At Ikageng We Water the Seeds of Our Future Leaders,
One Child at a Time.
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Children
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Families
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Based in Orlando West, Soweto, we believe in giving children the hope and opportunities they need to be the best they can be.
We believe that the most important vehicles of social change are the effective delivery of health, nutrition, education and social services.
We aim to address historical imbalances through collective empowerment, which help the marginalised to regain control over their lives.
At Ikageng we believe the provision of effective education and health care services are the most powerful means of alleviating poverty in South Africa. Working together with the Departments of Education, Social Development and Health, as well as local authorities, we have rolled out a number of programmes and interventions at personal, family, community and civic levels.
Ikageng was founded by Carol Dyanti (“Mum Carol”) in 2001 in Orlando West, Soweto. Through her work as a home-based care provider in Soweto, she saw an increasing number of children left to fend for themselves and knew she had to intervene.
Many of these children had lost their parents and guardians to HIV and AIDS, and were now living in single parent-headed, grandparent-headed or child-headed households, exposed to crammed living conditions, poor sanitary conditions, inadequate food, and rampant drug and alcohol abuse. By providing for all their basic needs, Ikageng relieved some of the pressure and despair faced by children who, having lost parents, are forced to take on adult roles.
Ikageng’s model is unprecedented as its interventions aim to preserve the integrity of the remaining family unit. Instead of breaking families up, Ikageng provides the resources and services needed to maintain the family unit, keeping siblings together in their own homes. Based on the South African government’s social policy of cluster homes, Ikageng’s community-based model of care builds a strong family unit and ultimately ensures that the children have a stable support system to help sustain them through difficult times.
Ikageng Itireleng means ‘help them help themselves’, which is exactly what our organisation has been doing for more than 15,000 orphaned and vulnerable children since we were established.