Even though I’m not totally finished blogging about the senior sector, I was really excited to get involved with another one of my favourite sectors…The Family Support Services (FSS) Sector. This is the sector that supports orphans and vulnerable children as well as their families.

The strategy of the sector is to build the capacity of the carers in order to enhance the care they are able to provide to orphans and vulnerable children. Carers are all people taking care of unsupported children on either a full- or part-time basis and in different capacities. In the Ikamva Labantu context, carers consist of Foster Mothers, Magnificent Mothers and Fathers, Home Carers, Community Angels, Grandparents and Siblings.

Ikamva Labantu also provides resources such as school uniforms, school supplies, food parcels and financial support directly to the children in the programme. Currently, The FSS Sector supports 1,000 orphans and 200 vulnerable families in the townships.

To get started, I sat down with FSS development manager Johanna Bershoff and she had so many suggestions of ways for me to really experience the sector. She invited me to the Siyakhatala meeting at the Rainbow Centre in Gugulethu.

Siyakhatala, Xhosa for We Care, is a forum for all Ikamva Labantu affiliated carers. The forum is membership driven and designed to eventually become independent, self-sufficient and sustainable. Meetings are led by an executive committee and Issues within the Family Support Services sector are discussed as well as general issues pertaining to the care of orphans and vulnerable children in the community.

This meeting started off as many others do…with singing. There were over 100 male and female carers of different ages in attendance. If you will excuse my poor photography skills, I would love to share some photos of the meeting in order to give you a better idea of what it was like..

Everyone sits as the meeting begins- the room is packed!

...And everyone stands to sing!

The Siyakhatala Executives lead the meeting.

Representatives from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the agency in charge of distributing all government social grants such as child support grants, foster care grants, old age pensions and disability grants came to address the forum. The Siyakhatala members were extremely excited to see the SASSA presentation and ask questions of the representatives, since all of them are receiving some sort of governmental social support. For many vulnerable families in the townships, social grants are their main source of income.

SASSA representatives first gave a presentation on the history and scope of the agency. Then, they went through each type of social grant and explained the requirements of each as well as the details of how and where to obtain these grants. Additionally, they told the forum members about the most accessible and cheap options to deposit and withdraw this money.

After the presentation, the FSS team administered a survey to the forum members about their experiences and challenges as carers of unsupported children. The questionnaire was distributed to everyone and I got to work walking around and seeing where I could be of assistance.

I wound up settling with a group of 4 mamas and we were able to go through the entire questionnaire together. I really can’t believe we got any work done, considering all the chatting and laughing that was going on. One question asked what sort of community forums the mamas and their children take part in. When we got to the space that asked if they were involved in any sport teams, the mamas said “no”. But then I looked at them very seriously and asked…”no rugby for you?” and after staring at me a bit confused for about 30 seconds, we all just burst out laughing.

I must tell you..as someone who has spent a year writing reports and proposals about Ikamva Labantu’s programmes, it is nothing short of a gift to be able to sit down with the beneficiaries of these programmes and just share a laugh.

The Siyakhatala forum, much like the Ilizwi Labadal forum for the seniors, is the foundation that must be laid in order for these programmes to eventually become self-governing, independent bodies. And I am just so happy to have seen it with my own eyes.