There are many ways in which you can help the little people at Bethany. Whether through gifts, donations, time or prayer we appreciate every effort small or large that helps us offer a safe and loving environment to some of South Africa's most vulnerable children.
Projects that we are currently working on or would like to work on that require sponsorship.
We are always endeavouring to improve the diet and nutrition of our babies and children. In particular, we want to aim for each child to have a piece of fresh fruit for afternoon tea every day and for the main meal each day to always include green and yellow vegetable, as well as rice, pap or potato. We have achieved our goal of ensuring the children have some protein each day, but with the increasing numbers of children, the amount of protein is spread quite thinly. Protein is the mostly costly item on our weekly grocery bill.
With the hard work of our social worker we have been successful in placing many children either back with their families or with new foster families. This process takes time as proper screening needs to take place and a suitable time period of bonding for the children and new care giver needs to happen. Once all this has been done and the social workers are happy with the placement the child is then legally placed with the new family. This is a time of mixed emotions for all at Bethany – we are all pleased to see a child happy and settled in a family but are always sad to part with them. When a child does leave we like to send them with a few things to help with the adjustment for all of a new member to the family. We would like to improve what we send with children and make a proper leaving kit with all the basics. We want to send a new toothbrush, comb, blanket, a couple of new outfits, a pair of shoes, a hat, toy, book, and for babies, a bottle, nappies, bibs and waterproofs, and a bag to put it all in. This not only helps the new family but also gives the child a sense of ownership and that they do have their own things when settling into a new home. Any help with purchasing or supplying such items would be greatly appreciated.
Contributing to our nurse’s salary. We are challenged to retain the services of a nurse as there is a high demand for qualified nurses in South Africa and we cannot offer a competitive salary. Your assistance with a contribution towards the salary would help us enormously.
Purchasing of essential medications – we are lucky that children do not have to pay for treatment at our local state hospital and therefore when we take a child the medicines that are prescribed are provided free of charge but one must wait sometimes the whole day for this service. It is desirable to have our own supply of essential medications and equipment. We also find that we often have to purchase certain basic items such as rehydration solution which is often out of stock at the hospital. Any help with this vital resource for our little people would be much appreciated.
Money for an outing – being able to take the children out is such an important part of their development as a child. We want our children to know that there is a life outside Bethany and that they should take an active part in it. This helps not only their sense of identity but also helps when the children leave us and go and stay with families in the community. Trips to the coast, to the nature reserve, to church, or even out for an ice cream all helps the children get a sense that the world is bigger than Bethany.
We have re-established our pre-school programme. Numbers of children dropped in 2008-09 and when our pre-school teacher left, there was not the justification to re-appoint. However, with numbers once again above 60 and many children over the age 4, we have “re-opened” the pre-school. Resources are out-dated and tired and we would love to commit some funds to acquiring new, vibrant, stimulating resources and equipment.