Lessons for Home of Hope
Founder of facility has launched schooling drive to help children adjust to new normal
TWENTY years’ experience is still not enough to adapt to “the new normal” posed by the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
Award-winning humanitarian Khanyisile Motsa, founder of Home of Hope for Girls in Joburg, says the pandemic has brought challenges to her organisation as it has to adapt to the new way of surviving.
Motsa, who has been running the organisation for the past 20 years, said learning in the pandemic has been a difficult adjustment to her home.
“We struggle with resources to cater for the children. We don’t have tables, laptops or tablets to help these children learn during the lockdown. We don’t have enough space to observe social distancing and because everyone is working from home.
“Our kids can’t be playing outside as they will be making noise for our neighbours who are working from home,” said Motsa.
The home has 78 children and has helped more than 10 000.
There are about 18 children going to school, who are between Grade 7 and 12, but the others have to be taught by the caregivers with no material.
Motsa said: “It is very difficult to assist the children with studying during this pandemic; everyone from the caregiver to security has turned to being a teacher as a way to promote learning.”
Motsa and the organisation have started a home-learning campaign and are urging people to donate what they can to assist the children in learning as the country waits for the pandemic to pass.
A campaign called Home Schooling for Hope has been launched.
It is a drive to supply almost 60 laptops and tablets, as well as fibre connections for the two full-time residential care homes. It will enable the girls to be home-schooled. Although this is a challenging route, the organisation is determined to keep up their good grades and the momentum that they have achieved without putting the girls’ health at risk.
Motsa started the organisation when she moved to Berea in Joburg in 1999.
She had not intended to open a home for girls but merely wanted to assist them.
“It was during my second week of living in Berea that I saw children at the traffic lights. I was surprised that they were not in school and asked the security guard.
“He just looked at me and said, ‘oh, don’t worry those are prostitutes.’ I was shocked and approached the girls – to the security guard’s dismay.”
Motsa discovered that many of them were orphaned and lured into prostitution by pimps and druglords.
“Before the end of the month, I was living with 17 girls and I eventually had to move and rent a few flats as my neighbours complained about the noise,” she said.
Motsa has not looked back since 1999 as she continues to take in more girls and ensure they have a home.
As an advocate for women and children, Motsa said she is appalled by the femicide and gender-based violence.
“My heart is painful, there are things happening in our community that we have deemed normal. There are so many women turning a blind eye to their spouse abusing their children and I believe if we could really empower women, men will stop this,” she said.