“Teenagers' Convention”:
30 teens from Qwaqwa, 40 teens from Mpumaze and 27 teens from Ermelo making it a total of 97 teens headed to the Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve for our second teenagers' convention that took place from the 5th to the 7th of October. This convention is part of Module 2 of My Future, My Responsibility financed by Bouygues Construction's Foundation Terre Plurielle, Water Solutions Southern Africa, Michelin Tyres South Africa, as well as the Accor Foundation. It is aimed at developing our teens' presentation and public speaking skills as well as their ability to analyse and synthesise... Read more
“Extreme Sports Camp”:
40 of our Bushbuckridge beneficiaries spent the month preparing for our second extreme sports camp as part of Module 4 of My Future, My Responsibility (funded by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund). The purpose of the extreme sports camp is to help our teens know that they can overcome their fears by participating in extreme sports. What they achieve is, knowing that that they can go tubing in a river or hiking for 3hours which can be gruelling... read more
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Children of the Dawn - Our Activities
Mathabatha 
Bushbuckridge 
Qwaqwa/Phuthaditjhaba
Mangweni 
Masakala 
Mpumaze 
Ermelo 
Kgautswane 
Lenyenye
At present, Children of the Dawn cares for 774 children aged 4 to 20 in eight rural communities: Mathabatha and Lenyenye located in the Limpopo Province, Bushbuckridge, Mangweni and Ermelo situated in Mpumalanga, Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State Province, Mpumaze in Kwazulu-Natal, and Masakala in the Eastern Cape. The sponsorship programme is run on the ground by eight dedicated teams. 80% of the sponsored children are orphans or living with a HIV- positive parent.
Children of the Dawn strives to take a holistic approach in supporting orphans and vulnerable children within their own communities. In effect, Children of the Dawn looks at fulfilling the whole spectrum of children’s needs: education, nutrition, health, safety, moral and psychological issues, life skills, maintaining of family units, community integration, integration in the wider community… and having fun. Children of the Dawn encourages communities to take initiative and responsibility for answering children’s needs.
At the heart of Children of the Dawn’s model lie the aftercare centres or drop-in centres. Through its partners in the seven communities, Children of the Dawn presently operates twenty-four of these semi-formal day centres, which welcome the sponsored children several times a week. When at the centre, children are fed, helped with their homework, educated in life skills, hygiene and health issues, as well as given moral and emotional support.
Aside from the aftercare centres, network support teams have been created around each child. These informal support entities comprise of extended families, neighbours, teachers, social workers, small businesses and are meant to integrate and keep the orphans or vulnerable children within their community.
At Children of the Dawn, we believe in community responses to the challenge of orphaned and vulnerable children. We, South African rural communities, believe we have the will, the power and the love to raise a generation of saved children!
