St Clement’s assists orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) with their school needs by providing school uniforms and assisting with school registration fees, as well as their social needs by referring them to service providers.
Social and School Needs |
The OVC who are part of our OVC Programme are attended to according to their needs and to the problems they face. Our Caregivers meet with the children and assess what their needs are, which are often social and/or school related.
When social needs are identified, we refer that child to other service providers such as Home Affairs for ID books, deaths and/or birth certificates and/or social welfare for grant applications. In terms of school needs, we purchase school uniforms for children, assist those at tertiary institutions to access scholarships, and pay their university registration fees. We are proud to report that they have been poor students from our community who have received their degrees through the help of our organisation. The criteria used to assist these students is poverty, a desire to get an education and to be an asset to family, siblings and society. Teachers from local schools also send children to us that show signs of hunger and/or are poorly dressed. These children are also interviewed, their home is visited and, more often than not, we observe that the whole family is hungry and very much in need of attention. These children are then added to our Food Programme and we purchase school uniforms for them, as well as identify and address their other needs. |