July 6th, 2009
July 5, 2009 –
The SA Care Trust Children’s
Home in Middelburg, South Africa, which has been caring for abandoned, abused and neglected
children
since 2002, has recently suffered a devastating blow from the Department of Social Development (DOSD) who have removed almost all the children from the home.
According to volunteers working at the home “The welfare of thirty four children is at stake” following the unjustifiable removal of all but three of the children who have been given care at this home which has been denied to them by the DOSD.
The founder of the children’s home Dianne Lang, who also gave account of her struggle with the DOSD and the South African Police force in her book Saving Mandela’s Children, has been living as an exile in the UK for the past two years, due to death threats. Dianne who is seriously ill, mainly as a result of her harrowing experiences, is now at her wit’s end as to how to win this battle with the DOSD and its Chief Social Worker for the Middelburg area, John Pienaar, in particular.
According to Dianne, the DOSD recently made it clear that they did not want to deal with her “due to the constant and continual lobbying to government to improve service delivery and to stop all violations of children’s rights by government officials”.
Despite all efforts and contrary to what was agreed with Johan Pienaar of the DSOD and the Commissioner of Child Welfare in Middelburg, the children were removed from their care without knowing where they were being taken or what was being planned for them.
Without much needed and frequently requested funding from the DOSD, the home has relied heavily on private funding and the assistance of volunteers, mainly from Europe. One such volunteer described what happened on the day social workers removed the children from the home:
“The attitude of the social workers seemed very cold and aloof. They did not appear to communicate with the children to explain where they were going to, and no checks were made as to what medication they had to take with them or any interest shown in confirming how it had to be administered. For one child, Thandiwe (name changed to protect the child’s identity), they even left in the car before we had time to package his medication for him so he went a night without taking it”.
On previous occasions when children had been removed from the children’s home, the results have been appallingly tragic. Previously abused children had been placed back in the care of abusive families or in inappropriate institutions which has resulted on at least one occasion in further abuse and even the death of a child.
The current managers and new trustees of the Emmanuel Children’s home, Carol and Bertus Deysel, will be doing everything in their power to ensure the continued safety of the children who have been removed from their care.
November 21st, 2008
As someone who makes their way through this world expecting to like those I meet, I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone I meet will be my next best friend, or that I will want to move them up from acquaintance to friend, however, imagine being open enough to suspend any judgments before you interact with someone?
How might your life change if I told you that every person you were going to meet in the next hour, regardless of how they looked, what language they spoke, whether they were rich or poor, black, brown or white, male or female, had something of great value to give to you. Nuggests of gold that they couldn’t share with you until you suspended any judgement of their worth to you, at least until you could find that out for yourself.
What if we took on the perspective of looking forward to meeting the next stranger that comes our way, regardless of who they are or how they look? Do you think it would be possible for you to don the ‘hat’ of a Prospector for the day? A miner whose mission is to actively search for the ‘gold’ within?
What if you started by looking for the things you both have in common. Do they have a family, or children? Do they enjoy running or swimming, or are they a musician or painter? Do they love to sit on the beach and enjoy the smell of the ocean or do they work hard all the time and never have time for a vacation? Have they ever broken a bone or rode a horse? Do they live with pain, or have chronic illness? Have they ever been in Love? Have they ever lost a love? Do they have any regrets about life and if so, what would they change if they could? What could you do to help them?
We have more similarities than differences.. We are the same species and just like dogs or cats, our shape, colour and temperaments differ, but no matter what we look like on the outside, we can still mate with one another, we still share the same physical need for water, warmth when cold, food when hungry, and comfort when hurt.
Whether you like to walk this planet alone or live with a large family, we are pack animals and without touch, especially in our first year of life, we lose part of our humanity.
We have all heard of feral children, children brought up in the wild, raised by animals, well by a certain age, it becomes impossible to socialize them or give them language skills. This can also happen to children who are never given a comforting touch as babies. Though they are surrounded by human beings, the massive loss of their potential is astounding. The orphans they found in Bulgaria after the war are a perfect example. These babies were left alone all day in their cribs. They were given a minimal amount of interaction, just enough to feed them and change their diapers. Denied the comfort of touch and soft words, these children became catatonic. Their potential intelligence stunted, irreversibly, emotionally void and vacuous. What is my point here?
Each and every one of us has a deep need for one another. Even those who like to live alone need a certain amount of social interaction, even if it’s from their dog.
Any differences we have are environmental not inherent. We are products of our socialization, molded by our family’s first, conditioned to fit into the society in which we were born.
Once we recognize this, we can change our story of intolerance, and instead of disliking those who are not like us or that we were conditioned to hate on sight, we can become tolerant and even more, when we look for ways to celebrate the differences and find comfort in the similarities.
We weren’t born hating one another. That is a lesson well taught. However it is also one that can be relearned.
I have always said that I could take ANYONE off the street and make an interesting and compelling video about them. No matter who they are or what they look like, there will be something in their tale that we can all relate too.
Each of us shares this ‘human’ experience connected spiritually. We all are tapped into ONE consciousness. Sure we each have our own agenda and individual journey’s complete, but as you grow spiritually, so will this feeling of oneness.
I invite you today to change your perspective for just one hour. Engage the very next person you meet with an open countenance, and a true desire to find out who they are, to find a reason to like them. Look for the hidden nugget, the gem that is them.
