Transport challenges

Our daily transport needs require us to pick up children from our satellite homes in Richmond in the morning and transport them to the crèche on our premises and return them home in the afternoon. We have to make 2 trips each time as there are 12 children to be transported. The school going children in the eSimphiwe Care Centre also have to be taken to school and collected in the afternoon. During the day we have to transport children to the local clinic and hospitals for their appointments, and also find time for regular food shopping and collection of food donations from local farmers. We also need to distribute food to our local satellite homes. Weekly we transport relief staff to our satellite home in Durban together with their food, cleaning materials and nappy requirements.
On Sundays we need to take 13 of our children (those who are old enough) to church and Sunday school.

Having only a small 5 seater Tazz motor vehicle brings us daily challenges to meet all these transport needs.

Ideally, in addition to our small vehicle, we would love to have a 12 seater mini-bus and support for maintenance and fuel costs.

 

CLINIC & HOSPITAL VISITS

With 54 children in our care we have a very busy department handling the medical care and supervision of the needs of our children for regular check-ups at the clinic, hospital visits and the administration of regular and chronic medications.
The transportation and chaperoning of the clinic and hospital visits is carried out by our German volunteers and designated medical officer who do a wonderful job which often involves them spending many hours at the hospitals waiting for their little patients to be seen or admitted.
Many of our children are born into this world in very impoverished conditions and are immediately subjected to a life of malnutrition and immune deficiency resulting in serious medical complications by the time they are admitted into our care.
For interest, the average waiting time from arrival at a hospital until departure is a minimum of 4 hours for general routine check-ups. In emergency situations when a child needs to be admitted to hospital this waiting time extends to about 12 hours.
Some appointments are in Pietermaritzburg which is a 45 minute drive from Richmond. More special medical needs require us to transport the child to Durban some 110 km from Richmond. We have many transport challenges to handle all these needs among others.
 

VOLUNTEERS

We have a volunteer programme for anyone interested in working with vulnerable babies & small children. Currently 4 volunteers are with us from Germany, and they will be spending 12 months volunteering with us.

Jessica is one of our German volunteers, and to find out about her experiences visit her web page

If you are interested to find out more about our volunteer program, please use the "Contact Me" button below, and we will send you full details of the various options of our program.

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WHO WE ARE - WHAT WE DO

HISTORY:

eSimphiwe was founded in 2003 and started by caring for 3 babies. We now have 64 children in our care with a residence facilities in Richmond and Durban, two foster homes facilities in Richmond and a pre-school also in Richmond.

OUR OBJECTIVES:

Our objectives is to reach the communities in and around Richmond and to teach them the importance of child and youth care through example by providing:

• A “Baby House” & Children's Shelter (Richmond, Durban & Camperdown) for abandoned, abused and/or aids orphaned or affected babies and children, with or without disabilities, between the ages of 0 and 6 years, which we will nurture on a one-on-one basis in a Christian context, and work towards giving them a chance of adoption or forever placement within a loving family of their own. 

• To assist with and encourage suitable candidates working for us, to study and train as Child and Youth Care Workers and Early Childhood Facilitators.

• To train and equip Professional House Parents within the local community to take responsibility and care of a house with number of children as planned for in each individual home.

• Community outreach program where we come alongside those who already work into the communities.

WHAT MOTIVATES US:

The call that God has placed on our lives and the promise that: “…God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” Rom 11:29, is the most important motivation in our lives. We are also willing to see and hear God’s voice and believe eSimphiwe is His will.

OUR PROJECTS & TARGET GROUP:

Babies, toddlers and children who are abandoned, abused, orphaned or given with consent for adoption. Since we started in 2003, we have cared for and placed just over 270 children.


First and foremost we always try to place a child back into his/her biological family. Should this fail our next option is adoption to secure a permanent placement for life. The age group we work with here are thoes young enough to be adopted and placed on a permanent basis with a loving family in which they can grow up and develop a sense of belonging. Through research and experience we know the adjustment at tjhis age is very natural with the least complications and emotional stress for the child. Should a child not be adoptable, we would like to see that child in the most suitable section within our "big family." We do not want to see children growing up in orphanages and for that reason we do everything we can to steer away from institutional stigma. Every child deserves a chance to belong in a family but if this is not possible we give them the best one-on-one care through you the voluteers helping our staff to be the hands of Jesus.