Social Responsibility
FOR SALE – THE CHILDREN OF SOUTH AFRICA!
OUR children of South Africa are living lives of hell and desperation! They are being sold off as cheap sex slaves by pimps and drug lords to disgusting men in Hillbrow who physically, mentally and sexually abuse them until they cannot walk and no-one is doing anything to help them! The emotional trauma these children are suffering is enormous and the only place they have to go for help, the New Life Centre, is in financial dire straights because the Government cannot or will not make contributions, corporate sponsorship has dried up due to the recession and the general public merely have enough to cover their own expenses! The situation is desperate! says Lynn Baker – Friend of the New Life Centre.
Imagine being 12 years old, your Parents have died and there is no one else in the world who wants you, imagine having nowhere to go, no money, no food and no hope for the future! Can you possibly begin to imagine the feeling of being totally alone in this big, bad, cruel world at such a young age! Just imagine for one minute if you will, that you’re hiding on the streets of filthy, fierce Hillbrow on a freezing cold night in the middle of winter, your little brother and sister crying next to you because they are cold, lonely and starving hungry! Imagine the feeling of absolute desperation – what would you do if you were a child and there was no other way to survive? You would turn to prostitution, as these poor helpless children have been forced to do, just to get something to eat.
It is estimated that there are between 2500 and 5000 women and children living in the Hillbrow area who are sexually exploited, sold as sex slaves or are using prostitution as a form of income because no other option exists. These children – some as young as ten years old – sell their bodies for a mere R10 a time, the pimp takes half, leaving the child with R5 to feed herself and in some instances, her siblings. If these statistics don’t shock you, nothing will. Most of these children did not arrive in Hillbrow by choice, they have either run away from abusive situations at home, or alternatively, they have lost their mother and father to sickness or AIDS and they literally have nowhere else to go. To make matters worse, in order to survive the horrendous conditions these children find themselves in, they often turn to drugs to escape their harsh reality. This perpetuates the problem, as they then have to prostitute themselves’ to feed their drug addiction as well. Another major problem, is that these men often refuse to wear condoms, thereby exposing these children to HIV/Aids, sexually-transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy.
The New Life Centre was created by two exceptional women – Khopotso Nakin and Babalwe Makawula, who could no longer stand by and watch the excessively high levels of sexual exploitation of children in Hillbrow. With no money, no support and at great risk to themselves, these two Angels regularly visit the ‘prostitute hotspots’ late at night and rescue young children from the clutches of drug lords who lock them in sleazy hotel rooms and sell them for a pittance.
NEW LIFE CENTRE –DROP OFF CENTRE – HILLBROW
The New Life Centre has two sections. First there is The New Life Centre – Drop-In Centre in Hillbrow, which acts as a 24 hour safe haven for children who have been rescued by the Police or welfare, and they are left here until family members can be traced and arrangements made to get them home. The Drop-In Centre also acts as a place of safety for women and children during the day and provides lunch for approximately 50 people on a daily basis, this is often the only meal these children get every day. In addition to this, the Drop Off Zone acts as a Training Centre that offers trauma counselling, advice on HIV/Aids, career guidance and basic skills training in the form of computer training and sewing skills, which will hopefully assist them to find alternative employment. Currently, we have 8 computers and 8 sewing machines and many women come in everyday for training, hoping and praying that by obtaining a new skill set, they will be able to escape their nightmare reality of sexual abuse and exploitation.
NEW LIFE CENTRE – SHELTER FOR GIRLS
When children are rescued from the clutches of drug lords and brought into the care of the New Life Centre, the ultimate objective is to find their family and send them home. However, if no family exists, another option has to be found and this is where the big problem comes in. In order to get them into a school in the surrounding area, the schools insist that the children are in a shelter, but all the shelters in the Hillbrow area are full! It is therefore a very sad reality, that after having been rescued, many of these children are sent back to the horror of the streets where they came from and all we can do is hope and pray that they survive.
It was because of this dire situation, that we knew we had no other option but to create a shelter for the children who had no living family. In 2007, we worked tirelessly for a year to find a home for these children and collect the furniture and effects needed to make it a suitable shelter. We desperately wanted to create a place of safety where children could enjoy the benefits of a normal home, a loving house mother, a warm bed, food in their tummies and a chance to go to school. This dream came true in December 2007, when we opened the first New Life Centre Shelter for Girls and housed 12 children for a year, but this was short lived, because the landlord doubled the rent and the shelter had to move,” say Lynn.
The shelter is now situated in Lombardy East and is home to 16 girls who otherwise would be living on the streets of hell. The house is fully furnished and has all the amenities to ensure that the girls have as normal a life as possible.
The two New Life Centre facilities cost R120,000- per month to run, including rental, food, electricity and school fees. If we could just get 1500 people to put a debit order on their account for R100.00 (One hundred) per month, we could keep the New Life Centre – Drop-Off Centre in Hillbrow, the Shelter for Girls and the hope of our children alive. The situation is desperate and anything that anyone can do for us, would be a blessing.
Any donations would be greatly appreciated. NPO # 039-592-NPO
DESPARATELY NEEDED
CASH DONATIONS
| New Life Centre Bank account details | ||
| Account Name | : | Rotary Club of Sandton |
| Bank | : | Absa Bank |
| Branch | : | Rivonia |
| Account | : | 4056811964 |
ALL DONATIONS CAN BE DROPPED AT THE NEW LIFE CENTRE SHELTER, located at:
72 Chaucer Street,
Lombardy East,
Johannesburg
Please phone Khopotso on 079 843 4154 to confirm the delivery time.
| Financial assistance with School Fees & School Uniforms |
| Stationery for school, i.e rulers, rubbers, pens, pencils and crayons. |
| Food donations |
| Computers for training |
| Sewing machines for training |
| Clothes for girls between the ages of 10 – 18 years |
| A car to transport the children to and from school |
| Help from Eskom to ease the electricity bill |
| Cleaning materials and toiletries |
| Books and magazines, we are starting a library at the shelter |
| Toys for children 10 – 18 years |
CONTACTS
Khopotso Nakin
Cell: 079 843 4154
E-mail: newlifeforgirls@yahoo.com
Lynn Baker
Cell: 082 457 5752
E-mail: lynnbaker@iburst.co.za
Website: www.newlifecentre.org.za
LYNN BAKER – FRIEND OF THE NEW LIFE CENTRE
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