Every child is welcomed into Higveld House – and many, after leaving, report that they still remember the skills they were taught there. Perhaps ever more importantly, they say that their stay at Highveld House improved their lives and changed their attitudes towards life.  So what is Highveld House?

 

When a Children’s Court Order is given for a child in Mpumalanga to leave the family home, for whatever reason, a “place of safety” is essential.  This haven, in Witbank, aims to meet the emotional, physical, psychological and educational needs of these children in a safe home environment.

 

Witbank Child Welfare Society, which has been operating in Witbank for almost 70 years has created the sub committee who are responsible for running Highveld House.  Mrs Florens Rogers and Mrs A. Van Der Linde help of her cares for up to 12 children in a family atmosphere.  While there, they attend local schools, are taken on outings, to church and youth activities, complete life skill programmmes, and are taught handcraft skills. Bible instruction in English, Afrikaans and Zulu are also available.  They receive dental and medical care and psycholocical therapy as required.

As the children are not allowed to leave the house without adult supervision, volunteers play a large part in taking children on outings, giving Bible instruction, and Fundrasing is an ongoing project, as only a small subsidy is available.  This does not cover costs, and donations from the community are essential. The Friends of Highveld House sponsor the children by buying toiletries for them and donating cash, groceries and clothes, or visiting the home to spend time with a child who does not receive visitors.

The house itself was donated by Highveld Steel & Vanadium Corporation, and has been fully occupied since its opening in June, 1999. Children up to 18 years and from all race groups, are assessed while they live there for up to six months, until a suitable placement can be made for them in a children’s home, foster care, at a school of industries or back in the family home.

 

Witbank Child Welfare Society, which has been operating in Witbank for almost 70 years has created the sub committee who are responsible for running Highveld House. Mrs Florens Rogers and Mrs A. Van Der Linde help of her cares for up to 12 children in a family atmosphere. While there, they attend local schools, are taken on outings, to church and youth activities, complete life skill programmmes, and are taught handcraft skills. Bible instruction in English, Afrikaans and Zulu are also available. They receive dental and medical care and psycholocical therapy as required.

As the children are not allowed to leave the house without adult supervision, volunteers play a large part in taking children on outings, giving Bible instruction, and helping them with homework, holiday projects such as handcrafts and life skill programmes. Some of the older children are placed in part-time jobs in the community where they can earn money for their future.

The statistics over the last 4 years of the children in the house are:
2008
• 7 White
• 11 Black
• 1 Asian
• 2 Coloured
2009
• 5 White
• 12 Black
• 1 Asian
• 1 Coloured
2010
• 5 White
• 12 Black
• 1 Asian
2011
• 14 Black
• 7 White

 

 

So can you help?

 

It is a basic human right for

every child to be loved and

cared for.  So can you help?

 

To learn more about the

Friends of Highveld House –

and how you can help –

call

Florens Rogers, the House Mother at Highveld House on

(013) 692 6900

 

Witbank Child Welfare Society on (013) 656 2471

 

Your interest will be welcomed.

 

HIGHVELD HOUSE

Place of Safety

 

 

Highveld House is a temporary place of safety for children in need, and currently only accommodates 12 children, 8 girls and 4 boys.

As we are a welfare organisation, we depend on the community’s ongoing support for donations in order to fund projects.

 

OUR VISION

 

To provide care and shelter for homeless and vulnerable children in a loving and spiritual environment.

 

Our main projects to fund:

PROJECT 1

 

The money we are requesting is for a building project.

We would like to add on a second boys room (we currently only have one) so that we can divide the boys according to age as we do with the girls in our house.

We are also in desperate need of an additional bathroom to be built between the rooms.

Furthermore, we would like to extend Highveld House’s current living area in order to create a bigger lounge to accommodate all the children. This, will in turn free up the current living room which we plan to turn into a dining room.

Finally we would like to extend the assistant house mothers room, giving her an additional room for a living room area and a bathroom (she currently only has a room which serves as a bedroom cum lounge and she has to share a bathroom with the children).

As you can tell these alterations will have a huge impact on the children’s as well as the house mothers lives in as far as comfort and practicality are concerned.

There is no maintenance requirement so the donation will be once off and we will be responsible for the alteration’s upkeep.

We would like to start as soon as possible and expect this project to take three months to complete.

 

 

PROJECT 2

 

Existing Garage

 

To extend the existing garage into a Tandem Garage to accommodate:

 

A bigger space for our vehicle – A Nissan Bus.

To create a proper Laundry room outside the house – (currently part of the kitchen).

Storerooms:  – are needed to keep in new and second hand clothing

  (currently in boxes)

– Blankets, food, etc.

We would like to extend our general assistant room, giving her, bigger space for a living room area.

 

 

 

PROJECT 3

 

Wendy House

 

To replace the existing Wendy House with a proper permanent structure to accommodate:

 

Study Hall.

Living space where children can visit with parents or family members during weekend visiting hours.

Arts & crafts – room

 

 

 

PROJECT 4