Target Group
Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy
Youth and children
Many children grow up with poor supervision and formation. Many of them are from single-parent families, and even their (often under-age) mothers are not always present in their lives. Others grow up in child headed households. This affects their human formation. There is a widespread lack of domestic values and norms.
The lack of male role models in the home (it is a “fatherless” society) has an impact on the behaviour of boys. There is nobody to teach them how a “real” man behaves. So they are assuming a merely imagined role of men and acting it out to the detriment of girls. An almost “omnipotent” macho behaviour is not uncommon.
Workshops with the youth (in and out of school) revealed that they are familiar with the phenomenon of scarcity of capacity building. Poverty leads also to common prostitution e.g. in shibeens, informal taverns. At times this prostitution is supported by parents who hope to get their share of the income generated in this way.
The failure rate in schools is very high, the quality of teaching and learning is very low. This reduces the learner’s chances of further education and future employment. Basic skills are missing such as mathematics and simple calculations which would be essential for the development of businesses. A statistical observation indicates that girls perform significantly better than boys when it comes to secondary education.
The parishes of the diocese have a number of crèches. Some of them are spontaneous creations. These indicate the need for such institutions and the people responding to it; the quality of infrastructure and personnel, however, is questionable.
The standards at these crèches need to be developed as well as their equipment. They are meant to make a difference but often are unable to do so. The principal of the Holy Cross Primary school confirms the bad state of early childhood education and formation: Many children who ask for admission to the school cannot count, do not to discern colours and cannot jump due to lack of standards and commitment at crèches. Children appear to be merely dumped at the crèches, and crèches should provide a proper foundation for schooling.
Target Areas
The main part of the Diocese of Aliwal falls under the Province of the Eastern Cape, with few communities in the Free State.
The youth and children that utilise this centre come from different communities that are grouped into 3 regions / areas namely Sterkspruit, Aliwal North and Indwe:
- Sterkspruit Region/ Area: Sterkspruit, Lady Grey, Barkly East and Teresa.
- Aliwal North Region/Area: Aliwal North-Dukathole, Aliwal North-Joe Gqabi, Aliwal North-Hilton, Aliwal North-Town, Rouxville, Jamestown, Bethulie, Springfontein, Venterstad and Burgersdorp.
- Indwe Region/Area: Indwe, Dordrecht, Umhlanga, Molteno and Sterkstroom.
