South Africa has an enormous problem: some 2,5 million children have become heads of their households because HIV/AIDs and other diseases such as TB have incapacitated or killed their parents. MaAfrika Tikkun's aim is to support and care for these vulnerable children (OVCs) without institutionalizing them.

The early childhood development programmes run from our community centres. It has been proven that children who have the opportunity to attend Early Childhood Development programmes (from age 0 to 6 years) have a 25% better chance of succeeding at formal schooling that starts at age 7.

In 2007, the Hillbrow PreSchool was operational, construction in Diepsloot started, and building plans for Alexandra and Orange Farm had been approved.

In 2009, the Hillbrow, Diepsloot and Orange Farm Early Childhood Development Centres are up and running. The Alexandra ECD Centre is at ground floor level during the construction phase and there are plans to launch similar ECD programmes within the next three years in Delft and Mfuleni.

The youth development programme caters for 7 to 19 year olds. The youths come to our centres after school and thereby avoid becoming influenced by gangs, becoming addicted to drugs and participating in crime.

In 2009, a formalised Youth Development Programme consisting of 5 key pillars is being formulated and 2 of the 5 pillars are being implemented at each site this year:

• Computer Skills - Training in Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet
• Literacy - Library usage and reading encouragement
• Environment - Recycling, anti-pollution training
• Arts and Culture - Traditional dance, art, drama, singing etc
• Sports and Wellness - Karate, Yoga, Soccer etc

We have two kinds of caregivers:

• Home-based Caregivers: These local volunteers are trained in the 69 day government course on basic primary health care. They are assigned to families where they escort patients to clinics, ensure they conform to their medicine schedules, clean their homes, bath the bedridden patients and refer government grant seekers to relevant government departments.
  
• Child and Youth Care Workers: These caregivers are guidance counsellors for children who are in child-headed families to ensure they are healthy, being educated and are given emotional support to avoid institutionalising them.

We are expanding the following community centres to include three new buildings each. These include:

• Early Childhood Development Centres
• Youth Development cCntres
• Primary Health Care and Administration Centres

Gauteng:

• Diepsloot (The Wings of Life Centre)
• Orange Farm (Arekopaneng Community Centre)
• Alexandra (The Phutaditjaba Community Centre)
• Hillbrow (Temple Israel Pre School)

Western Cape:

• Mfuleni (Mfuleni Community Park)
• Delft (Nelson Mandela Peace Park)

We provide hot nutritious meals daily and food parcels once a month for the families in our care. We also grow vegetables on our land which are used to supplement these meals. We now have vegetable tunnels and wormeries at Diepsloot and Orange Farm as well as a bread oven in Diepsloot thanks to our donors and their volunteer programmes.

Impoverished communities are especially susceptible to the impact of natural disasters and shortages in water, food, drainage and sanitation as well as crises such as May 2008's xenophobic violence.

We work in conjunction with each city's emergency services and address any gaps in the provision of relief. 

We provide an emergency and disaster relief service to communities in need of assistance during difficult times. We store essentials in our warehouse and distribute food, amenities (clothing, blankets, mattresses, cooking utensils) to those in need of help as an emergency interim temporary measure.

Caring for a child is a holistic responsibility, from infancy to matric. We care for families where parents are ill and offer support and skills development to the children

We have formed alliances with the following organisations which complement our programmes:

• OSSAC
• The Mitzvah School
• The Tomorrow Trust
• The Teddy Bear Clinic
• Soul Buddyz
• The Junior Council
• Room 13
• The Methodist Church, Diepsloot

We realise that public private partnership is the most effective and efficient method to improve service delivery and community development. We have therefore signed agreements with government whereby they provide the funding for certain projects and we manage the programme and all its details.