABISILE MSEZANE: Initially, the centre catered for children of farm workers around the Boksburg area. These children had no access to education because there were no schools provided for these children, given that the farms that they lived in were situated in the former white areas’€¦ The nearest schools were Vosloorus, Katlehong and Thokoza, which were more than 10km away and of which parents could not afford’€¦ Initially, we were a day care centre for them.

KHOPOTSO: Msezane says due to other problems the children encountered, the centre had to open itself up to becoming a home.

THABISILE MSEZANE: They were also sexually abused. They were victims of physical abuse’€¦We then looked at the worst forms of child labour, like child prostitution, child domestic labour’€¦ We were forced to provide accommodation. The centre became a home about three years later after its inception.

KHOPOTSO: Mmaphefo Khoza, a now 20 year old striking dark beauty, found a home here after being rescued from a life of sex work at age 9 on the streets of Diepsloot, near the plush suburb of Fourways, in Johannesburg.

MMAPHEFO KHOZA: My mother was very sick. She had cancer and she didn’€™t want to go to hospital’€¦ A friend of mine was working on the streets. And then the other day she called me and said ‘€˜come let’€™s go to the garage and we’€™ll be back soon’€™. When we got to the garage she stopped a white man’€™s car. And then, she’€™s like ‘€˜come on, come on in’€™. And then we went in. We went to his house and then, he started giving my friend marijuana and cigarettes’€¦ Then, he undressed my friend and then he slept with my friend. Then he told me to undress. I said I can’€™t. Then, my friend said to me ‘€˜if you don’€™t do what he tells you, you won’€™t be able to earn the money that you want to buy your mother medicine’€™’€¦ I was scared, but then, I had to do it. I was scared and it was painful.

KHOPOTSO: For one year, Mmaphefo worked on the streets. Her mother eventually died. A community worker in the area talked her into leaving the streets and took her to Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre where she was able to go back to school. Today she’€™s studying for a Diploma in Travel and Tourism. Through its 12 years of existence, the home has become a refuge for various children with different needs. Thabisile Msezane, founder and Director of the centre, says recently, they are seeing kids from homes torn apart by HIV and AIDS.

THABISILE MSEZANE: Right now more than 50% of our children are orphans’€¦ Most of them, even though you don’€™t want to say, have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS’€¦ I’€™ll take, for instance, the case of five orphans who were brought here (in) 2004’€¦ That last one, for instance, we discovered that she’€™s infected’€¦ She’€™s on ARVs’€¦ In this case I’€™m talking about the oldest being 17 and the youngest, 9 years (old).

Sfx’€¦ Children playing in background

THABISILE MSEZANE: These children have suffered the emotional pressure and abuse when they had to take care of their sick mother, see their mother dying. And they are brought here. They find a home. They settle. They get their childhood restored.

KHOPOTSO: All these children, as different as they are, make up one happy family ‘€“ as the name of their home, Sithabile, suggests. And, certainly, Jerry-Wise Molefe, who we spoke to earlier, had his childhood restored when he came to this home.

JERRY-WISE MOLEFE: First of all, I can speak English now’€¦ Secondly, I can write my name and read’€¦ And we’€™re getting food, clothes. Life is just so good. I can’€™t say I’€™m different from anyone who I see around the street. For me, we are equal now because whatever they wear, I am wearing now. Yeah!