The project was formed in 2002 to help a small AIDS haven in South Africa and we were formerly known as “The Friends of the Esperado Childrens Haven” Since then we have expanded into other projects in the Mpumalanga region in South Africa. Our organisation is based in Jersey in the Channel Islands.
The Komaticare Centre & the Orlando English Primary School
Komatipoort is a small town about 10 kilometres from the world famous Kruger National Park. Adjacent to the town is the small township of Orlando. Orlando is a place of varying degrees of poverty, mostly very severe. The people there live in anything from small block built houses to tin shacks. In 2003, the local church established a small pre-school. It’s beginning came about when very young children from Orlando were discovered scavenging on local rubbish dumps. The “Komati-Care Centre” is a registered nonprofit organisation and at present 60 children from 3 to 6 years of age attend five days a week getting a little education, lots of play and two healthy meals a day. We were asked if we could help. Our first project in 2014 was to build a Jungle gym in their playground. Since then we have built a new classroom, re-furbished the kitchen, put a security fence around the Centre and recently added some swings. In addition, we provide funds for the purchase of food. In 2019 we established the Orlando English Primary school in a shipping container. The English Primary school was established so that children who were excluded from the state education system through a lack of South African citizenship could at least achieve some basic education in English.
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