Project: Kids Haven
PAPA: Sam
Started in: 1992
Partner since: 2005
Location: Benoni, Gauteng
Number of children: 235 (supported by MAMAS), 551 (total)
Special: MAMA Moira started Kids Haven 25 years ago en is still going strong as the leading MAMA.
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Kids Haven
Project: Kids Haven
PAPA: Sam
Started in: 1992
Partner since: 2005
Location: Benoni, Gauteng
Number of children: 235 (supported by MAMAS), 551 (total)
Special: MAMA Moira started Kids Haven 25 years ago en is still going strong as the leading MAMA.
In 1992, MAMA Moira Simpson decided to do something about children living and begging on the streets. She did so by creating a place of safety and named it Kids Haven. Today it has the biggest and most comprehensive residential care and protection programme for children on the streets in the province. The organisation runs a unique continuum of care programmes which create a systematic path-of-care in Pre-care (preventative), In-care and After-care to children who are vulnerable and homeless on the streets or at risk of being on the streets. They provide residential care, continuity in education, reintegration into their families, communities and the mainstream school system.
Living on the streets with nothing, sleeping under bridges, begging for food! This is the unfortunate situation for many children. A cup of tea after school, help with homework, playing, eating healthy food, doing chores and then sleeping in a warm bed. That’s the difference Kids Haven makes for the abandoned and neglected homeless children near Benoni in the Ekurhuleni region, the major metropolitan area east of Johannesburg. Kids Haven is an island of hope in a harsh environment.
Kids Haven offers a new and safe home for 180 children with street connections. The organisation offers an entire spectrum of care with shelter, food, clothing, school, sports and games, and a lot of attention to social behaviour and values. The care is divided into three phases: First, the Pre-Care, the homeless children come in to the Kids Haven Shelter. All of these children go to Kids Haven’s Bridging School to overcome the gaps before enrolling in regular schools. Second, the In-Care, the children who are developing successfully go to the Kids Haven Village where they live in six small group homes. These homes shelter between 15 and 20 children each, under the supervision of a permanently assigned house parent. Here, they learn to function in a normal family. Third, the After-Care, the eventual goal of Kids Haven is to place each child back into society, preferably with their own family or as an independent young adult able to positively fit into society.
Moira Simpson
Moira Simpson founded Kids Haven in 1992 in response to the growing number of children on the streets of Benoni.
She says: “Around me I saw more and more children living in the streets. I noticed how damaged they were and how tough their lives were. It was my biggest wish to help them. I started small and simple; with twenty children, two mornings a week. But soon I realised more needed to be done; these children needed to get off the streets. So I started collecting money for a small building. Now, many years later, this is a professional centre. The people of Benoni and surrounding areas know about Kids Haven and no longer treat the homeless children like scum. When they see a homeless child, they call us. Homeless children aren’t criminals; they are children who never had a chance. We can still offer them this chance.”
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