- A call to the people of Cape Town seeks help to raise R6 million to build a family shelter with a school in Claremont.
- The shelter will replace an unsafe, dilapidated building and will benefit at least 35 homeless families.
- The project aims to provide not only shelter but also home schooling and extracurricular activities for children.
A call is going out to the people of Cape Town to help build a family shelter with a school to the value of R6 million on the premises of the old Shelter in Claremont.
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“The Shelter in Claremont was for singles only and I closed it about a year ago when it became unsafe to live in. The dilapidated building will be replaced with pods with two bedrooms for families who are currently living on the streets of Cape Town in cars. If we raise the money by the end of November, furnished every pod at least 35 homeless families will benefit from this joint venture,” says Shadrick Valayadum, CEO of The Haven.
“The quotation from Mandela: there is no passion found in playing small in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
“This is exactly how we feel in The Haven, there is so much work to be done. Our vision is that no one should live on the street, and no one includes single people, two people, married couples, families, or whatever. This is a project that is huge, not only for The Haven but for the Western Cape in that it will be the first of its kind to not only have a sheltered space for families but the idea to open up a home schooling centre, hopefully with a computer lab for the kids,” he says.
Whilst the families, the mother or the father alone where substances are involved and they are going to a rehabilitation programme or upskilling, job placements or just getting their lives back the children will go through home schooling and there will be an opportunity for them to go through an extra curriculum activities.
Never been done
“The idea is to go through a first in a lifetime experience in the shelter and we understand its a long way to go, lots of policies with the children’s act etc to be taken into consideration, the screening processes and so on. But I believe we can’t find ourselves playing small in a life, a situation and a country like SA, especially in the Western Cape where families are living in cars under bridges, living in open spaces, living in the mountains or wherever.
“We need to think big so that we can get them out of the streets into some kind of shelter, in this case the family shelter to get the children educated.
“This is about dignity, and like I said, it is the first of its kind to have the full package and we’ve seen Cape Town has the most compassionate people in the country and in the world. We are calling on Cape Town to partner with The Haven for this project so that we can build this project together. This is a R6 million project if you look at all the pods, the equipping of the pods with beds and bedding and furniture for the kitchen etc. The idea would be to raise the R6 million and I believe we can raise the money so that we can get these pre-fabricated buildings up by October/November, fence the area and get security sorted out and then open it up early January/February and that is the whole idea behind it. I know we can do it, that Cape Town will come to the party, as well as our donors, sponsors and businesses who catch the vision and the need for a family shelter,” Valayadum says.
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He also mentions that they see families stand at the robots and are very judgmental saying they should get in a shelter, but there is none besides the one in Somerset West, which is full.
Valayadum is appealing to the compassionate Capetonians to come to the party.
You can contact him on 082 381 0384 or email shaddie@haven.org.za if you would like to join the project
