Ons Plek - "our place"
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| With some of the girls at the Annual General Meeting |
In my Rotary application essay I wrote about
my passion for girls’ education and empowerment programs. Without going into a long
autobiography, the four years I spent at Foxcroft School (an all girls’
international boarding school) molded me into the person I am today by
equipping me with the confidence and ability to take risk, challenge myself
academically, and to both lead and serve others. Given my background, I am so
happy to have found a means through which I can contribute to the empowerment and
education of girls in South Africa. The following is an introduction to my
involvement with Ons Plek Projects, the only comprehensive program in Cape Town
specifically for female street children.
In March, I blogged about meeting Jane Raphaely
(a former Ambassadorial Scholar from the UK to Colombia in NY) who founded Fair
Lady in South Africa in 1967 as well as Associated Magazines in 1982 which is
the largest, privately owned publishing house in the country. Jane and I met at
Ray’s Rotary Reunion and discussed our interest in issues facing women and
girls. Because of Jane’s involvement with numerous service organizations and
commitment to women and girls in South Africa, I reached out to her concerning
service opportunities and she recommended I contact Ons Plek!
Ons Plek, meaning ‘our place’ in
Afrikaans, has a mission to improve the lives of female street children in Cape
Town by helping them re-build their lives and their self-esteem. Ons Plek now
focuses on preventative work as well preserving family lives of children before
they run away from home. The vision of Ons Plek is “that
female street children will be successfully re-united with their families and
that failing that, they will be sufficiently empowered at Ons Plek Projects to
grow into healthy, independent functioning members of society.” Whether they
come on their own or are recommended to Ons Plek, many of the girls have
experienced significant trauma and face problems of severe poverty; abuse
whether emotional, physical, or sexual; problems of unemployment; crime;
violence; alcohol or drug abuse; family violence and/ or instability; and lack
of safe housing*. Whether South African or foreign minors, many of the girls
face learning difficulties and sometimes mental health problems that create
challenges for assimilating into both the education system and mainstream
society.
Ons Plek and Siviwe address the needs of an
average of 100 to 150 children per year with three different projects. Ukondla
is a community prevention project located in the township of Philippi and works
with another 73 children, Siviwe (“God has heard us”) is a therapeutic and
developmental shelter for more ‘settled’ girls which focuses on reunifying them
with their families and integrating them into the education system. Lastly, Ons
Plek is the intake location for girls where the staff focuses on assessment and
developmental care. The organization focuses on family reunification,
counseling, social skills, and educational programing for the girls at Ons Plek
and Siviwe.
For those girls who are not yet ready or unable to return
to formalized school, Ons Plek offers the bridging program ‘Morning School’ on Mon
– Thur from 9:30 am – 12:00 pm. In addition to assessing the girls’
abilities, Morning School assist girls
in adapting to the routine and structure of school while giving them confidence
in their ability levels. I have the privilege to serve as a Morning School
teacher every Wednesday and Thursday at Ons Plek. Although I was raised by a
mother who was an educator and I have experience teaching or tutoring at abused
children shelters and after-school programs in the States, Ons Plek has been a phenomenal
and challenging experience. To be continued ….
* The description of the mission,
vision, and programs are taken from Onsplek.co.za
** In the interest of not making this
post too long, I plan to blog about my experiences at Ons Plek in subsequent
blogs J
*** PLEASE PLEASE check out Ons Plek's website. If you are interested in learning more stories about the girls and the organization check-out this book
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