It takes a village to raise a child, a holistic approach to addressing the problem of child headed families

This article was originally written for the Youth Leader Magazine. For similar articles and more amazing stories of sustainable solutions by change makers around the world, please visit www.youth-leader.org The site is an amazing teaching tool as most of the articles focus on the youth and there is a wealth of information about achievement by the youth in social activism. So take the time and inspire yourself, students and the youth in your life.

Meet Hugo and Liesje Templeman, they came to South Africa for their honeymoon and never left. They are founders of the Ndlovu Care Group (NCG) in Elandsdoorn, a rural township in Limpopo. Their innovative program has won awards for community development. It is a holistic and sustainable approach to health care and community development that is replicable. They have successfully replicated it in Lillydale, a rural community in Mpumalanga proving its economic viability. Their goal is to see the program replicated in rural communities in South Africa and rest of Africa.

The replication and success of the program is dependent on cooperation and partnership with the community, relevant Government Departments, Non-governmental organisations, civil society, Corporates and Donors. Child Headed Households fall under their Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program. The OVC program is part of their Clinical and Community Health Awareness Mobilisation & Prevention (CHAMP) programs; namely the community prevention program; sport, art and culture programs; and water and waste projects. They have an inter-referral system that enables the referral of beneficiaries to the various programs depending on their identified needs.

The OVC program cares for 3,500 children in this region alone; of which 200 are orphans living in 60 registered child headed households. Now these are the ones in the communities where NCG is operating. The number of child headed households in South Africa is estimated to be 122 000 as at 2006 Survey done by Children Count. Keep in mind the fact that the survey defines child headed households as household where all members are under the age of 18. This therefore excludes everyone from 19 year olds to 21 year olds; meaning that the actual number could much higher. 

The conditions that these children live under are unimaginable. They lack everything from food, clothes, shelter, security and so much more. In these households the biggest challenge is persistent hunger followed by other poverty related issues including; the struggle to pay school fees, lack of school uniforms and other clothing; lack of healthcare; inadequate housing and insufficient warmth.

Access to running water is crucial in assisting these children and the rest of the community; because it means that they don’t have to spend hours per day carrying water. The state of the dwellings these children live under is so bad such that their safety and protection is in jeopardy. These dwellings have no proper windows, some have windows that are either broken or cannot close properly leaving them exposed to the elements and criminals. There are no locks on their doors putting them at risk of being raped and robbed.

Once these children are identified by the Ndlovu Care Group they are individually adopted into the CHAMP programs. A ‘family’ support structure is created for them through the identification of informal ‘foster’ mothers from the community to assist with monitoring the children. The foster mothers then report any problems back to CHAMP. This is done in an attempt to normalise their lives and ease the burden on their family heads. Children under 18 are eligible for child support grants in South Africa. To be eligible for the grant birth certificates are necessary. In some of these case especially the ones that are young, the documents might be missing. This prolongs the process of applying for these grants. The other challenge is that an adult is required to apply on behalf of these children and there is a limit as to how many of them one can apply for. Ndlovu Care Group play a crucial role in assisting these children in getting their grant. The child support grant in South Africa is R280; £ 21,17; €26,32; now ask yourself this question, would you be able to live on this amount? This why it is important for us to support organization like the Ndlovu Care Group is because they do bridge the gap between what the government can do for these children and the community. 

OVCs that are of pre-school going age are enrolled into the Ndlovu Pre-schools. These pre-schools are not funded and currently require a monthly fee of R80 per child, which is an annual fee of R960 per child, which translates to $117, £74 and €92 to cover costs of running the pre-schools. The Ndlovu Care Group desperately needs funding and support to be able to enrol more of these kids into their pre-school thereby giving them a chance for a better life through education.

Ndlovu Care Group has a huge impact on these children’s lives. They provide a support system for them that is lacking in the form of “foster” mothers. This gives the children some stability and reduces the burden that is being carried by the oldest sibling. This gives the older siblings a chance to focus on their schooling. NCG assist them in obtaining their support grants from the Government thereby ensuring that there is a form of monthly income for them no matter how small. They also offer free medical and dental care for these children through their autonomous treatment centres in the community. They have a 3 community based clinics in the area that provide that are “one-stop-shops” cause they provide integrated primary health and the management of chronic diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS.

Through their clinics they are able to provide quality healthcare for these kids and the rural community at large. This is an area that would not have had access to this type of care otherwise. They also offer employment opportunities in an area where unemployment is scarce. People in South Africa leave their homes in rural areas behind to go find work in urban areas. Having such a facility in this area provides the community with more options for employment and support. They also target TB and HIV/AIDS by provide care and management of these illnesses. 

Most of these orphans become orphans due to their parents dying of HIV/AIDS. Therefore management of this disease in the community is crucial in ensuring that parents don’t die and leave their parents behind. Voluntary testing and counselling is provided to the community to ensure early detection and management. NCG also hold educational and theatrical production in getting the message across about HIV/AIDS. They have an amphitheatre where they hold have these productions.

Without the intervention of NCG these kids would grow up without education and parental guidance and they would then be expected to survive in a country and community that has enormous inequalities; the impact of which would be evident in the next decade. The NCG interventions give these children a fighting chance for a better life and future. 

One of the biggest problems that NCG identified in child headed households is lack of food, which invariably leads to malnutrition. This prompted them to open Ndlovu Nutritional Units (NNU) and there are four of these units in the area. The units maintain their own vegetable gardens and provide fresh vegetables to the pre-school and the unit. Once a child is identified as a possible case of malnutrition, they are sent to the Ndlovu Community Health Clinic where the status of their health is determined. The underlying disease is then treated at the clinic then they are referred to the Ndlovu Nutritional Unit to be monitored until they are healthy. 

Trained community health workers, working for the NNUs help in identifying and enrolling these kids into the program. This system ensures holistic care and bridges the gap between the doctor’s recommendations and the caregiver’s limitations. The caregivers are educated through a series of lectures and encouraged to grow their own gardens at home. They are given seeds towards this. This allows the caregivers and kids to have a permanent source of nutritional food. These OVC are given nutritional and life-skills training to ensure that they understand nutrition and this assists them in making better food choices. This then helps in breaking the cycle of malnutrition and ensures that are no recurrences.

In interview with some of the CHH, when they were asked what they needed the most, they said that they need someone to talk to. To this end a non-profit organization called Friend of Loskop that assists with nature preservation at Loskop Dam Nature Reserve, has been actively involved with OVCs. They offer the Ndlovu kids an expanded program that includes an extensive environmental awareness program and life-skills programs that are specially designed to equip the OVCs with coping mechanisms in dealing with their grief and trauma.

Their trained and experienced councillors assist the Ndlovu kids with specially developed games, teach them how to deal with daily problems and they instil with a sense of belonging and hope for these kids. The Friends of Loskop facilitator then play a crucial role as the person that the kids can talk to. A life-skills camp was being built in the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve for the overnight accommodation of the OVCs during school holidays that has unfortunately been discontinued due to lack of funding. Without the Friends of Loskop intervention these children would have access to skilled councillors trained to deal with their circumstances. Counselling in South Africa is the privilege of the few that can afford it. This is why this program is crucial because without it these children might turn to violence, crime and prostitution emanating from emotional issues that were not dealt with.

The NCG’s, through their holistic approach to promoting community health services, identified the need for intervention on behalf of children to prevent and treat oral disease. The Ndlovu Oral Hygiene and Dental Care was established under the name, Ngwenya. The partnership that exists between this project and other NCG programs is integral to the model developed by NCG. Referrals are sent to and from other NCG programs to provide a holistic, sustainable, and comprehensive range of services to the children in crises. Although the program operates under the ambit of the Ndlovu Children’s Program; the target groups are both school children and the community at large. It provides preventative education and extensive dental care on a supportive and regular basis. Dental care in South Africa is a privilege of the few who can afford it and in rural areas it is not a priority. When people get toothaches they go and have the extracted. The program therefore offers a service that would have been out of reach for the people of this community. 

Charlotte’s story

We meet Charlotte on her way back from school. She is wearing a full school uniform (it is mandatory in South Africa for kids to wear a full school uniform) and is walking on a footpath that’s obviously regularly used by residents. She has corn-rolls in her hair like most teenagers in South Africa. She looks like any normal teenager on her way back from school. You would not be able to know her story by looking at her. She tells us;

“My mom died when I was nine years old. And then, you know when we are young we Africans don’t tell a young person that their mom is dead. They used to tell us that….ahh…she will be back, she went somewhere, and for a while she will come back. And then knowing in my mind…no, my mom won’t come back, cause we’ve put her into a hole and they put the soil on top of her. And I grew up alone, staying here not having a father or sister or mom.”

Her mother’s house is well built and secure with a gate on it. It is obvious that before she died her mother was doing some work on the property which stopped with the death. Charlotte is washing her school uniform preparing for the next day. She is kneeling on the floor in-front of a metal basin that contains the water and clothes she is washing. She hand washes her clothes with brick soap. She tells us;

“To grow up alone it’s not nice. Perfectly, exactly and clearly not nice…for a young person like me needs the love of a mother, even a father” 

We cross over to Dr Hugo Tempelman and he says;

“The risk of a situation like this is that the children grow up for nothing good, eventually they get involved in prostitution or criminality to survive. At Ndlovu there is a huge accent on child care; offering children perspective of life through games, sport and teach them coping mechanisms through which they learn to cope with their difficult circumstances. That’s a beautiful task. You see these children start flouring and our choir is a beautiful example of it. We started the choir because we were scouting for talent. In choirs and music; there is a lot of talent out there…and if we can manage those talents and nurture them we can create chances and create self-esteem”

We cross back to Charlotte and find her sitting on a large bed that was probably her late mother’s. She tells us;

“The choir assists me a lot and it helps my mind not thinking about living alone, because there are people out there, like my friend Rachel. We play together, we sing together”

We see Charlotte and Rachel walking together from school. Carrying their books, laughing and joking with each other, like any teenager their age. Yet these girls have seen and faced tough challenges in their lives. We encounter them again singing with the choir. Rachel is a lead singer with a beautiful and rich voice. The choir members are all wearing their school uniform which is testament to the fact that Ndlovu Care Group is providing them with the support and care that they need, so that their time is freed to allow them to focus on their education so they can have an equal opportunity to succeed as other kids.

Rachel’s story

In 2002 her mother got sick, they moved back to Elandsdoorn so that her grandmother could look after their sick mother as she and her siblings were still young. A few months after moving back, her mother died. So they were left with their grandmother who looks after them. She says; 

“It is very difficult for a girl to grow up without her mother, you know. So I miss her and there is nothing that will bring her back”

She wipes the stray tear that runs down her cheeks.

“Sometimes I sing just to relieve my stress. I sing just because it’s something that is within me, it’s in my heart. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and sing just a little, just to sing. That’s why I like music. I was born to sing. The choir gives me more confidence in myself. Music is a healing to me. Cause whenever I sing, I feel relieved. My mind refreshes. That’s why I love the choir, because it perfects my healing.”

Their documentary is below

You can also view the videos on YouTube on the Ndlovu Care Group YouTube Channel, The Hugo Tempelman Foundation YouTube Channel or the Stichting Tjommie YouTube Channel and the Ndlovu Care Group Videos website.

Ndlovu Youth Choir

This excerpt was obtained from the Ndlovu Care Group website. To visit it click here.

“Young, enthusiastic faces smiling. Colourful outfits swaying as the choir dances to various beats. A beautiful sound echoing through the surrounds. Goosebumps and cheers as the audience are captivated by the performance. This is a small taste of what an Ndlovu Youth Choir performance is like. The Ndlovu Youth Choir was formed in 2009 in the rural community of Elandsdoorn. Since then it has gone from strength to strength with performances at the Pretoria State Theatre and many other prestigious events. Due to their hard work and talent the choir were invited to perform with famous Dutch musician, Herman van Veen. This was a wonderful opportunity for 16 of the choir members, as none of them had ever been in an airplane, never mind overseas. Ndlovu Care Group prepared the entire trip in just 3 weeks with the help of many organisations and individuals, from passports to visas to flights and everything in between. The choir left for the Netherlands on Wednesday 28th September 2011. As they were driven past the planes lined up at the airport the sense of excitement and adventure was bubbling out of all the choir members. Shrieks of joy and laughter were heard, and once at the airport the choir did what they do best… they sang with many admirers pausing to soak up the beautiful sound. The group returned on Sunday 2nd October 2011, with a life time of memories.”

Ndlovu’s Rural Advancement Programme (RAP)

NCG is running a number of programmes in the community of Elandsdoorn. These programmes are not only geared to dealing with the issues of child headed households but deal with the issues faced by the rural community in a holistic manner. They collectively call these programmes Rural Advancement Programmes (RAP) and targets communities that are in need and deprived of the most basic infrastructure and health care benefits. Communities like Elandsdoorn are isolated geographically, lack resources and are restricted; this causes migration of residents seeking employment opportunities outside the community. This further exacerbates the problem of child headed households and is one of main causes.

Their RAP model deals with these challenges through the scaling up of services in these communities and through focused local capacity building. This improves standards of living in the community and promotes the remigration of resources back to the area. It also plays a huge role in ensuring the dissemination of information, awareness, communication and development on relevant issues to promote behaviour change, early detection, access to care and retention in care programs. They offer these communities cost effective and integrated primary health care with respect to Malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS promoting personal wellbeing and community health. Their childcare programs address the needs and life skills of orphans and vulnerable children. They promote replication of their model within the public sector in South Africa as well as through other NGO’s.

The RAP model is divided into seven major sub-programmes. One of which is the RAP water programme that deals with the severe shortage of water in the area. Numerous initiatives such as boreholes and other water projects have been put in place to enable access by the community to one of the most basic life sustaining needs. Water for these communities is not only crucial for household purposes but is essential to building houses, planting and maintaining vegetable gardens and to small enterprises.

Another RAP programme is that of Sport, Arts & Culture. South Africa is a deeply cultural and belief orientated country and this is more so in the rural areas. Therefore any social upliftment of these rural communities needs to respect and maintain the cultural & religious beliefs, habits and customs of the community this leads to the strengthening of intra-social relationships. The RAP Sports, Arts & Culture Program creates an interactive community involvement and awareness. It intentionally involves Elders and Youth in all activities. This has built trust and openness that has the sought after spin-off of healthy participation.

Making community events available to everyone and encouraging participation has assisted in transcending stigma associated with poverty and a positive HIV status. The program also creates the platform for the discovery of phenomenal talent and is integrated with disabled sports. Evidence of the success of this program is exhibited clearly through the Ndlovu Youth Choir and the opportunities and successes that it has had. The choir is a source of support and training ground for its talented members. They have gotten the opportunity to travel overseas through their hard work and excellence. Their outstanding achievements have contributed to the prestige of the community as a whole. The choir has opened door to the community that would otherwise be closed to this community. It has given some of the CHH and the community options to pursue their dreams without having to leave the community behind. The success of the choir also assists in motivating other members of the community to chase their dreams and participate in all levels of RAP programs.

Another flagship project is the Hlanzeka waste management project. It allows for the collection and processing of waste in the area and the subsequent sale of it to wholesalers in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Waste collection is not well developed in the area therefore this initiative which was initiated in 2001 by residents of the area is a legitimate business for the residents. It not only cleans up the area but it assists in recycling waste, creates and promotes environmental awareness and employment for the community. A win, win situation for all. Waste removals from houses in Elandsdoorn have been undertaken on a weekly basis since 2002. This schedule is not sufficient for the township and people therefore dump household refuse at street corners. The Hlanzekani waste project has been extended recently through the construction of some ‘formal' (household) dumpsites in the township, where waste is collected and taken out of the township. These dump sites carry billboards with the slogan ‘Keep Elandsdoorn Clean'.

At the processing site in Elandsdoorn some of the employees of the project make small mats from waste plastic, which are then sold, either to inhabitants of Elandsdoorn or to visitors. The Elandsdoorn Development Trust is facilitating this important initiative. Detra Travel and Friends from the Netherlands have been taking financial care of this project since 2002. The Ndlovu Community Care Services aspire to improve standards of living with a comprehensive community development and upliftment program and aim to involve the community to such an end that thriving sustainability is achieved. 

The NCG entrepreneurial employment programs have helped individuals with projects such as the Computer literacy programs with bursaries and the assistance of a fully employed Community Liaison Officer. 

NITT - Ndlovu Information Technology Training

NCG has well equipped information technology centre that has been operating since 2001 offering basic computer literacy classes to the community. Through the years the centre has been offering basic skills on:

· Introduction to a PC

· Microsoft word 2000

· Microsoft excel 2000

· Introduction to basic typing

· Microsoft PowerPoint

The centre is in the process of getting accreditation with the Information and Communications Technology Sector Education and Training Authority and plans to offer accredited courses as an independent training provider. This will further enable the centre to have a lasting impact on the community and provide much needed skills training. This will also mean that residents can be gainfully employed within their community reducing the need for migration for the sake of employment. The impact of the NCG programmes on this community is such that it’s allowing the community to be self-sustaining and productive. The other contribution made by NCG to this community is the fact that about 95% of Ndlovu staff is recruited from the community and trained in house. The NITT facility was initiated to facilitate computer training for staff. Elandsdoorn also embarked on a very challenging project; to supply a WiFi-network to the local community. Now you must keep in mind that WiFi-network in South Africa hardly available even in some of the major cities of the country, embarking on such a project in a poor rural community was not only challenging but extremely ambitious. A small wireless network was established with the support of Intel, connecting NMC with the four nutritional centres, the computer centre and the OR Tambo High School in the area. Intel donated 50 PCs and 30 ClassMates, a server and content from Intel’s School Project to OR Tambo Highschool. The Meraka Institute placed a Digital Doorway unit at OR Tambo Highschool. Moreover, a direct wireless link to the Meraka Institute will be established. With this emerging ICT infrastructure in place, the Meraka Institute will research community driven ICT enabled quality improvements in health, education and entrepreneurship. Implementation of research results will depend on further partners/funders. The concept of Living Labs was introduced in the Moutse Project in 2006. In essence, Living Labs are systemic initiatives, which focus on creating multi stakeholder collaboration in different stages of the research, development and innovation (RDI) processes. In Living Labs, users or citizens are seen as a source of new innovations, as co-creators of new services and products, typically linked to the creation or application of ICTs or ICT-enabled services. Living Labs are platforms for exploring these opportunities in various areas; for instance in healthcare, education, e-commerce, job creation, transport, tourism development, energy production, etc. 


The Moutse LL is managed by Henry Marnitz IT Manager of the Ndlovu Care Group (NGC). This project was established together with the A Re Ikageng Women's Club in Elandsdoorn. This group has been in existence since 1973 and is a women's empowerment group for women who work from home. This day-care centre was initiated to care for the eldery of Elandsdoorn. A Re Ikageng Women's Club received a donation to build the centre and the project has been successfully administrated by the community since. The Elandsdoorn Development Trust acted as facilitator between the donor and the receivers.

Over the years NCG has had a number of milestones along the way; as one can tell from the list below. But one of the greatest achievements of this project is being able to turn around a poor, rural community that lacked infrastructure and basic services into a thriving self-sustaining community with opportunities of employment and entrepreneurship for its residents. This being achieved through partnerships between NCG, the community, the government, corporate donors and NGOs. The work done and still being done in this community is truly in the spirit of “Ubuntu” that is synonymous with South Africa. It truly does take a village to raise a child and through partnerships we can all make this world a better and sustainable world for all.

• 1994 - Start and open Ndlovu Medical Centre, a township based community general practice NCG RAP1 
• 1996 - Open 1st Ndlovu Nutritional Unit in Elandsdoorn 
• 1997 - Start Ndlovu Tuberculoses Program in cooperation with Provincial and National Dept of Health 
• 1998 - Start Ndlovu AIDS Awareness Program, NAAP
• 1999 - Open Colombine Maternity Clinic (24-hours) 
• 1999 - Open the Elandsdoorn Bakery 
• 2001 - Open the 2nd Ndlovu Nutritional Unit and 1st water project in Lesehleng
• 2001 - Expand Ndlovu Tuberculosis Program with defaulter-tracing 
• 2001 - Start Ndlovu Information Technology Training, community computer literacy program 
• 2002 - Open 3rd Ndlovu Nutritional Unit in Thabachabedu 
• 2003 - Start Ngwenya Community Dental Care Program (NCDCP-program)
• 2003 - Expand Ndlovu Tuberculosis Program with contact tracing and community TB Awareness 
• 2003 - Start Ndlovu Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART-program), ARV roll out Program 
• 2003 - Start Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT-program)
• 2003 - Start Waste Care Program Elandsdoorn 
• 2004 - Open 4th Ndlovu Nutritional Unit in Phooko 
• 2004 - Start mobile HAART project for farm workers (Mpumalanga and Gauteng)
• 2004 - Open Sport Grounds in cooperation with the Johan Cruyff Foundation
• 2004 - Lapa Friends of Loskop (Herman van Veen Foundation) Childcare/nature conservation program
• 2005 - Start community Voluntary Counselling- and Testing program (VCT-program)
• 2005 - Start Nappy Factory Elandsdoorn
• 2006 - Start of Orphans & Vulnerable Children Program (OVC Program)
• 2007 - Open 1st ATC satellite clinic at Vaalwater (Waterberg Welfare Society)
• 2007 - Open Bhubezi Community Heath Centre and Bhubezi AIDS Awareness Program, Lillydale
• 2008 - Open The Miracle Elandsdoorn, a theatre for community, NCP, NAAP and Life Skills Programs 
• 2008 - Receive platinum Impumelelo Award for innovation 
• 2008 - Receive gold & silver CPSI awards for innovation and public-private-partnership
• 2009 - Establish Ndlovu Youth Choir
• 2009 - Accredit HAART programs with DoH
• 2009 - Complete building of NCG RAP 3
• 2010 - Recieve Impumeleo Award for Social Entrepeneur of the Year 2010 

The Ndlovu Care Group in conjunction with the Hugo Tempelman Foundation are currently running a lot of rural advancement projects in Elandsdoorn as part of their model for a holistic, sustainable and economically viable approach to health care and community development. Through these programs they have been able to provide hope and a brighter future for all in this community.

For more information on these projects, you can visit  The Ndlovu Care Group Website. Below are some sad examples of these child headed households, they need our help. To read more about them visit  The Ndlovu Care Website the link will direct you to the child headed household section of their website. The actual names of the children are not included to protect their identity. 

M Family 

“M is taking care of her two siblings and she is 14yrs old. Their mother is deceased, she died after a long illness, and since then she has been heading the family. So initially, she started to take care of the family when she was 10yrs old, and the youngest sibling was 1yr 3months then. This family was identified by the Nutritional Unit and now they are registered in the OVC project. They are staying in Phooko 2 Section in an RDP house. Their dates of birth are: M M born on the 02 June 1994, N M born 14 August 2000, and R M born on the 04 April 2003. They are all attending school at Phooko Primary. This family has no source of income because the oldest sibling is 14yrs she cannot apply for foster care grant on behalf of her siblings until she is above 18yrs then she can be able to apply for them.” 

VR- Family 

“VR who is 22yrs old and doing his matric(grade 12) at St Joseph Secondary School. V has 4 siblings and his sister who is 20yrs has dropped out of school after the parents passed away. The other siblings are N, D, and X. Both their parents passed away, the father passed away in 2006 and the mother followed in 2007. This family has no source of income. The only form of income comes from N who is 20yrs old and is assisting in the local school with the feeding scheme, they give her some incentive, and it depends on what the school can offer on monthly bases. The family is registered in Children programme and they get assistance of food parcels on monthly basis.” 

“At the moment it is not possible for them to apply for any grants because they do not have birth certificates, N is the only one with an ID document which has a different surname from their family surname and this makes it impossible for her to apply for her siblings because the information on the death certificates of their parents and her ID document are not the same. The case has been referred to Department of Social Development.” 

IM- Family 

“I M is 22yrs old he is still attending school. He is taking care of her sister’s children, P 15yrs old, P 9yrs old, C 6yrs old and M 3yrs old. Both parents are deceased. This family was identified through the NNU. M was admitted in the Ndlovu Nutritional Unit because of her ill condition, she is still in the programme since her condition is not improving. C is enrolled in one of the Pre School because no one will take care of her during the day, when the uncle and other siblings are still at school. M is also attending the Pre School because Tuesdays and Thursdays the NNU is not running. It is not an easy task for I, being a boy to take care of four girls, but he takes it as an obligation since his sister was also taking care of him when he was young.”

T- Family 

“T T is 20yrs old he still attending school. He cares for his two siblings J - 14yrs and M - 12yrs both parents deceased. This family is surviving from the child support grant that M is getting (R220.00) per month. Apart from that the family is getting the support from the organization and their condition is very bad.”

M- Family 

“L M is 19yrs old, he taking care of his siblings T 14yrs old, and K 9yrs old. Both parents are deceased and he had to drop out of school and take care of his mother when she was sick. Then after she died he had to continue to take care of his siblings. The is no source for income for this family, they are unable to apply for any grants because they do not have relevant documents to apply they are getting support from neighbours and also from the organization” 

D- Family 

“N D is 18yrs old she is staying with her two younger sisters P 16yrs old and S 13yrs old. Both parents are deceased; they do not have any source of income. Potego and Suzan do not have birth certificates to apply for any grants and their sister cannot apply for any government assistance because of her age. Their condition is very bad”

Links

All images were obtained from the Ndlovu Care Group website and the Hugo Tempelman Foundation. Visit Ndlovu Care Group at http://www.ndlovucaregroup.co.za/index.html, The Hugo Tempelman Foundation at http://www.hugo-tempelman-stiftung.de/index.php, their videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/tempelmanstiftung?feature=watch, and the report by Children Count on Child Headed Households at http://www.childrencount.ci.org.za/uploads/brief_child_headed_households.pdf